both men had been
aboard the steamer, and later were put ashore at the mouth of the
Illinois. And now that I thought about it, why not? It was no
accident, and I wondered that the possibility had never occurred to me
before. The gambler naturally knew all the gossip of the river, and,
beyond question, he would be aware of the reported existence of this
underground station for runaway slaves. It was common talk as far down
as St. Louis, and his mind would instantly revert to the possibility
that the fleeing Rene might seek escape through the assistance of
Shrunk. The mysterious vanishing of the boat would serve to increase
that suspicion. Even if this had not occurred to him at first, the
steamer would have brought news that no keel-boat had been seen on the
lower river, while the captain of the _John B. Glover_, or someone else
on board, would have been sure to have mentioned the negro-helper and
suggest that he might have had a hand in the affair. To follow that
trail was, indeed, the most natural thing for Kirby to do.

And he had promptly accepted the chance; blindly, no doubt, and yet
guided by good fortune. He had not overtaken Rene, because she was not
yet there, but he had unexpectedly come upon the other fugitives, and,
even though the encounter had cost the life of his henchman, Carver, it
also resulted in the death of two men who had come between him and his
prey--the negro, and the abolitionist. The scene cleared in my brain
and became vivid and real. I could almost picture in detail each act
of the grim tragedy. The two revengeful trackers--if there were only
two engaged, for others might have been recruited on the steamer--must
have crept up to the hut in the night, or early morning. Possibly
Kirby had learned of some other means of approach from the direction of
the big river. Anyway, the fact that Shrunk had been trapped within
the cabin would indicate the final attack was a surprise. The negro
might have been asleep outside, and met his death in an attempt at
escape, but the old white man, finding flight impossible, had fought
desperately to the last and had killed one antagonist before receiving
his death blow. This was all plain enough, but what had become of
Kirby, of the two women--Eloise, and the quadroon mother?

I searched the cabin without uncovering the slightest trace of their
presence, or finding a single article which could be associated with
them. Kirby himself must have fle