Page:Randall Parrish--My Lady of the South.djvu/272

MY LADY OF THE SOUTH "That was no vision, no spectre which I saw," she insisted. "See! there is a spot of blood on the screen. She came directly toward me out of that hole, creeping on all fours like a wild beast. I was near the head of the stairs endeavoring to hear what you were saying below. Something made me turn suddenly, and I saw her—saw her eyes, her claw-like fingers, the flash of a knife in her hand. Oh, it frightened me so: I stood there like a bird fascinated by a snake, but I had the revolver in my hand, and pulled the trigger—see! there is where the first ball went, straight down into the floor! I thought you would hear and come; but the sound of the shot nerved me, and, the second time, I fired straight at her, and—and—and she cried out sharply, and seemed to fade into that blackness there like a ghost. But it was no ghost; ghosts don't leave blood-stains behind them, and that is blood there on the screen."

Masterson edged forward, with cocked carbine, and bent down to examine the stain.

"It's blood all right, Lieutenant," he announced cheerfully, evidently relieved himself. "Whatever the young lady saw, an' took a pop at, was human enough, an' I guess we ain't got no cause to be held back here by no one woman an' a knife."

There was considerable sense in that.

"True for you, Corporal. Miss Denslow, let me have the revolver again. I'll go in first with the lantern, and you men follow as rapidly as possible. Masterson, help the lady, and don't leave her alone for a moment." [ 258 ]