He started back for the door; his knee hit a feeding trough with a sudden crack. The noise was not great; but at the same moment a voice rang out, "Come out, nigger, I've got the door covered. Come out, or I'll shoot hell out of you." Lordie, lordie! No use lying low; there was no other door to the henhouse, and if he waited until morning, he was caught sure. "All right, suh, Ah's comin'." He slid open the door a trifle; the light of a lantern lit on the ground cut its way in. "No tricks, now. Drop whatever you've got, and come out with your hands in the air--or I'll blow your head off." "Ah ain't doin' no tricks, boss. Doan' shoot, for de Lawd's sake!" "Come on, or----" came another voice. He slid fearfully out, his arms raised. He stood blinking in the sudden shine. From his left two figures closed in, shotguns half raised. "Just one old nigger, Ned; we'll phone the constable and turn him over." "Lawdie, lawdie! Doan' give me to no constable; Ah ain't done nuthin!" "How many chickens did you get, you black----" Tom spoke volubly. "Ah thought dis was Mr. Joneses' roos', cap'n, an' he said Ah could come in some night an'----" "Why, I know that nigger. Didn't you bring in Mr. Judson's Jersey last month for service?" "Yessuh, dat Ah did. Ah's a minister of de gospel, an' ef Ah's made a little mistake to-night, Ah'll swear ter Gawd never to----" "Bring him along." "Lawd, boss, doan' send me to jail. Dey'll give me five years. Let me go dis time.... Ah won't never----" "Come on----" "Ah's a minister of de gospel, suh, an' ef Ah's arrested, what will mah flock think? Ef you lets me go----" "How many hens did you get?" 'Fo', suh; fo' or five." "I'll give you four or five seconds to get out of here. And you leave Adamsville, do you hear me? We know you. We're too busy to waste time around the criminal court. But I warn you, get out! If I catch you around this town again, I'll have Judge Hawkes send you up for ten years. Git!" "De Lawd will reward you, suh, for----" He raised the shotgun suggestively. "Three seconds left. Git!" Minus cap and bags, Tom "got"--stumbling into the brook ditch on his face, then hurrying up the stream, and running blindly through the woods to the road, and so to the mountain. He sat down at last on the crest, a stitch wracking his side. What chance did he have, with the Ellis boys after him with shotguns? Maybe he could lie low for a while; keep on the mountain, until the shotguns' energetic memories had turned to other things. He shuffled along the outcrop, then turned in to avoid the cactus that punctuated the hillock before Locust Hedge. Mammy Stella was waiting for him. "Get them hens?" "Ah got hell, Stella. Ah gotter clear out er Adamsville; dem Ellis boys done said so." "Whar you gwine?" Her marital suspicion strengthened his resolve; a holiday from home had its advantages. "Ah 'lowed Ah'd walk down ter Hazelton 'r Coalstock. Ah could get somethin' to do 'roun' de rollin' mill."