"We cannot carry it out of the state," replied the sheriff. "It will be better to put it out of sight amongst these bushes, till the cart I have sent for comes down to take the old man up to the house. We can then remove it to the cabin, and let it await the coroner's inquest there. In the meantime, Mr. Thornton, will it not be better for you and Sir Richard to ride over with Miss Bessy to my house? You will find my sister there, who will take care of the young lady; and if I might advise, she would not go further to-day, for she must be worn out with all she has gone through; and, indeed, she looks tired to death." "A very good plan," answered Mr. Thornton; "and, at all events, we will wait at your house till you return, Mr. Sheriff." An alteration of plan, however, was forced upon us. The horses which had brought me and Bessy thither were not found for half-an-hour, having hobbled away three-quarters of a mile into the swamp. And when they were found and brought back, they had to be saddled for our journey. By this time, the cart which had been sent for had arrived, with a mattress stretched in the bottom. Old Mr. Thornton was carefully removed from the cabin and placed in the vehicle; and though a good deal reduced by loss of blood, he still seemed in a highly irritable and excited condition, cursing the men who moved him, for the pain they could not avoid inflicting. Three of the men who were present volunteered to accompany him to the old house; and the sheriff, after having given directions for sending for a surgeon, prepared with all the rest to set off together across the marsh. "Where's old Jenny?" cried the sheriff as we were about to go, "where's old Jenny? We must not go without her. She is really a good creature, and tended that unhappy man quite kindly, notwithstanding all his abuse." "Here I am, mas'r," cried Jenny, coming out of the hut. "You go 'long, I'll come after. Nobody hurt me, and I want to lay out Mas'r Robert." "No, no, Jenny, come along," said the sheriff. "Let him alone; the coroner must see him just as he is. One of you lads catch that horse--or the other one there; I suppose they belong to William Thornton; but we must press one to carry the old woman." "No, no, I rather walk," said Jenny eagerly. "I'se not ride a horseback. It bumps me shocking; I'se too fat. If Miss Bessy and Mas'r Richard stay beside me, I'll walk along wid dem." Mr. Thornton and several others, however, determined to bear us company, and to keep at a walking pace across the swamp; but we took a spare horse along with us in case Jenny, as I knew would happen, should get tired out before we reached the sheriff's house.