It lit up the scene with a light vivid as that of day, and in the white heart of it Muller saw his two companions in crime and their horses as the great king saw the men in the furnace.

They were about forty paces from him on the crest of the bank.

He saw them, one moment erect; the next--men and horses falling this way and that prone to the earth.

Then it was dark again.
Muller staggered with the shock, and when it had passed he rushed to the spot, calling the men by name; but no answer came except the echo of his voice.

He was there alone now, and the moonlight began to struggle faintly through the rain.