.

THE JUDGE OFFERS A REWARD.
The news of Charley Norton's murder spread quickly over the county.

For two or three days bands of armed men scoured the woods and roads, and then this activity quite unproductive of any tangible results ceased, matters were allowed to rest with the constituted authorities, namely Mr.Betts the sheriff, and his deputies.
No private citizen had shown greater zeal than Judge Slocum Price, no voice had clamored more eloquently for speedy justice than his.

He had sustained a loss that was in a peculiar sense personal, he explained.
Mr.Norton was his friend and client; they had much in common; their political ideals were in the strictest accord and he had entertained a most favorable opinion of the young man's abilities; he had urged him to enter the national arena and carve out a career for himself; he had promised him his support.

The judge so worked upon his own feelings that presently any mention of Norton's name utterly unmanned him.