went over
to him, putting an arm softly round his neck.

"What is it, Steve, dear? you weren't hurt, were you?"

"Oh, to have killed him! to have killed a man, how horrible!" muttered
Stephen, without lifting his head.

Katrine looked amazed. "Well, but he would have killed us if he could,"
she answered. "You kill a mosquito if it annoys you, and that's right.
You only kill a man if he tries to kill you, that's quite fair."

"But a murderer!" and Stephen shuddered. She felt the shiver of horror
under her hand.

"Isn't it better to be a murderer than murdered?" she asked, with a
little smile, feeling she had an unanswerable argument.

"Murdered, your body is killed, murderer, your soul," came back in the
same stifled voice.

Katrine was silent. She was thinking what a nuisance it was to have a
soul that needed so much looking after, never seemed to do any good, and
was always obtruding itself and spoiling your best moments of fun in
this life.

"We'll take him away," she said softly, after a minute, noticing that
Stephen kept his fingers closely locked over his eyes, as if to shut out
some fearful sight. "Talbot, let's take him out," she said to their
companion, who stood with his back to the fire watching them. Stephen
made no sign.

Talbot and the girl walked over to the body. It was stiffening rapidly,
and the wide-open eyes glared up glassily to the black rafters of the
cabin.

"Might this be useful?" said Talbot, stooping over the man and half
drawing the second large revolver from his belt.

"No, take nothing," answered Katrine, hastily; "we want nothing."

Talbot let the weapon slide back to its place, and they both bent down
and lifted the corpse between them. Talbot walked backwards over the
cabin door behind him. It was dark outside--a thick, pitchy darkness,
with only a grey glare close to the ground from the snow.

"Let's take him to the gulch," whispered Katrine, "and send him down it;
it will worry Stephen so if he sees him again."

It was only a few yards to the edge of the ravine; they moved towards it
cautiously and stopped upon the brink.

"Are you ready?" Talbot asked in a low tone, and Katrine whispered back
"Yes." There was a heavy thud, then a soft rolling sound, and then
silence, as the drift snow in the bottom of the gulch received and
closed over its gift. They waited a second, then Talbot stretched out
his hand towards her, found her arm in the darkness, and they both
walked