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frightened him into telling them the truth.
     
    I strained to hear what they were saying. The wind made the branches overhead rustle and sing, though, and I was still dazed, so it was hard to concentrate.
     
    'Give me the name,' I heard Brad say. 'Or do I tell Parsons to get back on his horse?'
     
    Shaw shook himself and wiped water from his eyes before he looked up. 'I don't know who you are, mister,' he said, 'but I'll tell you what you want to know.'
     
    'Go ahead, then.'
     
    'I was workin' the feeder bin one afternoon when this guy I never seen before comes over near me and says my name.'
     
    'What did he look like? Who was he working for?'
     
    'Didn't say. Tall, had a real orange head of hair, brighter'n any I ever seen before. He didn't say his name.'
     
    Brad looked at the other two. 'Mean anything?'
     
    Garth spoke. 'Man like that works for Rawlings, up by the long reach - when he works. Most times he don't. Name's Campbell. Could be him, but he don't come into town much, 'cept to get drunk.'
     
    'Rawlings!' There was a fury in Brad's voice that made me wince. 'All right, then, Shaw, what did he tell you?'
     
    Shaw began to whimper. 'He said I could have two hundred dollars if I just put fifty spikes in the stock we had waitin' last night. Two hundred dollars if I did, but if I didn't, or if I told, he said they'd come for Alice . . .' His voice broke off for a moment, and then he said, 'You wouldn't let 'em do nothin' to Alice, would ya, mister? I ain't goin' to tell no one, I swear. I don't even know what your name is.'
     
    'Nobody's going to do anything to Alice,' Brad said. 'Now, tell me, did this man give you the two hundred dollars yet?'
     
    'He said he'd give it to me later, after he saw the repair crew come into the mill.' Shaw wiped his nose on his sleeve, getting his face dirty again.
     
    'Where's he going to meet you?'
     
    'He didn't tell me that.' Shaw looked up at Brad as if he were afraid of being struck across the mouth.
     
    Brad shook his head, seemingly disgusted. 'Well, we'll keep an eye on the both of you in the meantime. Maybe we'll even put on a little repair show down at the mill.' He turned to Parsons. 'All right, then. Get some whisky in him and make it look like he got drunk and fell down and messed up his clothes. Dose him up good and lead him down the mountain to town. When you get to the edge of the woods, you can turn him loose.'
     
    He nodded once to the three of them, and then he turned and headed for the house, his long strides swift and authoritative.
     
    As I watched him go inside and heard the door close tight, the anger boiled up inside me. How could they connect my father with this cowardly sabotage based only on a man's red hair? And how could they go on tormenting this man? They were struggling with him on the ground, trying to force whisky from a bottle down his throat.
     
    It was foolish of me, but I was not going to stand idly by for another moment. I forgot that I should have been back at the stables by now. I forgot that I was trespassing, and for the moment I forgot that these two men had been prepared to carry out a cold-blooded murder.
     
    I stood up and pushed between the trees, the boughs catching on my jacket. The thin dark man saw me first as I stepped out on to the lawn. His face took on an astonished look for a moment. Then he was up and running towards me. Before I could speak or move another step, he had grabbed my wrist and twisted it painfully behind my back. His chin dug into my shoulder from behind, and his voice rasped horribly close to my ear. 'Trespassin', ain't you? The boss likes to find out about trespassers.'
     
    He gave me a rough shove forward, but I would not go another step. 'You take your hands off me if you know what's good for you,' I said. 'And release that man.'
     
    He twisted me around to face him, his thin mouth in a crooked smile. 'What is he, some friend of yours? How long you been up here?'
     
    I looked him straight