"Did you hit him?" I asked.

"To be sure; both shots told," was the satisfactory reply.

"Who was the scamp? Did you recognize him?"

"Certainly; I could hardly fail to do that, when he bore your mark."

"How—my mark?" I asked in astonishment

"Yes; one of his eyes was black and blue, where you struck him last night."

"You mean to tell me that it was Kelly who sought my life?" I cried, recollecting that Mr. Wright had informed me that the fellow had left the farm the night before.

"If you don't believe it, you will find the body a few rods from here with two wounds—one on the right shoulder and the second through the body."

"I have no desire to see it," I replied; "let us continue our journey, and leave the scene of so disagreeable a necessity."

If Mr. Brown did not utter a prayer of thanksgiving for his escape, I am certain that I did; and it was a sincere one at that, for nothing but an overruling Providence could have saved one from the effects of two shots at a short distance.