Now his-movements became less deliberate.  He felt that he must get away from that horrid sight.  He rose swiftly, with a display of that agility which the unfortunate Horrocks had seen.  He glanced about the room and took his bearings.  He strode to the lamp and put it out.  Then he groped his way to the window and took down his bandanna; stealthily, and with a certain horror, he felt his way in the darkness to the door.  He opened it and passed out.

CHAPTER XXVIII

SETTLING THE RECKONING

Jacky stood at the gate of the fifty-acre pasture.  She had been standing there for some minutes.  The night was quite dark; there was no moon.  Her horse, Nigger, was standing hitched to one of the fence posts a few yards away from her and inside the pasture.  The girl was waiting for “Lord” Bill.

Not a sound broke the stillness of the night as she stood listening.  A wonderful calmness was over all.  From her position Jacky had seen the light shining through the window of the implement shed.  Now the shed was quite dark—­the window had been covered.  She knew that her uncle and Lablache were there.  She was growing impatient.

Every now and then she would turn her face from the contemplation of the blackness of the distant end of the field to the direction of the settlement, her ears straining to catch the sound of her dilatory lover’s coming.  The minutes passed all too swiftly.  And her impatience grew and found vent in irritable movements and sighs of vexation.

Suddenly her ears caught the sound of distant cries coming from the settlement.  She turned in the direction.  A lurid gleam was in the sky.  Then, as she watched, the glare grew brighter, and sparks shot up in a great wreathing cloud of smoke.  The direction was unmistakable.  She knew that Lablache’s store had been fired.

“Good,” she murmured, with a sigh of relief.  “I guess Bill’ll come right along now.  I wish he’d come.  They’ve been in that shack ten minutes or more.  Why don’t he come?”

The glare of the fire fascinated her, and her eyes remained glued in the direction of it.  The reflection in the sky was widespread and she knew that the great building must be gutted, for there was no means of putting the fire out.  Then her thoughts turned to Lablache, and she smiled as she thought of the surprise awaiting him.  The sky in the distance grew brighter.  She could only see the lurid reflection; a rising ground intervened between her and the settlement.

Suddenly against the very heart of the glare the figure of a horseman coming towards her was silhouetted as he rode over the rising ground.  One glance sufficed the girl.  That tall, thin figure was unmistakable—­her lover was hastening towards her.  She turned to her horse and unhitched the reins from the fence post.

Presently Bill came up and dismounted.  He led Golden Eagle through the gate.  The greeting was an almost silent one between these two.  Doubtless their thoughts carried them beyond mere greetings.  They stood for a second.