shadow of the trees it was gross darkness. Above them the wet branches,
moved by the wind which still blew strongly, clashed together with a
harsh and mournful sound, showering them with heavy raindrops. Their
feet sank deeply in cushions of soaked moss and rotting leaves.

"There is nothing to be done here," said Landless. "It is better beneath
the open sky."

There came a last, vivid flash of lightning that for a moment lit the
wood, showing long colonnades of glistening tree trunks, with here and
there a blasted and fallen monster. It showed something more, for within
ten feet of them, from out a tangle of dripping, rain-beaten vines
looked the face of the murderer of Robert Godwyn.

CHAPTER XVII

LANDLESS AND PATRICIA

For one moment the parties to this midnight encounter stared at each
other with starting eyeballs; the next, down came the curtain of
darkness between them.

With a cry of terror Patricia seized and clung to Landless's arm,
trembling violently, and with her breath coming in long, gasping sobs.
Exhausted by the previous terrors of the night, this last experience
completely unnerved her--she seemed upon the point of swooning. Divining
what would soonest calm her, Landless hurried her out of the wood and
down the shore to the bank, beneath which lay the sleeping slaves. Here
she sank upon the sand, her frame quivering like an aspen. "That
dreadful face!" she said in a low, shaken voice. "It is burned upon my
eyeballs. How came it there? Was it--dead?"

"No, no, madam," Landless said soothingly. "'Tis simple enough. The
murderer is in hiding within these woods, and we stumbled upon his
lair."

She gazed fearfully around her. "I see it everywhere. And may he not
follow us down here? Oh, horrible!"

"He is not likely to do that," said Landless, with a smile. "You may
rest assured that he is far from this by now."

She drew a long breath of relief. "Oh! I hope he is!" she cried
fervently. "It was dreadful! No storm could frighten me as did that
face!" and she shuddered again.

"Try not to think of it," he said. "It is gone now; try to forget it."

"I will try," she said doubtfully.

Landless did not answer, and the two sat in silence, watching out the
dreary night. But not for long, for presently Patricia said humbly:--

"Will you talk to me? I am frightened. It is so still, and I cannot see
you, nor the slaves, only that horrid, horrid face. I see it
everywhere."

Landless came