led to dust even while
he worshipped.

He found a flask thrown from some camper's pack, and filled it with
water at the mountain stream that rushed by a few rods below the
cabin. He placed the liquid to the boy's lips and fancied that some
drops found entrance. He had staunched the wound as best he could
with fragments torn from the lining of his coat, and he sat down
again to watch. Until morning he could do nothing more. Then some
camper, lumberman, or surveyor might happen along the road. If not,
he would have to move Allan at all risks.

It took time for him to realize the utterness with which his plans
had collapsed. As the night wore on he was able to weigh his disaster
in a more balanced mind, but its magnitude grew in the weighing. From
prosperous ambition he had been swept in an hour to penniless ruin.
His destruction was almost complete. The old farm, the scene of his
labours--his and Mary's--was gone. If Allan should die there remained
nothing more.

Suddenly he fancied he heard the sound of horses' hoofs in the clay
road along the hillside, now softened with the light rain. The sound
ceased as suddenly as it began, and it occurred to him that it might
be one of the robbers returning. The lantern was burning low, but as
a precaution he now turned it quite out. There were some cartridges
in Allan's pocket; he felt for them and decided to bring the gun out
of the cabin. But before he could put this decision into effect he
observed the form of a man moving silently but briskly toward the
cabin. He held his breath and remained obscured in the bushes. Dimly
he discerned the form stop at the door and peer into the darkness.

There was no doubt in the mind of Harris as to the evil intent of the
visitor. He had come on horseback near the building, and had then
dismounted and stole up to it on foot. That, in itself was
sufficiently incriminating. One who was riding through the mountains
on a legitimate errand, and who knew nothing of the night's affray,
would take no such precautions. Unarmed as he was, Harris resolved
that the robber, probably the murderer of his son, should not on any
account escape him. With the blanket which he had brought to cover
Allan was a bag in which they had carried oats for their horses; this
he found in the darkness, and stole after his victim. He overtook him
standing at the door, in apparent hesitancy whether to enter the
building. Without an instant's warning Harris threw the bag