“Will—you—not—speak?” he said hoarsely. “Speak, why—is—there—no—light?”
Sahanderry glanced in consternation at his companion. He moved uneasily. His lips parted as if in speech, but he answered never a word.
Roy waited, breathing quickly. Presently a look of suspicion passed over his face. “Speak, man, I command you!” he cried with greater force. “Is there a light?”
Throwing a desperate, imploring glance at Kasba, Sahanderry wrung his hands. “Yes,” he faltered, “but—,” he stopped suddenly, the unutterable despair on his master’s face held him tongue-tied.
For a few moments Roy lay silent, completely overcome by the sudden, appalling revelation; then, clutching convulsively at his eyes: “Oh, my God! my God! I am blind!” he moaned.
CHAPTER XVI.
RETRIBUTION.
The first grey streaks of a dawning day crept stealthily across the horizon, and gaining strength in their silent progress finally revealed a rough brushwood camp ensconsed in a good-sized bluff of trees.
The multitudinous tracks and well-trodden snow, the number of mutilated tree-stumps standing white and ragged—evidence that a quantity of wood had been cut quite lately—several large holes, blackened as by fires, and the general untidy aspect of the whole, told that the camp had been in use several days.
Early though the hour, the camp appeared deserted, but a closer inspection discovered the shadowy figure of a man seated in a corner of the barricade. He was muffled in a hairy-coat, with the hood drawn well over his head, and he sat silent and motionless, in the position of one wrapt in peaceful slumber, or absorbed in deep thought.
There were several peculiarities about this camp. Immediately behind the quiet figure a number of green spruce trees had been arranged to form an additional protection against the blast of a biting wind, while a pile of wood lay inside and close to the man’s hand. These unusual features spoke strongly of the presence of an invalid, or one incapacitated in some manner from moving easily about. There was one other odd thing, a revolver lay at the man’s right hand, fully charged and with its butt toward him, as if for instant use.