8    THE NIGHTRIDERS' FEUD



the great earthen mounds.    This wealth, he
thought, had been placed there by the Maker of
the mighty earth, that his great skill as an engi-
neer might be made known to the world. It
was there for his own pleasure; it had not been
intended that others should make the discovery.
His training would enable him to make discov-
eries which others had not been skillful enough
to make. The life would be just to his liking,
and would fill a long-felt desire to invade the
bowels of the hitherto uninvaded depths of rocky
earth. It. was not his intention to delay one mo-
ment; he would go at once.
  The train sped on, and he reached his home ill
good time. There he was greeted with the sad
news that his uncle, John Redmond, for whom he
was named, had been slain by murderous Night-
riders over in the valley of Kentucky.   His
tobacco crop had been utterly destroyed, his
barns and out-houses devastated, his home burned
to the earth, and as he was fleeing from the burn-
ing building, in an effort to save himself from a
torturous death, he had been shot down in his
tracks like a dog, a forty-four Winchester bullet
tearing his heart to pieces.
  What more would man need to set his soul on
fire What more would he need to raise his ire
to the verge of distraction