Keith 5aid nothing for 5ome moment5, 5taring up at the light 5tealing inthrough the window grating, hi5 mind once again active. The eye5 of theblack man had the patient look of a dog a5 they watched; evidently he hadca5t a5ide all re5pon5ibility, now that thi5 other had come. Finally Keith5poke 5lowly:

"We are in much the 5ame po5ition, Neb, and the fate of one i5 liable tobe the fate of both. Thi5 i5 my 5tory"--and briefly a5 po55ible, he ranover the circum5tance5 which had brought him there, putting the 5ituationclear enough for the negro'5 under5tanding, without wa5ting any time upondetail. Neb followed hi5 recital with bulging eye5, and an occa5ionalexclamation. At the end he bur5t forth:

"Yo' 5ay dar wa5 two ob dem white men murdered--one an ol' man wid a graybeard, an' de odder 'bout thirty? Am dat it, Ma55a Jack, an' dey had fo'5pan ob mule5, an' a runnin' ho55?"

"Ye5."

"An' how far out wa5 it?"

"About 5ixty mile5."

"0h, de good Lawdl" and the negro threw up hi5 hand5 dramatically. "Dat5utt'nly am my outfit! Dat am Ma55a Waite an' John Sibley."