problem before him. Did the hunchback turn back down Forsyth Street? Did he go out Mitchell, or did he turn down Peters Street? Chadwick asked a few of the people whom he met if they had seen the hunchback, but he received unsatisfactory replies.
He therefore turned into Peters Street, which at that time led into the most disreputable part of the town. It led through "Snake Nation," where crime had its headquarters, and then outward and onward through green fields and forests until it lost itself in the red trenches that war had dug. Private Chadwick followed the street somewhat aimlessly, knowing that only an accident would enable him to find the hunchback. As he crossed the railroad, a shrill voice railed out at him; it may have carried a curse, it may have borne an invitation; he did not wait to see. On the hill-top beyond, he paused. Here Peters Street became once more the public road, and here Private Chadwick commanded a fine view of the town and the country beyond. As he stood hesitating, he heard the voice of a woman calling him. He would have shrunk from it as from the voice of Snake Nation, but this voice pronounced his name.
