ace suddenly grew
white. He flung the heavy bag from off his back, and grasping his
gun more firmly in his hands, he rushed through the narrow pathway;
and came out upon the clearing around the little farmstead.

In the morning he had left it, smiling in the autumn sunshine, a
peaceful, prosperous-looking place, homely, quaint, and bright. Now
his eyes rested upon a heap of smoking ruins, trampled crops, empty
sheds; and upon a still more horrible sight--the remains of mangled
corpses tied to the group of trees which sheltered the porch. It
was enough to curdle the blood of the stoutest hearted, and freeze
with horror the bravest warrior.

Humphrey was no warrior, but a strong-limbed, tender-hearted youth;
and as he looked at the awful scene before him, a blood-red mist
seemed to swim before his eyes. He gasped, and clutched at the
nearest tree trunk for support. Surely, surely it was some fever
dream which had come upon him. It could not, it should not be a
terrible reality.

"Humphrey, Humphrey! help, help!"

It was the strangled, muffled cry again. The sound woke the young
man from his trance of horror and amazement. He uttered a hoarse
cry, which he scarcely knew for his own, and dashed blindly
onwards.

"Here, here! This way. By the barn! Quick!"

No need to hasten Humphrey's flying feet. He rushed through the
trampled fields. He gained the clearing about the house and its
buildings. He reached the spot indicated, and saw a sight he would
never forget.

His brother Charles was tightly, cruelly bound to the stump of a
tree which had been often used for tethering animals at milking
time just outside the barn. His clothes were half torn from off his
back, and several gaping, bleeding wounds told of the fight which
had ended in his capture. Most significant of all was the long
semicircular red line round the brow, where the scalping knife had
plainly passed.

Humphrey's stout knife was cutting through the cruel cords, even
while his horrified eyes were taking in these details.

When his brother was released, he seemed to collapse for a moment,
and fell face downwards upon the ground, a quiver running through
all his limbs, such as Humphrey had seen many a time in some wild
creature stricken with its death wound.

He uttered a sharp cry of terror and anguish, and averting his eyes
from the awful sights with which the place abounded, he dashed to
the well, and bringing back a supply of pure cold water, flu