“A voice you knew?” repeated Mrs. Fortescue questioningly, but the man hurried on, in a voice broken by excitement:
“You may be sure that Mandy and I obeyed him fast enough, ma’am, and found out when we got in the pit that the man had been shot in the shoulder, and that the woman with him was apparently dead.”
“This is terrible!” shuddered Mrs. Fortescue.
“I should say so, indeed, ma’am,” answered Sam Cline, continuing. “The man told me he heard screams from the pit, and running to it, saw the woman being beaten to death by Zilla. He jumped down to her rescue, but just as he got the bear subdued, somebody fired down at him, and the ball went through his shoulder. He sank down with the pain, and grew weak with the blood spurting from the wound, just as we discovered him. Well, to make my story short, I tore off my shirt and bandaged his wound, Mandy fighting off the bears that went wild at smelling the blood. Then I took the dead woman in my arms, and Mandy led the half-swooning man, and so we got them to my cottage, and I telephoned for a doctor as soon as I could, and next thing, I posted up here to break the news to you and the young ladies about their brother.”
“Their brother!” exclaimed the old lady wonderingly, and he answered quickly:
“Yes, ma’am, their own brother, Mr. Charley Bonair, shot through the shoulder, and so upset by all he went through in the pit, that as soon as we got him in my house he fell down by the couch, where I laid the dead woman, and swooned with excitement, so I just left Mandy to revive him while I telephoned the doctor to come, and posted off up here.”
Mrs. Fortescue, pale and trembling, cried faintly:
“Are you sure you have not made a mistake, Sam Cline? My nephew is not even in San Francisco!”
“He landed from the yacht early yesterday evening, ma’am—he told me so—but he had not spoken to his sisters yet. He was in the grounds, coming home, I suppose, when he heard the shrieks from the pit, and ran to the lady’s assistance,” explained Sam Cline quickly.
“And the lady? Did you know her, Sam?”