Miller drove directly to the county jail.  Thirty or forty white men, who seemed to be casually gathered near the door, closed up when the carriage approached.  The sheriff, who had seen them from the inside, came to the outer door and spoke to the visitor through a grated wicket.

“Mr. Wemyss,” said Mr. Delamere, when he had made his way to the entrance with the aid of his cane, “I wish to see my servant, Sandy Campbell, who is said to be in your custody.”

The sheriff hesitated.  Meantime there was some parleying in low tones among the crowd outside.  No one interfered, however, and in a moment the door opened sufficiently to give entrance to the old gentleman, after which it closed quickly and clangorously behind him.

Feeling no desire to linger in the locality, Miller, having seen his companion enter the jail, drove the carriage round to Mr. Delamere’s house, and leaving it in charge of a servant with instructions to return for his master in a quarter of an hour, hastened to his own home to meet Watson and Josh and report the result of his efforts.

XXIV

TWO SOUTHERN GENTLEMEN

The iron bolt rattled in the lock, the door of a cell swung open, and when Mr. Delamere had entered was quickly closed again.

“Well, Sandy!”

“Oh, Mars John!  Is you fell from hebben ter he’p me out er here?  I prayed de Lawd ter sen’ you, an’ He answered my prayer, an’ here you is, Mars John,—­here you is!  Oh, Mars John, git me out er dis place!”

“Tut, tut, Sandy!” answered his master; “of course I’ll get you out.  That’s what I’ve come for.  How in the world did such a mistake ever happen?  You would no more commit such a crime than I would!”

“No, suh, ‘deed I wouldn’, an’ you know I wouldn’!  I wouldn’ want ter bring no disgrace on de fam’ly dat raise’ me, ner ter make no trouble fer you, suh; but here I is, suh, lock’ up in jail, an’ folks talkin’ ‘bout hangin’ me fer somethin’ dat never entered my min’, suh.  I swea’ ter God I never thought er sech a thing!”

“Of course you didn’t, Sandy,” returned Mr. Delamere soothingly; “and now the next thing, and the simplest thing, is to get you out of this.  I’ll speak to the officers, and at the preliminary hearing to-morrow I’ll tell them all about you, and they will let you go.  You won’t mind spending one night in jail for your sins.”

“No, suh, ef I wuz sho’ I’d be ‘lowed ter spen’ it here.  But dey say dey ’re gwine ter lynch me ternight,—­I kin hear ’em talkin’ f’m de winders er de cell, suh.”

“Well, I say, Sandy, that they shall do no such thing!  Lynch a man brought up by a Delamere, for a crime of which he is innocent?  Preposterous!  I’ll speak to the authorities and see that you are properly protected until this mystery is unraveled.  If Tom had been here, he would have had you out before now, Sandy.  My grandson is a genuine Delamere, is he not, Sandy?”