s a long sharp
dirk.

Kenric rose and stood looking down upon the beautiful form of the dead
girl. He was as one who had been stunned by a terrible blow. For many
minutes he stood there mute and motionless, with folded hands and bowed
head. Soon a snowy cloud passed before the moon and cast a dark shadow
upon the ice. The imprisoned image seemed to melt away. Yet Kenric knew
that what he had seen was no illusion, but that Aasta the Fair lay
lifeless in her frost-bound tomb.

Then Kenric thought of his enemy -- who was surely Aasta's enemy even
more than his own -- and he gripped his sword.

"I will come back," he murmured sadly as he cast once more a lingering
glance upon the now indistinct figure beneath the ice. "I will come
back, Aasta. And now, a truce to all fear. Let me now meet this man and
slay him, for there is no one who can now mourn for his death. It is
right that he should die, for the hour of retribution has surely come!"

CHAPTER XXXI. THE LAST DREAD FIGHT.

Not long was Kenric in covering the few miles between Loch Ascog and
Garroch Head. He feared to be too late, for it was already but one short
hour before midnight. But his limbs were cold, and he had therefore a
double reason for running. Soon, instead of being too cold he became
over-hot; his heavy sheepskin cloak oppressed him, and he threw it off,
leaving it lying upon the ground. Thus relieved, he slung his sword
under his arm and ran on and on past the silent farmsteads, over hard
ploughed fields and bare moorland, past the desolate Circle of Penance,
and past the little chapel of St. Blane's, where many islanders were
already gathered to join in the New Year service. Then for another short
mile beyond the abbey he hastened, until from the rising ground he came
in sight of the murmuring, moonlit sea.

Now he slackened his pace to a brisk walk, and skirting the line of
cliffs he presently came upon the rocky headland of Garroch.

His whole body was in a warm glow; his breath came regular and strong
from the depths of his broad chest. He felt himself better fitted for
battle, more powerful of limb than he had ever done before, and never
had he entered into combat with a fuller sense of the justice of the
approaching encounter.

He looked about the bald headland to left and right, but Roderic was not
yet to be seen. Kenric's heart sank within him in anxious
disappointment. But as he approached the extreme angle of the cape, he
saw a