, and
were preparing to force it open. Then guided by a swift instinctive
resolution, he determined to trust to the effects of an unexpected
alarm. Noiselessly moving his alpenstock, he suddenly and with all his
force, dashed the door open, shouted aloud, and with his utmost violence
swung round the heavy iron spike. A flash, the report of a gun, and a
yell of anguish instantly followed; and as Violet in terror and
excitement threw open her door, the light which streamed from it showed
Kennedy in a moment that the foremost villain, startled by the sudden
opposition, had accidentally fired off his gun, of which the whole
contents had lodged themselves in the shoulder of his comrade.

This second man had also armed himself with a chamois-gun, which slipped
out of his hands as he fell wounded to the ground. Springing forward
Kennedy wrenched it out of his relaxing grasp, and presented it full at
the head of the other, who, half-stunned with the blow he had received
from the heavy iron-shod point of the ashen alpenstock, was crouching
for concealment in the corner of the chalet.

"Violet," he said, "all is now safe. These wretches are disarmed; if
you like to take shelter here till the morning, I can secure you from
any further attack. If you stir but an inch," he continued, addressing
the unwounded man, "I will shoot you dead. Lay down your gun."

The man's one eye glared with rage and hatred, but Kennedy still held
the loaded gun at his head, and he was forced sullenly to obey. Kennedy
put his foot upon the gun, and was in perplexity what to do next,
fearing that the wounded murderer, who was moaning heavily, might
nevertheless spring at him from behind, and also momentarily dreading an
attack from the mastiff, who kept up a sullen growl.

"Let us leave this dreadful place," said Violet, who, pale but undaunted
at the horrors of the scene, had taken refuge by Kennedy's side.

"Dare you pick up and carry the gun?" he asked. "It would be dangerous
to leave it in their hands."

Violet picked it up, where it lay under his feet, and then glided
rapidly out of the chalet, while Kennedy slowly followed, never once
taking his eye from his crouching antagonist. Before he stepped into
the open air, he said to the men, "If I hear but one footstep in pursuit
of us, I will shoot one of you dead."

"Oh, what a relief to be on the mountain-turf once more!" said Violet in
a low and broken whisper, as she grasped Kennedy'