As soon as I got free from Coombs I searched this floor, every inch of it, and found nothing, not even so much as a stain of blood.

The dead man was heavily built, and Sallie could never have lifted him alone.

There were others--men--concerned in the affair." "And you saw none ?" "Only a Creole who came down the bayou by boat just as I reached the bank.

He had some message for Coombs--a snaky-eyed little devil--but he had nothing to do with the removal of the body, for he was not out of my sight after he landed." Bewildered consternation was clearly manifested in the girl's white face, and yet there was a firmness to the lips that promised anything but surrender.

I was sufficiently a fighting man to comprehend the symptoms, and my own heart throbbed in quick response to her anticipated decision.