Page:Barbour--Joan of the ilsand.djvu/69

Rh naturally addicted; and moreover she was fully conscious that she had been terribly afraid. Not, however, that she had wanted to scream out or do anything foolish. Quite early in the running fight a small pellet of lead had hit her on the forehead. It was only a tiny fragment, and it had no force behind it, but from that moment onward she had been obsessed with the fear that a bullet would strike her in the face.

"Well, he found he'd bitten off more than he could chew that time," Trent said thoughtfully a few moments later, as he watched the disappearing schooner through narrowed eyes. "I wish I could think that was the last we were likely to see of the brute. Yes, Joan, I know what's in your head, only you're too decent to say 'I told you so.' You sized him up before I did, but even you never guessed he'd try to murder us."

"I certainly never guessed I should ever find myself trying to murder him," the girl replied. "But don't you think he has learned a lesson that may teach him not to try poaching on our preserves again?"

Chester shook his head dubiously.

"He isn't that kind, I'm afraid," he said. "By the way, Keith, we're no end obliged to you. I don't know whether you expected to find that perfect peace which passeth all understanding on our little island, but if you did you were certainly dis-