The start and shudder were the result of far
different causes than the men around him supposed, but they
noticed his momentary agitation, and one of them exclaimed:
"We've got the right man! And now, boys, get a rope; there'll
be no foolin' in this case!"
Meantime one of the men entered the cabin and whispered to
Renie, who was weeping over the body of her murdered father.
"They've caught the rascal, miss, and they're going to hang
him!"
The girl uttered a scream, a wild piercing wail of anguish and
terror! At that terrible moment it flashed across her mind
that the men had caught Spencer Vance, and had concluded that
the detective was the assailant of her father.
The girl rushed from the cabin screaming:
"Hold! Hold! do not harm that man! He is innocent! Hold!
Hold, I say!"
The girl advanced to the center of the group of men that
surrounded the detective, still exclaiming:
"Do not harm that man! he is innocent! He is innocent!"
She approached close to the prisoner; one of the men held the
the lantern so its gleam shone full in the detective's face,
and he inquired:
"Do you know him, Renie?"
The girl fixed her eyes on the prisoner and recoiling,
exclaimed:
"No, no, I do not know him! I thought it was another man! He
must be the one!"
As the excited girl spoke she pointed toward the detective.
The latter still stood, the coolest party amidst all there
assembled.
Renie had taken but a cursory glance at the prisoner.
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