ere, don't come down!"

"What was that noise? It sounded like a gun," said Ollie, a bit nearer
the head of the stairs, her words broken and disjointed.

"Something's happened, something mighty bad," said Sol. "You stay right
where you are till I send the old woman over to you--do you hear
me?--stay right there!"

"Oh, what is it, what is it?" moaned Ollie. "Joe--where's Joe? Call him,
Mr. Greening, call Joe!"

"He's here," Sol assured her, his voice full of portent "he's goin' away
with me for a little while. I tell you it's terrible, you must stay
right up there."

"Oh, I'm so afraid--I'm so afraid!" said Ollie, coming nearer.

"Go back! Go back!" commanded Greening.

"If you'll only stick to it that way," thought Joe as Ollie's moans
sounded in his ears.

"Was it robbers--is somebody hurt?" she asked.

"Yes, somebody's hurt, and hurt bad," said Greening, "but you can't do
no good by comin' down here. You stay right there till the old woman
comes over; it'll only be a minute."

"Let me go with you. Oh, Mr. Greening, don't leave me here alone!" she
implored.

"There's nothing to hurt you, Ollie," said Joe. "You do as Sol tells you
and stay here. Go to your room and shut the door, and wait till Mrs.
Greening comes."

Sol leaned into the staircase and listened until he heard her door
close. Then he turned and shut the kitchen window and the door leading
into the body of the house, leaving the burning lamp on the table to
keep watch over Isom and his money.

"We'll go out the front way," said Sol to Joe. "Nothing must be touched
in that room till the coroner orders it. Now, don't you try to dodge me,
Joe."

"I've got no reason to want to dodge any man," said Joe.

"Well, for your own sake, as well as your old mother's, I hope to God
you ain't!" said Sol. "But this here thing looks mighty bad for
somebody, Joe. I'm goin' to take you over to Bill Frost's and turn you
over to the law."

Joe made no comment, but led the way around the house. At the kitchen
window Greening laid a restraining hand on Joe's shoulder and stopped
him, while he looked in at the corpse of Isom Chase.

"Him and me, we served on the same jury this afternoon," said Sol,
nodding toward the window as he turned away. "I rode to overtake him on
the way home, but he had the start of me; and I was just goin' in the
gate when I heard that shot. I poled right over here. On the same jury,
and now he's dead!"

As they approached the gate