When the flames had done their work and had subsided, a mad rush was made for the trees which were soon denuded of bark, each member of the mob being desirous, it seemed, of carrying away something that might testify to his proximity to so great a happening. Little Melville Brant found a piece of the charred flesh in the ashes and bore it home. [Illustration: "Poor Bud, her helpless husband, closed his eyes and turned away his head to avoid the terrible sight." (134-135.)] "Ben Stringer aint got anything on me now," said he as he trudged along in triumph. Entering by the rear he caught hold of the rope which he had left hanging, ascended to the attic window and crawled in. The future ruler of the land! * * * * * On the afternoon of the lynching Ramon Mansford alighted from the train at Maulville in search of Bud and Foresta. He noted the holiday appearance of the crowd as it swarmed around the depot awaiting the going of the special trains that had brought the people to Maulville to see the lynching, and, not knowing the occasion that had brought them together, said within himself: "This crowd looks happy enough. The South is indeed sunny and sunny are the hearts of its people." At length he approached a man, who like himself seemed to be an onlooker. Using the names under which Mrs. Harper told him that Bud and Foresta were passing, he made inquiry of them. The man looked at him in amazement. "You have just got in, have you?" asked the man of Ramon. "Yes," he replied. "Haven't you been reading the papers?" further inquired the man. "Not lately, I must confess; I have been so absorbed in unraveling a murder mystery (the victim being one very dear to me) that I have not read the papers for the last few days." "We burned the people to-day that you are looking for." "Burned them?" asked Ramon incredulously. "Yes, burned them." "The one crime!" gasped Ramon. "I understand you," said the man. "You want to know how we square the burning of a woman with the statement that we lynch for one crime in the South, heh?" The shocked Ramon nodded affirmatively. "That's all rot about one crime. We lynch niggers down here for anything. We lynch them for being sassy and sometimes lynch them on general principles. The truth of the matter is the real 'one crime' that paves the way for a lynching whenever we have the notion, is the crime of being black." "Burn them! The one crime!" murmured Ramon, scarcely knowing what he said. With bowed head and hands clasped behind him he walked away to meditate.