, seething waves, and the next whitecap wrenched the child from
her hands, snatching it into the water.

"Ben Letts, our brat air gone!... There he be!... God!... There! There!"

Through a sudden, resplendent flood of light, they saw the babe poised
for one brief instant on a huge, foaming shoulder of the lake. In her
frenzy the squatter woman was murmuring over and over strange,
inarticulate words which Ben did not heed. Their arms were locked
tightly about each other. Ben Letts slowly fixed his cold, shivering
lips on those of the girl, drawing her closer and closer into his
embrace. The majesty of death was upon them, this squatter father and
mother. Another glare of light showed them still clinging together, but
the one following failed to reveal either man, woman or boat.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

Professor Young knocked at the Skinner hut. Tess smiled at him from
between the tatters of the curtain, and unlocked the door, standing, as
her friend took the wooden rocker.

"Daddy air a-comin' home," she breathed timidly.

"Soon. Sit down, child. I have much to say to you.... We have discovered
the murderer of the gamekeeper. We have positive proof that it was not
your father."

Tess squatted on the floor, crossed her legs, and waited.

"Who were it?" she asked presently, as if afraid to speak.

"Ben Letts."

"The damn bloke!" she ejaculated, a dangerous light gathering in her
eyes. "And he were a-lettin' Daddy be hung for his own dirty work! He
air a wicked cuss, he air!"

"Ezra Longman saw him when he committed the murder," Young told her,
watching the interest gather in the eager face. "Letts used your
father's gun. That accounts for his having been accused."

Tess nodded her head.

"Ezy were here last night," she commented quietly. "He were sick."

"He was under my care for a long time," explained Young, "and last night
escaped and walked home through the rain.... He is dead."

"Dead!" gasped Tess. "Dead!"

Impetuously she bent toward him, and finished:

"Ezy Longman ain't dead!"

"Yes, he is," replied Young. "He died in his father's hut, last night. I
have just left there, and I feel heartily sorry for them both."

"Myry?... Did ye see Myry?"

"She's gone with Ben Letts."

"Gone where?"

"We don't know, but the officers are looking for them. I think the boy
heard me tell the nurse that he would be held as a witness in your
father's next trial. He must have warned Letts upon his arrival