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Campbell was face-to-face with Byrnes, his lean cheeks convulsed with fury

"…unspeakable brutality!" he was shouting His words came unevenly, half sed in the shuffle and er erisly burden The slave had stopped struggling; he hung inert

The overseer’s face was invisible, but his body was stiff with outrage and defiance One or two of his friendsto offer support

I saw Ja events He drew both pistols fro Then he stepped forward, and clapped one to Byrnes’ bandaged head The overseer went rigid with surprise

"Bring hih to be audible over the dying grumbles of the crowd "Or I blow off what’s left o’ your friend’s face And then--" He raised the second pistol and aimed it squarely at the man’s chest The expression on Jamie’s own face made further threats unnecessary

The man moved reluctantly, narrowed eyes fixed on the pistol He took hold of the brake-handle of the winch that controlled the hoist, and pulled it back The hook descended slowly, its cable taut with the strain of its burden There was a h from the spectators as the lie h the crowd, till I ithin a foot or two of the end of the platfor at the strong sh not to bolt I slid off, ordering ae underfoot, heaving like the dry land does when one steps off a ship It was no more than a few steps to where the slave lay; by the tieon’s chief resource had cou spectators

He was alive; his chest asps The hook had pierced the sto from the back at about the level of the kidneys The ray, his lips blanched to the color of clay

"Hush," I said softly, though there was no sound from the slave save the small hiss of his breath His eyes were pools of incomprehension, pupils dilated, swamped with darkness

There was no blood fro was shallow, but rhythently over hie Blood oozed froed muscles of back and sto; they had somehow missed both abdoument had broken out; some small, detached portion of my mind noted that Byrnes’ co plantations, presently being rebuked with vigor by Farquard Caard of the law! You shall answer for it in court, gentlemen, be assured that you shall!"

"What does it matter?" came a sullen rumble frohts!"

"Rights no for the likes of you to decide" MacNeill’s deep growl joined in "Rabble, that’s what ye are, no better than the--"

"And where d’you get off, oldScotch nose in where it’s not wanted, eh?"

"What will ye need, Sassenach?"

I hadn’t heard him come up beside me, but he was there Jamie crouched next to me, my box open on the boards beside him He held a loaded pistol still in one hand, his attention roup behindon in the background, but the words blurred into lessness The only reality was underon me that the man I touched was possibly not fatally wounded, in spite of his horrible injury Froht that the curve of the hook had gone upward through the liver Likely the right kidney was daht be nicked--but none of those would kill hiht do for hi in the sweat-slick abdo steel It was fast, but steady as a druers when I placed a hand on it He had lost blood--the scent of it was thick, overpowering the smell of sweat and fear--but not so ht be able to keep this ht cae when I re only the , delayed shock, perforated intestine, peritonitis--and yet

At Prestonpans, I had seen a h the body with a sword, the location of the wound very e wrapped around his body--and yet he had recovered

"Lawlessness!" Caument "It cannot be tolerated, no e, be sure of it!"

No one was paying any attention to the true object of the discussion Only seconds had passed--but I had only secondshis attention away from the debate

"If I save him, will they let him live?" I asked him, under my breath

His eyes flicked fro the possibilities

"No," he said softly His eyes htened slightly, and he laid the pistol across his thigh I could not help him make his choice; he could not help with mine--but he would defend me, whichever choice I made

"Give me the third bottle from the left, top row," I said, with a nod at the lid of the box, where three rows of clear glass bottles, firmly corked, held a variety of medicines