"Trouble with her father, I think," said Patty, casting about in her own mind how she might change the conversation. "Is she alive yet?" he asked. "Yes." "Give her head to marry Goodwin now, I'll bet," said the man. Patty now plead that she must hasten to school. She omitted reading the Bible and prayer with the patient for that morning. It was just as well. There are states of mind not favorable to any but the most private devotions. On Friday evening Patty intended to go by the cabin a moment, but on coming near she saw horses tied in front of it, and her heart failed her. She reasoned that these horses belonged to members of the gang and she could not bring herself to plunge into their midst in the dusk of the evening. But on Saturday morning she found the strangers not yet gone, and heard them speak of the sick man as "Pinkey." "Too soft! too soft! altogether," said one. "We ought to have shipped him----" Here the conversation was broken off. The sick man, whom the others called Pinkey, she found very uneasy. He was glad to see her, and told her she must stay by him. He seemed anxious for the men to go away, which at last they did. Then he listened until Mrs. Barkins and her children became sufficiently uproarious to warrant him in talking. "I want you to save a man's life." "Whose?" "Preacher Goodwin's." Patty turned pale. She had not the heart to ask a question. "Promise me that you will not betray me and I'll tell you all about it." Patty promised. "He's to be killed as he goes through Wild Cat Woods on Sunday afternoon. He preaches in Jenkinsville at eleven, and at Salt Fork at three. Between the two he will be killed. You must go yourself. They'll never suspect you of such a ride. If any man goes out of this settlement, and there's a warning given, he'll be shot. You must go through the woods to-night. If you go in the daytime, you and I will both be killed, maybe. Will you do it?" Patty had her full share of timidity. But in a moment she saw a vision of Morton Goodwin slain. "I will go." "You must not tell the doctor a word about where you're going; you must not tell Goodwin how you got the information." "He may not believe me." "Anybody would believe you." "But he will think that I have been deceived, and he cannot bear to look like a coward." "That's true," said Pinkey. "Give me a piece of paper. I will write a word that will convince him." He took a little piece of paper, wrote one word and folded it. "I can trust you; you must not open this paper," he said. "I will not," said Patty.