stant, with another cry, he was up and clutched Levi
with a clutch of despair by the throat and by the arm. Then followed a
struggle, short, terrible, silent. Not a sound was heard but the deep,
panting breath and the scuffling of feet in the sand, upon which there
now poured and dabbled a dark-purple stream. But it was a one-sided
struggle and lasted only for a second or two. Levi wrenched his arm
loose from the wounded man's grasp, tearing his shirt sleeve from the
wrist to the shoulder as he did so. Again and again the cruel knife was
lifted, and again and again it fell, now no longer bright, but stained
with red.

Then, suddenly, all was over. Levi's companion dropped to the sand
without a sound, like a bundle of rags. For a moment he lay limp and
inert; then one shuddering spasm passed over him and he lay silent and
still, with his face half buried in the sand.

Levi, with the knife still gripped tight in his hand, stood leaning over
his victim, looking down upon his body. His shirt and hand, and even
his naked arm, were stained and blotched with blood. The moon lit up his
face and it was the face of a devil from hell.

At last he gave himself a shake, stooped and wiped his knife and hand
and arm upon the loose petticoat breeches of the dead man. He thrust his
knife back into its sheath, drew a key from his pocket and unlocked the
chest. In the moonlight Hiram could see that it was filled mostly with
paper and leather bags, full, apparently of money.

All through this awful struggle and its awful ending Hiram lay, dumb
and motionless, upon the crest of the sand hill, looking with a horrid
fascination upon the death struggle in the pit below. Now Hiram arose.
The sand slid whispering down from the crest as he did so, but Levi
was too intent in turning over the contents of the chest to notice the
slight sound.

Hiram's face was ghastly pale and drawn. For one moment he opened his
lips as though to speak, but no word came. So, white, silent, he
stood for a few seconds, rather like a statue than a living man, then,
suddenly, his eyes fell upon the bag, which Levi had brought with him,
no doubt, to carry back the treasure for which he and his companion were
in search, and which still lay spread out on the sand where it had been
flung. Then, as though a thought had suddenly flashed upon him, his
whole expression changed, his lips closed tightly together as though
fearing an involuntary sound might escape, and the ha