shadows of the covert. They were scarcely to be noticed twice. But not
even the savage grizzly was of such might; storms or seas were not so
deadly. There they were, inconspicuous among their sister plants,
waiting for her hand.

It was right that they should be black in color. Their blackness was as
of a black night without a star shining through,--a black cloud with
never a rainbow to promise hope. She could not turn her eyes away! How
black they were among the green leaves--lightless as death itself.

A handful of them meant death: her father had warned her about them long
ago. But half a handful--perhaps a dozen of the sable berries in the
palm of her hand--what did _they_ mean? Just a sickness wherein one
could no longer guard a prisoner. They were a powerful alkaloid, she
knew; and a dozen of them would likely mean hours and hours of deep,
dreamless sleep,--a sleep in which one could take no reckoning of hands
fumbling at a cartridge belt! Half a handful would, in all probability,
fail to strike the life from such a powerful frame as Ben's, but would
certainly act upon him like a powerful opiate and leave him helpless in
her hands.

Eagerly her fingers plucked the black berries.

XXXIII

In one of the tin cups Beatrice pressed the juice from the nightshade,
obtaining perhaps a tablespoonful of black liquor. To this she added
considerable sugar, barely tasting the mixture on the end of her finger.
The balance was inclining toward the success of her plan. The sugar
mostly killed the pungent taste of the berries.

Then she concealed the cup in a cluster of vines, ready for the moment
of need. Her next act was to procure from among the supplies the little
cardboard box containing half a dozen or so of her pistol shells. The
way of safety was to destroy these first. The effect of the poison might
be of only a few minutes' duration, and every motion might count. Under
any conditions, they would be out of the way. She was careful, with a
superlative cunning, to take the box as well as its contents. She
foresaw that in all likelihood Ben would seek the shells as soon as he
fired the few that remained in his pistol magazine; and an empty
container might put him upon his guard. On the other hand, if he could
not find the box at all, he could easily be led to believe that it had
been simply misplaced among the other supplies.

She scattered the shells in the heavy brush where not even the bright,
searching eyes