"That's what he said, sir," the boy went on. "He gave me forty-nine lashes with a cowhide and then set down and talked to me a half hour." "And what did he say?" Norman inquired, forcing back a smile by a desperate effort. "He told me that he tried to get out of the work, but the council had forced it on him. Said there oughtn't to be no hard feelings, that it was a dirty, tiresome job, and he didn't have no pleasure in it, but it had to be done for the salvation of the people. He said it wasn't wise to talk about such things among the Brotherhood. I told him I'd tell my ma the minute I got home. He said that would be foolish, that none of the others had said a word, that they had all taken their medicine like little men." "He told you he had whipped all the others who had taken that walk with him?" Norman gasped. "That's what he said, sir," the boy insisted, "and I guess he had, for they'd pawed a hole in the sand 'round that whipping-post big enough to bury a horse in." The boy paused and his mother shook him angrily. "Tell what else he said to you!" The cub glanced hastily toward the door and whispered: "Said if I opened my mouth about what had happened he'd skin me alive." The council sent the mother and son away with the assurance of immediate action. The court adjourned and Norman started with Barbara at once to find Tom. Faithful to his new calling he had strolled up the beach with a man who once had been his partner as a prospector and miner. Joe Weatherby had been drinking heavily the week before and Tom had keenly felt the disgrace his old partner had brought on the Brotherhood by his rudeness in the dining-room. Joe had thrown a plate of soup in the face of a boy who was making facetious remarks about his capacity for strong drink. When rebuked by his neighbours he had accentuated his displeasure by overturning the table and smashing every dish on it. He ended the affair by roundly cursing the Brotherhood for its rules and regulations interfering with his personal liberty, threw his pack on his back, and struck the trail for the mountains to prospect for gold. He had just returned, after a week's absence, and Tom seized the opportunity to invite Joe to take a walk with him. Knowing the character of the two men, Norman felt quite sure this walk could not possibly have the usual happy ending that attended so many of these performances. He quickened his pace. "Hurry, or we may have a funeral for our next function," he cried, with a laugh. A quarter of a mile up the beach the sound of loud angry words suddenly struck their ears from behind a pile of huge boulders. "Quick, we're just in time!" Barbara cried, "they've begun to quarrel." They cautiously approached the boulders and climbed to the top of the larger one overlooking the scene Tom had evidently chosen for his debate with Joe. "Hadn't you better part them now?" Barbara asked with some anxiety.