A few nights afterwards there was a lurid glare in the sky.

It was red, and sinister, and quivering.

What could it mean?

Was it a celestial portent which thus wrote itself upon the face of the heavens?

The villagers assembled in alarm.

"Why, it's Duquette's place on fire!"

Yes, the homestead had been fired, and the conflagration made a red, ragged hole in the blackness of the night!

[ [!-- H2 anchor --] ]

CHAPTER XVII. SUSPICION FALLS UPON DONALD, AND A WARRANT IS ISSUED AGAINST HIM.

This was the second act in the drama.