It did not occur to him to bring the note, unopened, to Ray Brent.  As yet he did not fully understand; yet he knew that the issue was one of seconds. Seconds must decide everything; his whole world hung in the balance.  His hand ripped apart the sealed fold, and he held the sheet before his eyes.

Possessing only an elementary education Jeffery Neilson was not, ordinarily, a fast reader.  Usually he sounded out his words only with the greatest difficulty.  But to-day, one glance at the page conveyed to him the truth:  from half a dozen words he got a general idea of the letter’s full, dread meaning.  Ben had written: 

    TO NEILSON AND HIS GANG:—­

    When you get this, Beatrice will be on her way to Back There—­either
    there or on her way to hell.

Ezra Melville was my pard.  A letter leaving his claim to me is in my pocket, and I alone know where Hiram’s will is, leaving it to Ezram.  Your title will never stand as long as those papers aren’t destroyed.  If you don’t care enough about saving your daughter from me, at least you’ll want those letters.  Come and get them.  I’ll be waiting for you.

    BEN DARBY.

As the truth flashed home, Neilson’s first thought was of his rifle.  He was a wilderness man, trained to put his trust in the weapon of steel; and if it were only in his hands, there might yet be time to prevent the abduction.  One well-aimed bullet over the water, shooting with all his old-time skill, might yet hurl the avenger to his death in the moment of his triumph.  Just one keen, long gaze over the sights,—­heaven or earth could not yield him a vision half so glorious as this!  For all his terror he knew that he could shoot as he had never shot before, true as a light-ray.  His remorseless eyes for once could see clear and sure.  One shot—­and then Beatrice could seize the paddle and save herself.  And he cursed himself, more bitterly than he had ever cursed an enemy, when his empty hands showed him that he had left his rifle in his cabin.

His pistol, however, was at his belt, and his hand reached for it.  But the range was already too far for any hope of accurate pistol fire.  His hard eyes gazed along the short, black barrel.  His steady finger pressed back against the trigger.

The first shot fell far short.  The pistol was of large caliber but small velocity; and a hundred yards was its absolute limit of point-blank range.  He lifted the gun higher and shot again.  Again he shot low.  But the third bullet fell just a few feet on the near side of the canoe.

He had the range now, and he shot again.  It was like a dream, outside his consciousness, that Beatrice was screaming with fear and amazement.  She was already too far to give or receive a message:  all hope lay in the pistol alone.  The fifth shot splashed water beyond the craft.

Once more he fired, but the boat was farther distant now, and the bullet went wild.  The pistol was empty.  Like a moose leaping through a marsh he turned back to his cabin for his rifle.