Thus he raved as Blandford searched him, and even after his hands had been securely tied with a tether that had hung at Deomateri's saddle. Meanwhile the baby refused to be comforted. It seemed to be nearly exhausted, and the hoarse and unnatural sounds it made were more pitiable than its natural cries would have been. At last Chadwick offered to take it. To his astonishment it held out its little hands to him, and immediately ceased its frantic efforts to cry as soon as it found itself in his arms, though it continued to moan and sob a little. But the child was no longer afraid, for it looked up in Chadwick's face and tried to smile as it nestled against his shoulder.
The problem of the baby temporarily solved, the three soldiers would have made toward the city with their prisoner, but here a fresh difficulty presented itself. The hunchback refused to budge. He had ceased his threats and curses, and was now ominously quiet. If he had been stone-blind and deaf he could not have more completely ignored the orders to get up and move on.
"Break off a hickory lim' an' frail h—ll
