The speculator assented, and Hartly procured a wide board, and laid the limp form upon it. Then raising the primitive litter between them, they left the bluff and took to the lonely country road, which they followed until they came to a rude shanty, standing in the edge of the woods. They bore their burden into the only room and deposited it upon a couple of stools. Hartly then turned to Mr. Thornton. "You are a stranger to us, sir," he said, "but would you kindly remain here until I can go to a neighboring town and make arrangements for her burial?" "Certainly, my boy." "Then I will go and send the undertakers at once to take charge of the remains. If I do not return with the undertakers, let them remove the body, and I will see you later, perhaps." He then kissed the lips and forehead of the dead girl, and took his departure. Once outside, his whole demeanor underwent a change. His face became stern and hard in its expression, and his eyes gleamed with a wild light that could hardly have been pronounced sane. "First the house!" he muttered, between his clinched teeth; "then I will see to the burial. After that revenge!"--words uttered with a power of feeling, which bespoke grim resolution. Hurrying back to the bluff he entered the building, and from the pantry brought an oil-can and poured oil about in a number of different places, applying a lighted match to each. As a result, bright sheets of flame sprung up, and, in less time almost than it takes to tell it, the interior of the old rookery was on fire in several places. Then, with a wild laugh, he turned and fled from the building, and disappeared from the vicinity of the bluff. The old house was doomed. And in the doorless, windowless trap-room, where he had so unexpectedly become imprisoned, was Fritz, in the most unenviable situation one could well conceive. * * * * * Captain Gregg, as we shall henceforth call him, learned of Silly Sue's death shortly after it occurred through the Irishman, who, while pretending to leave the spot, had scouted around, and lurked in the vicinity until Hartly and Mr. Thornton had departed with the body. Gregg was both alarmed and surprised when he heard the news, and immediately sought the countess for consultation. He had no idea he had done the girl any fatal bodily injury. If she was dead, and the cause of her death came to be known, he well knew that he would be called upon to answer to the law. The countess listened to his recital of Grogan's report, the lines in her thin face growing even harder than were their wont. "I feared zis," she said. "You were ver' mooch savage!" "What do you advise?" "Zat we remain where we be for ze present. You say zis stranger be an old enemy of yours?" "Yes. Doubly so now, from a fact that he is the father of Grif's prisoner, that's locked up in the dungeon." "Humph! zis is bad! Vare be ze Dutchman?" "There is no telling. Perhaps Griffith will know when he comes."