ded to do was to catch us off our guard, and
wrench the pistols from us; and I was glad I had the knife hidden
away, for if they did carry us off, I was sure to be able to find
some opportunity for using that.

"It was awful!" the girl said, putting her hand to her face. "Awful
to be standing there and hearing them laughing and shouting and
cursing. I was tempted to go behind him, and shoot him suddenly;
but the others would have been just as bad, and we should have
gained nothing by it. I would not go through that half hour again,
for all the money in the world.

"The men had just finished and were getting up from the table, and
I knew the moment was coming fast, when we heard a sudden shout
outside. My heart gave a bound, as they rushed to the door. The
captain fired a shot at Mr. Donald, just as he was getting up; and
as he ran out, shouted to me:

"'I will come back for you, missy.'

"If it had not been for Mr. Donald falling to the ground, I should
have fainted; but Alice called me as she ran to him, and I think I
was trying to lift him up when the constable ran in, and I knew we
were saved."

Reuben had given a sudden start, when Kate Ellison mentioned the
name of Tom Thorne, but he had not interrupted her.

"I had a score against that scoundrel before," he said, as she
finished; "and by heavens, I will settle accounts with him when I
meet him. I could have forgiven him for the wrongs he did me; but
now--" and his fingers closed on the hilt of the pistol in his
belt.

Kate, who had been looking down as she told her story, raised her
eyes at the tone of intense passion in the young officer's words;
and a sudden flush of colour mounted into her cheeks, which were
pale from the terror and excitement through which she had gone.

"I say ditto to Captain Whitney," Mr. Barker said. "I don't know
anything about his previous doings against him; but I know that, if
ever I come across the scoundrel, I will shoot him as a dog.

"Even you can't say anything against that, wife, though you are
always on the side of mercy."

"No," Mrs. Barker agreed. "I would say nothing to stay your hand
there, John. Even putting this aside, he has committed a score of
murders; and there will be no more wrong, in shooting him, than
there would be in killing a wild beast.

"That is the sound of a horse coming, at a gallop. Perhaps it is
the doctor."

Hurrying to the door they found, to their great satisfaction, that
Mrs. Barker'