lligerent attitude suggested fight and he was a husky specimen with a
handy club. Even though he might have suffered a qualm at again
beholding the white apparition in the moonlight, his determination to
dare the spectre was bolstered by the voice and the manner of the
command.

"Ah knows who yo' is an' Ah's gwine hol' yo' up! Yo' ain't no ghos'. Dis
club'll knock de sure 'nough breff out'n yo'; then we'll see."

To Gus, on the hillside above the power plant, it looked very much as
though this threat were going to be carried out. He had been quietly
observing, under the light of a half moon, the ghostly visitation and
even the advent of this individual before the white raiment had been
donned some distance behind the tool house and unknown to the watchful
George. All this had not surprised Gus, but he had been puzzled by the
appearance on the hillside of another figure that kept behind the scant
bushes much as Gus was doing, except that it was screened against being
seen from below and evidently did not know of Gus's presence. Now,
however, all attention was given to the altercation before the tool
house, around which the ghost had come, evidently to be disappointed at
not seeing George take to his heels.

Suddenly there was a shot. The reverberation among the hills seemed
ominous, but not more so than the staggering back and sinking down of
poor George. Gus saw the white figure stand for a moment, as though
peering down at the victim of this murderous act; then it turned and
fled straight up the hill and directly toward the one up there crouching
and--waiting? Were they in collusion? Gus had but a moment to guess.
Still crouching, unseen, though brave,--for Gus was courageous even
sometimes to the point of being foolhardy in the rougher sports, or
where danger threatened others,--he avoided now the almost certain fate
of George, for the villain was still armed and desperate, no doubt. And
Gus hoped that the arrest of the scamp would surely follow his meeting
with the other observer.

But this safe and sane attitude of the watching Gus suffered a sudden
change when, as the ascending ruffian fairly stumbled upon the other
figure crouching on the hillside, a scream, unmistakably that of a
female in dire distress, came to the ears of the witness. He could dimly
see the two struggling together, the dark figure with the white. The
next instant, forgetting all danger to himself, Gus lessened the
distance by leaps and scra