ice."

"Tak' de log-chain," said Fabian to Henrys, "an' tie him around de nec'
of Jenny."

Henrys, after much difficulty and nervous fumbling, managed to loosen
the swamp-hook; and after much more difficulty and nervous fumbling
succeeded in making it fast about the gray mare's neck. Fabian intended
with this to choke the animal to that peculiar state when she would
float like a balloon on the water, and two men could with ease draw her
over the edge of the ice. Then the unexpected happened.

The instant Henrys had passed the end of the chain through the knot,
Pat, possessed by some Hibernian notion that now all was fast, let go
of the bit. Jenny's head at once went under, and the end of the logging
chain glided over the ice and fell plump in the hole.

Immediately all was confusion. Jenny kicked and struggled, churning the
water, throwing it about, kicking out in every direction. Once a horse's
head dips strongly, the game is over. No animal drowns more quickly. The
two young boys scrambled away, and French oaths could not induce them
to approach. Molly, still upheld by Fabian, looked at him piteously with
her strange intelligent eyes, holding herself motionless and rigid with
complete confidence in this master who had never failed her before.
Fabian dug his heels into the ice, but could not hang on. The drowning
horse was more than a dead weight. Presently it became a question of
letting go or being dragged into the lake on top of the animals. With a
sob the little Frenchman relinquished his hold. The water seemed slowly
to rise and over-film the troubled look of pleading in Molly's eyes.

"Assassins!" hissed Laveque at the two unfortunate youths. That was all.

When the surface of the waters had again mirrored the clouds, they
hauled the carcasses out on the ice and stripped the harness. Then they
rolled the log from the dray, piled the tools on it, and took their way
to camp. In the blue of the winter's sky was a single speck.

The speck grew. Soon it swooped. With a hoarse croak it lit on the snow
at a wary distance, and began to strut back and forth. Presently, its
suspicions at rest, the raven advanced, and with eager beak began its
dreadful meal. By this time another, which had seen the first one's
swoop, was in view through the ether; then another; then another. In an
hour the brotherhood of ravens, thus telegraphically notified, was at
feast.

Chapter VIII

Fabian Laveque elaborated the detail