ed a few weeks earlier.

He had been overtaken by a band of stockriders when fording the creek with
his daughter, and one who loitered behind them reined his horse in and
spoke to the girl. Muller never knew what his words had been; but he saw
the sudden colour in the fraeulein's face, and seized the man's bridle. An
altercation ensued, and when the man rejoined his comrades, who apparently
did not sympathize with him, his bridle hand hung limp and the farmer was
smiling as he swung a stick. Muller attached no especial importance to the
affair; but Grant, who did not tell him so, differed in this when he heard
of it. He knew that the cattle-rider is usually rather chivalrous than
addicted to distasteful gallantries.

In any case, Muller heard nothing for a while, and felt tempted to return
to his bed when he grew chilly. He had, however, spent bitter nights
stalking the franc tireurs in the snow, and the vigilance taught and
demanded by an inflexible discipline had not quite deserted him, though he
was considerably older and less nimble now. At last, however, a dim,
moving shadow appeared round a corner of the building, stopped a moment,
and then slid on again towards the door. So noiseless was it that Muller
could almost have believed his eyes had deceived him until he heard the
hasp rattle. Still, he waited until the figure passed into the stable, and
then very cautiously crept along the wall. Muller was not so vigorous as
he had been when proficiency in the use of the bayonet had been drilled
into him; but while his fingers tightened on the haft of the fork he
fancied that he had still strength enough to serve his purpose. He had
also been taught to use it to the best advantage.

He straightened himself a little when he stood in the entrance and looked
about him. There was a gleam of light in the stable now, for a lantern
stood upon a manger and revealed by its uncertain glimmer a pile of
prairie hay, with a kerosene-can upon it, laid against the logs. Muller
was not wholly astonished, but he was looking for more than that, and the
next moment he saw a shadowy object apparently loosing the nearest horse's
halter. It was doubtless a merciful deed, but it was to cost the
incendiary dear; for when, perhaps warned by some faint sound, he looked
up suddenly, he saw a black figure between him and the door.

On the instant he dropped the halter, and the hand that had held it
towards his belt; but, as it happened, the hors