has not been shot,
but stabbed with a long sharp dirk or knife. He must have been taken
unawares, for he seems to have made no effort to defend himself."

"Here is his hat," cried another. "The back of it is all battered and
crushed in. He has been knocked down and then stabbed. Oh, that
Martin--that infernal villain!"

Whenever I heard Martin reproached as the murderer, I fancied that those
dead eyes of my master looked into my soul with a mournful scorn. Yet I
lacked the moral courage to say, "I am the man."

We formed a litter of boughs, and carried the body up to the Hall. We
had not proceeded many steps on our sad journey, before Norton stumbled
over something in the path. It was the bloody knife.

"Here is something that will give a clue to the mystery. By Jove! Bill
Martin's American knife. He was showing this wicked-looking blade and
bragging about it the other night at the White Horse. Murder will out.
If evidence were wanted of his guilt, this knife would hang him. Faugh!
the blood is still wet upon the blade."

The knife passed from hand to hand, and to mine among the rest. I did
not see the blood. It appeared to me red-hot--to glow and flicker with
the flames of hell.

It was the dawn of day when we reached the Hall with our melancholy
burthen. The fatal news had travelled there before us. Half the
inhabitants of the village were collected on the lawn. The old servants
were standing on the steps to receive the body of their master. As we
drew near, cries and groans arose on every side.

"This is a bad job for you, Noah," said the old butler--"for us all; but
especially for you. He was your best friend."

"It is a loss to the whole country," I cried, mournfully, shaking my
head.

"And Adam Hows is off with the money!" said the steward, with a sharp
eager face.

"So we suppose. Martin has been searched, but there is none in his
possession. I hope the other rascal will be taken."

"Come with us, Noah, into the kitchen," cried several of the servants in
a breath, "and tell us all about it. They say it was you who discovered
the murder, and took the villain at the risk of your life. Come in, and
take a glass of hot stuff, and give us all the particulars."

And I had to endure a fresh species of torture in recapitulating all the
circumstances that I dared reveal of that revolting act; to listen to,
and join in all their comments, doubts and surmises, and answer all the
agonizing questions suggested