house
at night, and he shot him. That's enough for me and you. You've got to
settle the thing right."

"There's these two women and the children. Do they go up too?"

"They have to--else how can we get him?"

"It seems hard on them; for they've done nothing."

"What sort of fool's talk is this? Do you back out?"

"Easy, Councillor, easy! What have I ever said or done that you should
think I would be after standing back from an order of the Bodymaster of
my own lodge? If it's right or if it's wrong, it's for you to decide."

"You'll do it, then?"

"Of course I will do it."

"When?"

"Well, you had best give me a night or two that I may see the house and
make my plans. Then--"

"Very good," said McGinty, shaking him by the hand. "I leave it with
you. It will be a great day when you bring us the news. It's just the
last stroke that will bring them all to their knees."

McMurdo thought long and deeply over the commission which had been so
suddenly placed in his hands. The isolated house in which Chester Wilcox
lived was about five miles off in an adjacent valley. That very night he
started off all alone to prepare for the attempt. It was daylight before
he returned from his reconnaissance. Next day he interviewed his two
subordinates, Manders and Reilly, reckless youngsters who were as elated
as if it were a deer-hunt.

Two nights later they met outside the town, all three armed, and one
of them carrying a sack stuffed with the powder which was used in the
quarries. It was two in the morning before they came to the lonely
house. The night was a windy one, with broken clouds drifting swiftly
across the face of a three-quarter moon. They had been warned to be on
their guard against bloodhounds; so they moved forward cautiously, with
their pistols cocked in their hands. But there was no sound save the
howling of the wind, and no movement but the swaying branches above
them.

McMurdo listened at the door of the lonely house; but all was still
within. Then he leaned the powder bag against it, ripped a hole in it
with his knife, and attached the fuse. When it was well alight he and
his two companions took to their heels, and were some distance off,
safe and snug in a sheltering ditch, before the shattering roar of the
explosion, with the low, deep rumble of the collapsing building, told
them that their work was done. No cleaner job had ever been carried out
in the bloodstained annals of the society.

But alas