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Was I justified in this course of action? I had followed the impulse of passion, the sting of Le Gaire's blow driving all other memory from me. But now I realized the peril in which my action might involve others, the men under my command, for instance, and wondered what Billie would think and say when the news of the quarrel reached her.
Without a tremor, my mind clear and alert, I advanced to the point designated, and stood erect, facing the south; an instant, and Le Gaire's shoulders were touching mine. "Now listen closely," said Hardy, his voice sounding strangely far off, yet each word distinct. "I am to give the first word, and Bell the second. When I say 'forward' you will take ten paces go slowly and halt.
I had loosened the rein, my hand on the pommel, when the thought came that I must tell her first before I rode away. Even though the delay was a risk to us both, yet she must understand the truth, be informed of Le Gaire's condition, and why I had attacked him. At the instant this last seemed more important than all else.
"No, the ball struck my revolver case, and made me sick for a moment." "No fault of Le Gaire's the noise of the horses shattered his aim. Lord! how I despise such a cowardly whelp!" He flung the man from him so violently he fell to his knees on the ground.
All this swept through my brain as I listened to the hoofs of Le Gaire's horse pound the gravel outside, the sound dying away in the distance. The sentinel marched slowly past the window, his figure silhouetted against the red glow of a camp-fire inside the gate. Then, without a warning sound, the door was pushed ajar, and the girl slipped silently through.
Some way, his brief explanation had merely served to confirm her previous opinion that the captain had been the one injured such an impression she could have derived only from Le Gaire. It was equally clear I could not explain. She would scarcely believe any effort to defend myself. Why should she think me capable of a dastardly act? Why believe Le Gaire's hasty lie, and refuse me even a hearing?
"Good-morning, gentlemen," I said easily. So far as Slade was concerned it was evident that all he saw was the uniform, his revolver instantly covering me, held in a hand steady as rock; he even grinned amiably across the barrel. But the expression on Le Gaire's face changed from startled surprise to relief.
She never moved, her eyes on my face. "Then then will you permit my father to come to me?" "Certainly perhaps we will know then how this occurred." "Is that your revolver lying there?" I had forgotten the weapon, but perceived it now, on the floor just beyond Le Gaire's head. "Yes, it was dropped when I fell," I took a step toward her. "You will go back, will you not?"
Instead, he evidently stole into the house. He was Captain Le Gaire's son by a slave mother. Bell told me later that the mother was sent back into the fields, and died as a result. That would account for the hate the boy felt against the father." "How how old was he?" her trembling lips white. "Not over eighteen." Billie hid her face on my shoulder, sobbing silently.
No one attempted to answer. Then I said, "The only thing I have noticed which might be a clue is this: when I first came in through the kitchen I discovered a clod of fresh clay dirt on the back stairs. I supposed it had dropped from Le Gaire's boots. But there's no sign of yellow clay on his boots now. It must have been some one else." "Trailin' the poor devil," ejaculated Miles. "But who was he?
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