Suddenly the opportunity came. Once more the face appeared.

Barrows raised his rifle quick as thought.

Crack!

A wild cry went up, the sound of a falling body was heard, and then the tramping of feet and bitter curses.

Barrows knew that his shot had taken effect.

Then he changed his position. But not a sound or a sign of life came from the mysterious cabin.

“If they are in the cabin they are keeping mighty dark,” he muttered. “They surely must be there, for I have not seen them come out as yet.”

A great length of time had elapsed.

Certainly an hour and a half of waiting had passed, and Barrows felt that he must do something and at once.

“I shall die of worriment if I stay here,” he muttered. “Perhaps——”