back. He was white to the lips, and she could see he could scarce
stand, even with the support of the pine trunk. His face was bruised
and battered. His hat was gone; and hidden somewhere in his crisp
short hair was a cut from which blood dripped to the forehead. The
bound arm had been torn from its bandages in the unequal battle he had
fought. But for all his desperate plight he still carried the
invincible look that nothing less than death can rob some men of.

The fretted moonlight, shifting with the gentle motion of the foliage
above, fell full upon him now and showed a wet, red stain against the
white shirt. Simultaneously outraged nature collapsed, and he began to
sink to the ground.

Arlie gave a little cry and ran forward. Before he reached the ground
he had fainted; yet scarcely before she was on her knees beside him
with his head in her arms.

"Bring water, Dick, and tell Doc Lee to come at once. He'll be in the
back room smoking. Hurry!" She looked fiercely round upon the men
assembled. "I think they have killed him. Who did this? Was it you,
Yorky? Was it you that murdered him?"

"I bane t'ink it take von hoondred of them to do it," said Siegfried.
"Dat fallar, Johnson, he bane at the bottom of it."

"Then why didn't you kill him? Aren't you Steve's friend? Didn't he
save your life?" she panted, passion burning in her beautiful eyes.

Siegfried nodded. "I bane Steve's friend, yah! And Ay bane kill
Johnson eef Steve dies."