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 chest; its muzzle covered the door. He tugged at the trigger with fingers scarcely adequate to the task—tugged, so it seemed to him, for hours. Then, suddenly, the trigger gave; there was a horrible, ear-splitting crash and roar that mingled with the piercing shriek of his mother…. Then all was silence, a dazed, stunned silence, while the room filled with the stinging fumes from the exploded cartridge.

Someone seemed to fumble uncertainly at the door; there was a moan; a scraping and scratching, followed by the thud of a falling body…. Angus, immovable, kept his eyes on the door—he could not have withdrawn them.

After the stunned silence came a chorus of shouts and cries and exclamations, then more silence, and a voice said hysterically, “My God, boys, he’s killed the sheriff!”