Involuntarily the man's hand closed tightly
upon the youth's.
And as they stood thus the silence was shattered by
a loud and human sneeze from the thicket not fifty feet
from where they stood. Instantly the girl in the clearing
was electrified into action. Like a tigress charging those
who stalked her she leaped swiftly across the clearing
toward the point from which the disturbance had come.
There was an answering commotion in the underbrush
as the girl crashed through, a slender knife gleaming in
her hand.
Bridge and his companions heard the sounds of a
swift and short pursuit followed by voices, one master-
ful, the other frightened and whimpering; and a moment
afterward the girl reappeared dragging a boy with her
--a wide-eyed, terrified, country boy who begged and
blubbered to no avail.
Beside the dead man the girl halted and then turned
on her captive. In her right hand she still held the
menacing blade.
"What you do there watching me for?" she demanded.
"Tell me the truth, or I kill you," and she half raised
the knife that he might profit in his decision by this
most potent of arguments.
The boy cowered. "I didn't come fer to watch you,"
he whimpered.
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