Arthur Somers Roche

“ But Minot was cunning. He swerved as they drew closer.
“’Tend to him, Ravenell,” he cried. “I’ll follow the girl.”
And I knew that he would catch her; that she could not possibly escape him. I feared that she would not use the pistol she carried; that at the last moment her feminine shrinking from blood would deter her. Further, I feared that she would not dare use it. She had not informed the town authorities of their attack upon her in the path. She did not want publicity.
Would she dare use the gun? Wouldn’t Minot know that she’d fear to use it? ”

“ It landed fairly upon my forehead, the cold steel cutting open the skin.
But no more. The muzzle fell upon my forehead, did not crash down upon it. The arm that had propelled it had gone suddenly as limp as my own left arm. For like a wraith in the snowy gloom, but more muscularly substantial, I thanked God, Ruth Gilman had stolen up behind the one-idea Minot and the barrel of her own automatic had done for him what he had planned to do for me. His figure crumpled into itself and he lay in a heap on the ice. ”

“ There, faintly outlined on the veranda, in new snow that barely covered the boards, were footprints. But they pointed outward. Further, no man’s feet had made them. They were too small. I thought at once of Ruth Gilman.
I straightened up and stood there undecidedly. It was absurd! Why should she leave the Inn in the dead of night? It must be Polly or Myra, gone to perform some neglected duty. But I smiled at that idea. I could not fancy the frightened waitress or chambermaid going out into the night for anything, granted that they would not fear the dark, ordinarily. ”

“ The girl stood staring down at the form of Minot, and even in the gloom I could see that her slight form shook terribly.
The pistol with which she had knocked the Greenham man out slipped from her fingers and clattered on the ice. I bent over and picked it up. I placed my hand inside Minot’s coat; his heart was beating. For the first time in my hitherto prosaic life I experienced the lustful feeling of vindictive-
“Will he die?” she gasped.
“No such luck,” I said bitterly.
“But we must take him back—get a doctor—and I must go on.”
Ravenell stirred; he groaned. I pointed to him. ”

“ I counted sheep jumping over the stile until I had accounted for enough lamb chops to feed half Christendom; I tried all the devices warranted to make one the victim of self-hypnotism, but in vain. The slumber that I’d already had seemed to have been sufficient; it seemed impossible to win more. ”