"I've been tryin' to keep from killin' ye. Oh, don't move-don't fear
now; ye air as safe as ef ye were down in the camp. I seed ye that
night on the mount'in," he continued, pacing rapidly back and
forth. "I was waitin' fer ye. I meant to tell ye jest whut I'm goin' to
tell ye ter-night; 'n' when Easter come a-tearin' through the bushes,
'n' I seed ye-ye-a-standin' together "-the words seemed to stop in
his throat-" I knowed I was too late.

"I sot thar fer a minute like a rock, 'n' when ye two went back up
the mount'in, before I knowed it I was hyer in the house thar at the
fire mouldin' a bullet to kill ye with as ye come back. All at oncet
I heerd a voice plain as my own is at this minute:

"'Air you a-thinkin' 'bout takin' the life of a fellow-creatur, Sherd
Raines-you that air tryin' to be a servant o' the Lord?'"

"But I kept on a-mouldin', 'n' suddenly I seed ye a-layin' in the road
dead, 'n' the heavens opened 'n' the face o' the Lord was thar, 'n' he
raised his hand to smite me with the brand o' Cain-'n' look thar!"

Clayton had sat spellbound by the terrible earnestness of the man,
and as the mountaineer swept his dark hair back with one hand, he
rose in sudden horror. Across the mountaineer's forehead ran a
crimson scar yet unhealed. Could he have inflicted upon himself
this fearful penance?

Oh, it was only the moulds. I seed it all so plain that I throwed up
my hands, fergittin' the moulds, 'n' the hot lead struck me thar;
but," he continued, solemnly, "I knowed the Lord hed tuk that way