Danny's dilated eyes flashed fire. But he was otherwise outwardly quiet and calm. "Where's that other fellow--Christian?" said Kisseck. "_He_ has led me into all this cursed mess." "That's a lie," said Danny, with the color gone from his cheeks. Kisseck walked across to him with uplifted arm. Never flinching, the lad waited for the blow. Kisseck dropped his hand. Curling his lip in biting mockery, he said, "What for is that she-devil sthrowling around here?" One bright spot of blood came into the lad's face, and as he drew in his breath it went through his teeth. But he was silent still. "She has the imperience of sin," said Kisseck. "If she comes here she'll suffer for it." Danny walked to the door and pushed the bolt. Kisseck laughed bitterly. "I knew it," he said. "I knew she was in it. But I'll punish her. Out of the way, you idiot waistrel." There was a hurried step on the road outside. Danny put his back to the door. His eyes melted, and he cried beseechingly: "You'll not do that, Uncle Bill?" "Out of the road, you young pauper," cried Kisseck; and he took hold of Danny and thrust him aside. "You _shall not_ do it," screamed the lad, running to the hearth and snatching up a poker. All Danny's unnatural quiet had forsaken him. There was a knock at the door, and an impatient footstep to and fro. Kisseck walked into an inner room, and came back with a pistol in his hand. "Men, don't you see it plain? That woman is at the bottom of it all," he said, turning to Corteen and Killip, and pointing, as he spoke, to the door. "She brought us here to trap us, and now she has come to see if we are at home. She has the men from Castle Rushen behind her; but she shall pay for it with her life. Out of the way, I say. Out--of--the--way." Danny was standing again with his back to the door. He had the poker in his hand. Kisseck put the pistol on a table, and closed with Danny to push him aside. There was a terrible struggle. Amid curses from Kisseck and shouts from Corteen and Killip, the poker was wrenched from Danny's grasp and thrown on the floor. The lad himself was dragged away from the door, and the bolt was drawn. Then in an instant Danny rushed to the table and picked up the pistol. There was a flash, a deafening explosion, a shriek, a heavy fall, and Kisseck rolled on the floor dead. Danny staggered back to the door, the hot pistol still in his hand. He was petrified. His great eyes seemed to leap out of his head. When the smoke cleared he saw what he had done. His lips moved, but no words came from him. The other men were speechless. There was a moment of awful silence. Then, once more, there came a knock at the door against which Danny leaned. Another knock. No answer. Another--louder. Still no reply. "Bridget," cried a voice from without. It was Mona's voice. "Bridget, let me in. What has happened?" No one stirred. "Bridget, they are coming. Tell the men to go off to sea."