Failing in this, she wiped up the water and thought no more about it. She had heard nothing in the night except the storm, which woke her two or three times. When Max came in with his news, which seemed to excite him happily, she put her coffee cup down quickly and, with the jerk natural to her when surprised, she repeated, “Broke jail! What do you mean?” “Mean what I say. Mr. Ralston has skipped. Three of them iron bars to the winder gone slick and clean. Must of took a giant’s strength to pull ’em out, though the old house is rotten as dirt. Fourth bar twisted all out of shape. Somebody must of got hurt on the sharp point, for there’s blood on it,—prints of the ends of fingers on the casin’ below,—not very big fingers, either, and jam up under the winder a large stone had been moved for somebody to stan’ on; somebody short, and round the stone was tracks ground down into the sand and mud, so deep that the rain didn’t wash ’em all away. Two tracks,—one a woman’s, sure. There must of been a big tussle right there under the eaves; then there ain’t no more tracks to be seen, nor nothin’ to tell which way they went.” “Thank the Lord for that!” Miss Hansford said, and Max continued: “Who do you s’pose the woman was?” “How should I know?” Miss Hansford replied, thinking the same thought with Max, who went on: “Between you and I, I b’lieve ’twas Miss Ralston, for who but his mother would go out such an awful night. Rained cats and dogs. I never heard bumpiner thunder, nor seen streakeder lightnin’. Struck two trees and a barn at Still Haven. Folks think she must have had a hand in it and don’t seem much sorry that he’s cut and run. That evidence yestiddy was tellin’ and sure to convict him. But the law must be vin-di-ca-ted, you know, and they’ll have to pretend to hunt for him, of course. You don’t know nothin’ about it, do you?” “No, I don’t,” Miss Hansford replied, bristling at once. “Have you come with a writ to search my house? If so, go ahead, and when you are through, I’ll take you by the scruff of your neck and pitch you down the steps.” “Easy, easy,” Max said, good-humoredly. “I hain’t no writ. I only wanted to warn you that they was goin’ to search Miss Percy’s and your house, and the Ralston’s, as the three most likely places where he’d be hid. I didn’t want you to be took unawares, if he happened to be here.” “He ain’t here, I tell you,” Miss Hansford said, and Max rejoined: “Of course he ain’t. He ain’t nowheres, and I hope he’ll stay there. I’d help get him off the island, I do believe. Where’s Miss Elithe?” “Bed and asleep; all wore out,” was Miss Hansford’s reply. “Should s’pose she would be. ’Twas awful the way they put her through yestiddy. Well, I must go over to the Ralston’s. Good day!”