Just then the sound of a shot rang out on the stillness of the summer air, and Viola became limp and apparently lifeless in her lover's arms. Zibe Turner, the monster dwarf, had come to the clearing in the nick of time. He saw the open door. He beheld the rescuer bearing out the captive in his arms. Murder sprang up at once in his heart. He decided to kill the preacher then and there. This he had wanted to do for a long time. But the excitement of the occasion and his own dreadful hate unsteadied his nerves a trifle. When putting his rifle to his shoulder, he aimed at Very's heart, crying out: "Dat's my holt!" The bullet missed its mark, and entered the right shoulder of the lovely Viola. When the dwarf saw the unexpected result of his shot, even his resolution failed him, and he proceeded no further with his murderous work. Jasper Very looked down on the senseless form of his beloved, and cried out in the bitter agony of his soul: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Holding her as he would a little child in his arms, he strode out of the clearing. Quickly coming to his horse, Bob, he unhitched his rein, and holding the unconscious girl tenderly but firmly in his left arm, he swung into the saddle. With anguish in his soul and unaccustomed tears in his blue eyes, he pressed one kiss upon the pale lips of her who was dearer to him than life. Holding her in as comfortable position as possible, he started down the knob. Viola gave little if any signs of life. She was wholly unconscious, her face was as pale as death, her eyes were closed, there was no perceptible pulse. Jasper rode as carefully as possible, but was a considerable time reaching the more open section of the country. At last he came to the very primitive road along which he had not ridden far, when he beheld approaching the horse and buggy he had requested Susanna to get. Susanna was the driver, and was amazed at what she saw--her Sunday School teacher lying like one dead on the preacher's arm. Time was too precious for many words of explanation, and it was the work of only a minute or two to place Viola in the buggy, and for Jasper to get in beside her. Susanna rode Bob. Jasper Very's plan was to take the wounded maiden to Mart Spink's house, and then to hurry for medical help, if she were living. Driving as rapidly as was consistent with the seriousness of the case, they at last reached the home of Susanna. The daughter rushed into the house and told her mother the tragic story in brief. The woman was greatly shocked, and at once went to the buggy and told Jasper Very that Viola could be put into a bedroom adjoining the one in which her husband lay. Mart Spink was much better now. Such is the way of chills and fever. Jasper, seeing faint signs of life in Viola, left her to the tender ministries of Mrs. Spink and Susanna, while he rode with all haste for a doctor who lived several miles away.