tongues, maddened
him. But there was no help for it; it had to be done.

His plan was simple in the extreme. He intended to cross the lake in the
canoe; land well beyond Mabyn's camp; and fire the grass to the windward
of the shack. No rain had fallen in weeks; the grass was as dry as
tinder; and the old bleached shack itself almost as inflammable as
gunpowder. He had, moreover, a small quantity of oil among the things
seized from Mabyn. The night itself seemed to speak for the deed; it was
as dark as Erebus; and there was a blustering, raw wind from the north,
presaging snow.

After starting the fire, he meant to climb the rising ground behind; and
when they ran to beat out the flames, he would pick them off one by one.
His gun would shoot as fast as he could think; he might get all five
then. And if any regained the hut, they would soon be driven out again.
Whichever way they ran, Garth could run as fast on the higher ground;
and none of them was such a shot as he. Grylls first; then Mabyn; then
the breeds. He meant to wait until dawn, so that if any escaped the
radius of the fire, he could get them by daylight.

But no executioner may have imagination; in the darkness of his room the
attitudes of the slain were pictured to Garth as clearly as if they
already lay before him: Grylls's gross body huddled in the grass; Mabyn
hideous in death; and Rina cold and still in her wistful beauty. Cries
of terror and agony rang in his ears; and he saw himself afterward
burying the bodies--partly eaten by the flames. Small icy drops broke
out on his forehead. Though he was doing it for her, when it was done,
Natalie could not but shrink from such a bloody wretch. It would part
them forever. But it must be done!

When his watch showed half-past four--the dawn was later now--he arose
to start. He called Natalie to bar the door after him. He told her he
was going merely to look about and that she must not worry if he was not
back until daylight. Natalie was scarcely awake. He yearned mightily to
take her soft, sleepy form in his arms for once before they were
imbrued; but he dared not, knowing she would instantly interpret the act
as a possible farewell.

When she closed the door behind him, he felt as one lost to hope.

As he grasped the canoe, preparatory to pushing it off, he suddenly
became aware through his sharpened senses--he could not have said
how--that some one was very near him. He noiselessly dropped to one
knee; a