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"For her sake I hope that they did," said Theriere; "for such as she it would have

been a far less horrible fate than the one I fear they have reserved her for."

"You mean--" queried Byrne, and then he stopped, for the realization of just what

Theriere did mean swept over him quite suddenly.

There was no particular reason why Billy Byrne should have felt toward women

the finer sentiments which are so cherished a possession of those men who have

been gently born and raised, even after they have learned that all women are not

as was the feminine ideal of their boyhood.

Billy's mother, always foul-mouthed and quarrelsome, had been a veritable

demon when drunk, and drunk she had been whenever she could, by hook or

crook, raise the price of whiskey. Never, to Billy's recollection, had she spoken a

word of endearment to him; and so terribly had she abused him that even while

he was yet a little boy, scarce out of babyhood, he had learned to view her with a

hatred as deep-rooted as is the affection of most little children for their mothers.

When he had come to man's estate he had defended himself from the woman's

brutal assaults as he would have defended himself from another man--when she

had struck, Billy had struck back; the only thing to his credit being that he never

had struck her except in self-defense. Chastity in woman was to him a thing to

joke of--he did not believe that it existed; for he judged other women by the one

he knew best--his mother. And as he hated her, so he hated them all. He had

doubly hated Barbara Harding since she not only was a woman, but a woman of

the class he loathed.

And so it was strange and inexplicable that the suggestion of the girl's probable

fate should have affected Billy Byrne as it did. He did not stop to reason about it

at all--he simply knew that he felt a mad and unreasoning rage against the

creatures that had borne the girl away. Outwardly Billy showed no indication of

the turmoil that raged within his breast.

"We gotta find her, bo," he said to Theriere. "We gotta find the skirt."

Ordinarily Billy would have blustered about the terrible things he would do to the

objects of his wrath when once he had them in his power; but now he was

strangely quiet--only the firm set of his strong chin, and the steely glitter of his

gray eyes gave token of the iron resolution within.

Theriere, who had been walking slowly to and fro about the dead men, now called

the others to him.

The Mucker