d horse must have been very faint.

A moment later Seth let the horse walk on and the animal appeared content.
But if the animal were so, its master was not. He turned several times as
he approached the bridge, and scanned the crowding branches on each side
of the snow-covered trail behind him.

Seth knew that he was followed. More, he knew that the watcher was clumsy,
and had not the stealth of the Indian. At the bridge he faced about and
sat waiting. The gravity of his face was relieved by a slight smile.

Suddenly the crack of a rifle rang out. The horseman's smile died
abruptly. His horse reared, pawing the air, and he saw blood on the
beast's shoulder. He saw that the flesh had been ripped by a glancing
bullet, and the course of the wound showed him whence the shot had come.

He looked for the man who had fired, and, as he did so, another shot rang
out. He reeled forward in his saddle, but straightened up almost at once,
and his right hand flew to his revolver, while he tried to swing his horse
about. But somehow he had lost power, and the horse was in a frenzy of
terror. The next moment the beast was racing across the bridge in the
direction of home.

The journey was made at a great pace. Seth was sitting bolt upright. His
face was ashen, and his eyelids drooped in spite of his best efforts.

Rube was in the region of the kitchen door as he galloped up, and he
called out a greeting.

The rider began to reply. But, at that moment, the horse propped and
halted, and the reply was never finished. Seth rolled out of the saddle
and fell to the ground like a log.

CHAPTER XXI

TWO HEADS IN CONSPIRACY

Seth was badly hit; so badly that it was impossible to say how long he
might be confined to a sick-room. His left shoulder-blade had been broken
by the bullet, which, striking under the arm, had glanced round his ribs,
and made its way dangerously adjacent to the spine. Its path was marked by
a shocking furrow of lacerated flesh. Though neither gave expression to
the thought, both Ma and Rube marveled at the escape he had had, and even
the doctor from Beacon Crossing, accustomed as he was to such matters,
found food for grave reflection on the ways of Providence.

When the patient recovered consciousness he maintained an impenetrable
silence on the subject of the attack made upon him. Parker and Hargreaves
protested. The military authorities demanded explanation in vain. To all
but the Agent Seth vouchsa