As they went forth, John Grayson thought once more of the last words he had heard his father say, "The dark river turns to light."

It was the morning of Christmas Day, 1895.


Chapter XVII A GREAT CRIME

"The clinging children at their mother's knee

Slain; and the sire and kindred one by one

Flayed or hewn piecemeal; and things nameless done

Not to be told: while imperturbably

The nations gaze, where Rhine unto the sea,