“No need; here they are,” he said, in a low, excited tone, having already stepped to the door and laid his hand upon them.
He struck a match, lighted the candle, and glanced about the tiny apartment, the other men pressing up behind him and looking over his shoulder.
A shudder ran through the little group, and a low exclamation of horror burst from the lips of the young Connors; but the doctor and the captain, inured to scenes of blood and carnage by their experiences in the late war, viewed this one in awed silence. Yet only for an instant.
“Life may not be extinct!” exclaimed the doctor, hastily setting down the light and stooping over the prostrate, bleeding, and apparently lifeless form of the old man.
Belinda, lingering on the outside of the group, overheard the words with strangely mingled relief and terror. To think that he had been murdered was so horrible; yet if he were still alive and should recover consciousness and the power of speech! Ah, who could tell how much he knew or would be able to reveal of her complicity in the crime? Trembling and half fainting with fright she clutched at the wall of the cabin to keep from falling.
Her first impulse was to flee; but a second thought told her that would but confirm the suspicion of her guilt, were such once set afloat, while if she remained and bore herself with an air of innocence, the fact that she had promptly summoned assistance would be strong evidence in her favor.
She dropped down upon the floor, and leaning her head against the wall, listened intently for further sounds from within, though her heart was beating so loud that it seemed as if she could hear nothing else.
“He lives! he is reviving!” were the next words that reached her ear after what had seemed hours of waiting, though in reality but a very few moments had passed.
Then the old man spoke, feebly, tremulously, but quite distinctly. “He thought he’d finished me, the scoundrel! Run, somebody, and catch him! It’s Phelim O’Rourke; he’s robbed me! he’s got it all!” feeling for the belt he had worn about his waist. “And she—she’s hand and glove with him—curse her! take her too, and let the law deal with ’em both!”
“Who?” asked one of the bystanders.