“Murder!”
“Nothing else. This morning he fired from a bush and missed my lieutenant here, or rather wounded him in the arm, though his intent was to kill.”
“The other?”
“That occurred to-night. The captain and his servant came down together to reconnoiter. While the captain was on one side of the building, his servant snapped a pistol at one of my officers through a chink in the logs. Then they climbed over the wall at the corner.”
“The devil!” cried Joseph.
“You see we were not altogether uninformed in regard to your movements, sir. You climbed over the wall and listened at the chink in the cabin. We whispered, and you could not hear what we said.”
“Are there devils upon earth?” muttered Joseph, in utter astonishment.
“Your man still wanted to fire, and you restrained him. You climbed the wall first, and as your back was turned, Carl fired the pistol, and missed. Is the account correct?”
“Perfectly. And now tell me, if you will do so, how you know all this?”
“Certainly. You were watched all the time. And since Mynheer Van Curter has thought proper to speak of one of my men, and of the punishment he intends to give him, let me say that I have my eye on this Carl Anselm. If he falls into my hands he shall not taste a whipping-post, but he shall have a ride on a higher horse than any he has ever saddled. And he will find it a tough colt to ride. I shall hang him as sure as my name is Holmes.”