The Murder.
Tom Pagdin, Pirate. [Page 56.]
A murder had been committed right before their eyes! A human being had been stricken down, knifed, killed, almost at their feet.
Either boy felt that he could have screamed aloud, but the icy hand of fear was on the heart of each.
They dared not utter a word, but held one another, trembling, palpitating, sick with dread.
Then they heard other sounds. A groan, as if a dying man in agony, a muffled voice—which Tom described after as if someone had thrust a knife into cold meat—the noise of somebody dragging a heavy body along the ground, and then an ominous splash in the water, which sent their blood cold.
After this came an interval seemingly centuries in length. The murderer was groping for the lantern. He found and lit it, and holding it close to the ground, began scraping over the loose soil about the tree with his foot hurriedly—as Tom told Dave afterwards to cover up the blood.
Something, a wild animal, stirred in the bush. The assassin blew out the light again quickly. The stillness which followed was almost beyond their endurance.