ccurred to him that if he left the body where it was and it should
be eventually discovered, it would afford the gravest suspicions of foul
play; but that if he dragged it back again to the road and laid it with
its face in the dust, against the rock with which the deed was done, it
might pass for an accident.

Once more that hideous smile of cunning lit up the face which in these
few moments had undergone a mysterious deterioration. He hastily removed
the heap of rubbish, shuddered as he saw the loathsome thing once more
exposed to view, but seized it, dragged it back, and placed it with
consummate art in the position which his criminal prescience had
suggested.

As it lay there in the road nothing could have seemed more natural than
that it had fallen from the horse; he felt another momentary relief from
terror, in which he cunningly conceived a still more sagacious plan, on
noticing Romeo. They were the best of friends; it was easy to catch him.
He did so, removed the saddle, broke the girth and placed it near the
prostrate figure of the quack. Nothing could have more perfectly
resembled an accident. An adept in crime could not have performed this
task with finer skill, and he was free now to turn to the rest of the
work that he must do to conceal this ghastly deed.

Approaching the buggy, he found to his immense relief that Pepeeta was
still unconscious. With swift and silent movements he freed the mare,
led her out into the road and drove hurriedly away.

The wood through which they were passing was wide and somber. The
shadows of the evening had already begun to creep up the tree-trunks and
lurk gloomily among the branches. Plaintive bird songs were heard from
the treetops, and among them those of the mourning dove, whose solemn,
funereal note sent shudders through the heart of the trembling fugitive.

But all had gone successfully so far, and he actually began to cherish
hope that he would escape detection. There still remained, however, the
uneasy fear that Pepeeta herself had been a witness of the deed.
Horrible as was his own consciousness of his crime, he dared to hope
that he could stand it, if only she did not know! He dreaded to have her
waken, and yet it seemed as if he could not endure the suspense until he
found whether she had seen the deed or not.

Without trying to rouse her, he drove rapidly forward, and just as he
emerged from the wood came to another brook, so similar to the one by
the side