e. You must fill in the gaps which I leave for yourself. Before
I left, Charlie came here. He tried to stop me. I know why. He had
some premonition of disaster. I, too, had the same premonition, but--I
was quite reckless. He refused me his wagon, but I took it in spite of
him. I had to have it. We quarreled for the first time. He left me in
anger, and--I went. Everything was carried through successfully. I was
in the road on Monday night with the cargo. I was keeping abreast of
the wagon, in my buckboard, away to the south of it. I intended to
make a quiet dash while you were busy with the boat and wagon. But my
star was not in the ascendant.

"While I was waiting for the moment to arrive I suddenly heard the
firing, and I knew at once that the game was up. It was no longer
simply smuggling. To me such shooting meant killing--and that----" she
shuddered. "Perhaps I lost my head. I don't know. I raced for it. You
came after me. One of my horses stumbled, and when it recovered I
found it was dead lame. I had a saddle horse with me. You were hard
on my heels by then. I abandoned the buckboard and cargo, and took to
the saddle. I was keeping well ahead of you, and was only a short
distance from the village. I raced down the hill to the culvert over
the hay slough. As I did so I saw two horsemen coming in the opposite
direction. I believed them to be police. I swung out to the south,
intending to take the slough at a jump, and get away toward the
border. Too late I realized the slough's miry state. I tried to get
back to the culvert, but my horse failed me. The troubled beast
floundered, then he fell, and my head struck the culvert."

Kate was breathing quickly. The horror of it all was getting hold of
her. But she went on in broken jerky sentences.

"When I opened my eyes, Charlie was bending over me. I told him what
had happened. Then he passed me over to Bill, and I fainted again.
When I awoke I was here--at home. Bill had brought me here, and I know
now what Charlie must have done."

Fyles nodded.

"He took your place, and drew us after him," he said. Then, after a
pause. "Say, he did a big thing, Kate, and--he did it with his eyes
wide open."

But Kate was not listening. Tears were coursing down her cheeks, and
she sat a poor, suffering, bowed creature whose spirit could no longer
support the strain of her remorse. Her confession was complete, and
again the horrors of her earlier sufferings were assailing her
we