dropped to the ground, although Diamond tried to catch her in his arms.
Thornton, the smoking pistol in his hand, stood staring, as if turned to stone.
"Good gracious!" gasped Willis Paulding. "You have shot somebody, Thornton, deah boy!"
"There must have been some mistake," said Tad Horner. "It seems that there was a bullet in your pistol, Tom!"
Thornton hurried forward and looked down at the fallen girl, whose eyes were closed, and whose face seemed ghastly pale in the white moonlight.
"It is Miss Darling!" came hoarsely from Tom. "I have killed her!"
"Don't let the murderer escape!" cried Diamond, sternly. "Seize him and his second! They are both guilty!"
"Excuse me!" fluttered Willis Paulding. "I think I will go right away, don't yer 'now!"
Then he took to his heels, and ran, as if pursued by a hundred officers of the law.
Thornton was scarcely less terrified, and he slipped