Page:The Ruby of Kishmoor (1908).djvu/79

 flat face and the round holes of his nostrils he presented an appearance which, under other circumstances, would have been at once ludicrous and grotesque.

“By the blood!” cried he, “to be sure it is murder that has happened here.”

“Not murder!” cried Jonathan, in a shrill and panting voice. “Not murder! It was all an accident, and I am as innocent as a baby.”

The new-comer looked at him and then at the two figures upon the floor, and then back at him again with eyes at once quizzical and cunning. Then his face broke into a grin that might hardly be called of drollery. “Accident!” quoth he. " By the blood! d’ye see ’tis a strange accident, indeed, that lays two men by the heels and lets the third go without a scratch!” Delivering himself thus, he came forward into the room, and, taking the last victim of Jonathan’s adventure by the arm, with as little compunction as he would have handled a sack of grain he dragged the limp and helpless figure from where it lay to the floor beside the first victim. Then, lifting the lighted