covert in the
woods, but the girl satisfied to watch me intently as I moved
cautiously forward. A dozen steps brought me within view of the front
of the cabin. The door had been smashed in and hung dangling from one
hinge. Another step, now with a pistol gripped in my hand, enabled me
to obtain a glimpse within. Across the puncheon threshold, his feet
even protruding without, lay a man's body; beyond him, half concealed
by the shadows of the interior, appeared the outlines of another, with
face upturned to the roof, plainly distinguishable because of a
snow-white beard.

CHAPTER XVI

THE TRAIL OF THE RAIDERS

Shocked and unmanned as I was at this discovery, to pause there staring
at those gruesome figures would have only brought fresh alarm to the
two watching my every movement from the edge of the clearing. Gripping
my nerves I advanced over the first body, watchful for any sign of the
presence of life within the cabin. There was none--the work of the
murder had been completed, and the perpetrators had fled. I saw the
entire interior at a glance, the few articles of rude, hand-made
furniture, several overturned, the fire yet smouldering on the hearth,
some broken crockery, and pewter dishes on the floor, and on every side
the evidences of a fierce, brutal struggle. The dead man, with ghastly
countenance upturned to the roof rafters, and the snowy beard, was
undoubtedly the negro helper, Amos Shrunk. Pete's description of the
appearance of the man left this identification beyond all dispute. He
had been stricken down by a savage blow, which had literally crushed in
one side of his head, but his dead hands yet gripped a rifle, as though
he had fallen fighting to the last.

The other man, the one lying across the threshold, had been shot,
although I did not ascertain this fact until after I turned the body
over sufficiently to reveal the face. This was disfigured by the wound
and covered with blood, so that the features could scarcely be seen,
yet I instantly recognized the fellow--Carver. Surprised out of all
control by this unexpected discovery, I steadied myself against the log
wall, fully aroused to the sinister meaning of his presence. To a
degree the complete significance of this tragedy instantly gripped my
mind. It this fellow Carver had been one of the assailants, then it
was absolutely certain that Kirby must have also been present--the
leader of the attack. This inevitably meant that