"So, then, you could not overtake them?" he said, and, if Granite had not seen Power when the blow fell, he would never have estimated the volcanic fury of the furnace hidden under Power's unemotional voice and manner. "No, sir," came the quiet answer. "Thar was hosses in waitin', three hosses. They've circled the head of the lake, an' I saw Mrs. Power's dress as they rode away from the hotel." The perplexed guide deemed it best to blurt out the actual facts. He thought, and rightly so, that any attempt to minimize the full extent of the tragedy would only add to Power's suffering when he knew the truth. Nor was he comforted in the least by the unnatural calm with which his news was received. "But, look-a here, Mr. Power!" he protested earnestly. "I'm ready to swear on the biggest Testament ever prent that your good lady didn't vamoose of her own free will. Leave you? Gol-darn it, that's a bit too rich fur me ter believe! Who's tuk her, anyhow? Why did she go? What sort of a spiel did the cuss put up that she walked off with him--when she had a gun, an' Guess was here, an' she must ha seen you an' me comin' in the canoe?" "The man was her father. This quarrel is between him and me. Peter, we must cross the lake at once. We can hire horses at the hotel?" Granite shook his head sorrowfully. The affair was beyond his comprehension; but it was his business to undeceive his employer if he was counting on the chance of overtaking the vanished pair. "Sorry," he said. "This yer plot was well laid. They run three nags at the hotel, an' the hull blamed bunch hit the pike fur Racket." Racket was the nearest station, the terminus of a short railway serving the Forked Lake district. It lay six miles away! With the start Willard had secured, he would be at the rail-head before the others had crossed the lake. But Power knew he would go mad if compelled to remain in the cabin when Nancy was not there, and Granite made no further effort to detain him. "We'll travel a heap quicker if we unload them stores," was all he said, and Power turned instantly to help in the work. When Peter had occasion to enter the cabin, he examined the gun, and found the two cartridges. "Gosh!" he muttered. "She tuk 'em out herself. I allow she didn't want ter shoot her own father; but she must hev' damn well felt like it!" Then he eyed the dog. "Wish you could talk, Pup," he said. "Your long lugs heerd what passed atween them two, an' I guess it kinder tried you good hard ter keep yer teeth outen that old sinner's leg."