"Just now!"
"It can't have been the girl. She is in bed, under the doctor's care."
"But I saw her!" insisted the woman.
"We'll take a look around," answered the guardian of the law.
They commenced the search, but long before this was done Margaret had run back to the river. She dropped into the rowboat, and rowed off as swiftly as her failing strength would permit.
"Daddy is dead, after all!" she moaned, over and over again. "And she is dead, too! I remember it all, now. And the blood! Oh, I must get away, or they will hang me, or electrocute me!"
Five minutes more and the rowboat came to grief on some rocks close to the side of the stream. It commenced to fill with water, and Margaret had to wade ashore, which she did, slowly and deliberately, like one in a dream. Then she passed into the woods. Coming to a thick clump of bushes, she sank down exhausted, and there merciful sleep overtook her.
How long she slept, she did not know. The low growl of a dog aroused her. She sat up, and the growl of the dog became a heavy bark. Looking from out of the clump of bushes, she saw a mastiff standing there, eying her suspiciously.
"What is it, boy?" she heard a heavy voice ask. "A woodchuck? Never mind now, come on."
But the mastiff continued to bark, and came close enough to sniff at
Margaret's foot. She essayed to draw back, but was too weak to do so.