Page:The Snake's Pass (Stoker).djvu/319

 "Dear me! that is very strange—a cross of stones. It would almost seem as if it were made here to mark something; but yet"—here he lifted one of the stones—"it cannot have been long here; the grass is fresh under the stones." Murdock said nothing, but clenched his hands and ground his teeth. Presently, however, he sent Moynahan back to his house to get some whiskey. When the latter was out of earshot, Murdock turned to us, and said:—

"An' so ye think to baffle me! do ye? Well! I'll have that money out—if I have to wade in yer blood. I will, by the livin' God!" and he burst into a string of profanities that made us shudder.

He was in such deadly earnest that I felt a pity for him, and said impulsively:—

"Look here! if you want to get it out, you can have a little more time if you like, if only you will conduct yourself properly. I don't want to be bothered looking for it. Now, if you'll only behave decently, and be something like a civilized being, I'll give you another month if you want it!"

Again he burst out at me with still more awful profanities. He didn't want any of my time! He'd take what time he liked! God Himself—and he particularized the persons of the Trinity—couldn't balk him, and he'd do what he liked; and if I crossed his path it would be the worse for me! And, as for others, that he would send the hard word round the country about me and my leman!—I couldn't be always