should kill, or only alarm?

Was it intended that the Duquettes should recognize the desirability of
vacating the farm?

Who fired the shot?

Nothing was said openly about it; but the old people shook their heads,
and hinted that cowboys, with pistols ostentatiously stuck in their
belts, were not the most desirable residents of a quiet village like
Marsden.




CHAPTER XVI.

"BURNT A HOLE IN THE NIGHT."

That shot in the darkness furnished a theme for endless gossip amongst
the villagers. There was not much work done the next day. When the
exercise of the faculties is limited to considerations associated with
the rare occurrence of a wedding or a death, intellectual activity is
not great. Abstract reasoning is unknown; but a new objective fact
connected with the environment is seized upon with great avidity. That
shot was felt to be ominous. Was it the prologue to the tragedy? There
was to be something more than that shot.

What was it?