Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/132

  I would advise shooting him,' said I. 'He requires to be shot, and I do not think that we should waste much time about it. If you do not care to shoot him, I will do so myself,' I added. Personally, his death was necessary to our safety in a way, yet that did not occur to me. I was thinking of the diary, the little blue pillow and the deaf-mute girl.

" 'It makes no difference,' said Lynch, and his hand tightened on the stock of the revolver; then he suddenly paused—and I guessed why.

" 'She cannot hear, ' I said. 'She is deaf.'

That is so—I overlooked the fact,' softly.

"McAdoo was watching Lynch in a fascinated way—and I was watching McAdoo. When the report came he pitched forward, and I scrambled to my feet and rescued the little blue pillow."

Leyden was silent—and so was I. He did nothing, said nothing, but we both sat and watched the growing lights in the sea, the in crease in the phosphorescence as the moon set. [ 116 ]