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 138 the silence, hear the steady downpour of the rain. Our position was far from being a pleasant one, and I could not drive from my mind a haunting fear lest those villains fire the house when finally convinced of our escape. There was, to my mind, no reason why Anse Cowan should refrain from such an act of vandalism. No doubt either he or old Ned had had a hand in the earlier visit to the place, and if there was then anything in the house they desired to obtain possession of it had been attained. Of course he might be induced to spare the property from fire in the expectation that it would some time belong to him; this vague hope, no doubt, underlay the whole affair—the search for papers, the murder of the Major, the present effort to forcibly marry the daughter. All these things formed part of a well-concocted plan, through which the Cowans expected to acquire possession of Harwood's property. The war, and the consequent demoralization of the neighborhood, had given them an opportunity for revenge they were not slow to seize. Hate, the desire for vengeance, the brutal passions engendered by a feud, found ample opportunity now for full expression. Lawlessness ruled supreme in all that section between the Green Briar and the Alleghanies. Of course it would not always be so—the end of the war would bring a return to normal