"For the past twenty years I have been looking for a man by the name of Gatewood--David Gatewood." Disciplined as he was, the colonel started violently.

"Ever heard of him, Fentress ?" demanded the judge with a savage scowl.
"What's all this to me ?" The words came with a gasp from Fentress' twitching lips.

The judge looked at him moody and frowning.
"I have reason to think this man Gatewood came to west Tennessee," he said.
"If so, I have never heard of him." "Perhaps not under that name--at any rate you are going to hear of him now.

This man Gatewood, who between ourselves was a damned scoundrel"-- the colonel winced--"this man Gatewood had a friend who threw money and business in his way--a planter he was, same as Gatewood.
A sort of partnership existed between the pair.

It proved an expensive enterprise for Gatewood's friend, since he came to trust the damned scoundrel more and more as time passed--even large sums of his money were in Gatewood's hands--" the judge paused.