surprise he stirred instantly.

"What'ell!" he growled sleepily.

She stood motionless until he was breathing again with deep, even, heavy
throb. Gliding back to the table, she flashed the light again on the
bag and studied its position. His big neck rested squarely across it. To
move it without waking him was a physical impossibility.

Here was a dilemma she had not fully faced. She had not believed it
possible for him to place the bag where she could not get it. Her
only purpose up to this moment had been to take it and store it safely
beneath the soft earth in the inner recess of the cave. He would miss
it in the morning, of course. She would express her amazement. The bar
would be down from the front door. Someone had robbed him. The money
could never be found.

She had made up her mind to take it the moment he had convinced her that
his philosophy of life was true. His eloquence had transformed her
from an ignorant old woman, content with her poverty and dirt, into a
dangerous and daring criminal.

There was no such thing as failure to be thought of now for a moment.
The spade in the inner room of her store-house could be put to larger
use if necessary. With the strength of the madness now on her she could
carry his body on her back through the woods. The world would be none
the wiser. He had quarreled with his wife, and left her in a rage that
night. That was all she knew. The sheriff of neither county could
afford to bother his head long over an insolvable mystery. Besides, both
sheriffs were her friends.

Her decision was instantaneous when once she saw that it was safe.

She smiled over the grim irony of the thing--his words kept humming in
her ears, his voice, low and persuasive:

"Suppose now the man that got that money had to kill a fool to take
it--what of it? You don't get big money any other way!"

On the shelf beside the door was a butcher knife which she also used for
carving. She had sharpened its point that night to carve her Christmas
turkey next day.

She raised the torch and flashed its rays on the shelf to guide her
hand, crept to the wall, took down the knife and laid the electric torch
in its place.

Steadying her body against the wall, her arms outspread, she edged
her way behind the couch and bent over the sleeping man until by his
breathing she had located his heart.

She raised her tall figure and brought the knife down with a crash into
his breast. With a sudden wrench she dr