Presently John Holmes went away to give the alarm. Returning later, he went through the dreary house and darkened the windows--the windows of the room where the dead girl lay he darkened last. He lifted her cold hand and held it to his heart--and all the world seemed death and silence, broken only by the father’s moaning. CHAPTER XVI. The news flashed over the country as if by the lightning’s spark and by nine o’clock the district was aroused to a state of frenzied passion. From near and far they gathered to the stricken home, till in an hour a mob had assembled, vowing torture and death to the fiend. A brief questioning revealed the fact that the Carrs’ cook had seen a negro man pass the kitchen door about dusk, and he had asked for a drink of water. She would know him again, she said. A fierce yell rent the silence as Holmes told of the fleeing man and grim curses filled the air, followed by the thunder of hoofbeats as the horsemen dashed away in pursuit. On they rode through the darkness, galloping where the way was clear, and everywhere and at all times urging their horses to their utmost, every minute pressing forward with increasing rage and recklessness. Uphill, downhill the searchers went, scouring every nook and corner for miles around. Their panting horses needed not to be urged. They seemed to have caught the same fierce spirit that inspired their riders, their straining muscles and distended nostrils telling of their eagerness and exertion. The night was going, but the searchers had as yet found no trace. If the earth had opened and swallowed the one they sought, the mystery of his disappearance could have been greater. Shrewder than those of unthinking haste, the sheriff permitted the excited crowd to go ahead, that his plans would not be interfered with. Then, with his deputies and a bloodhound, he went to the scene of the murder. There he found a sprinkling of blood on the ground, and the imprints of the heavy shoes in the moist earth showed the direction which the murderer had taken. He quickly drew the hound’s nose to the trail and cheered him on. The dark, savage beast was wonderful at trailing, and had more than once overtaken fleeing criminals. He sniffed intelligently for a few minutes, then gave an eager yelp and plunged along the road, made an abrupt turn, then struck down through a narrow hollow, deep and dark. The men put spurs to their horses and dashed after him, heedless of the thorns that tore and reckless of sharp blows from matted undergrowth and low-lying boughs. The hound, with his deep guide-note, despite their efforts, was soon far ahead; his lithe, long body close to the earth, leaving no scent untouched.