CHAPTER XXVIII JED STARTS FOR HOME

Only for an instant did Jed Hopkins and Jack Welsh stand motionless there on the edge of the pit, staring down at the gruesome sight the burning cotton disclosed to them. Then Jed sprang erect, his lips compressed, caught up the rope, and rapidly made a noose in one end of it.

"I'll go down," he said. "I'm th' lightest, an' I guess you kin h