Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/132

116 not to rouse the vindictive spirit of the man any further.

"You seem to know all about us," she said more quietly. "If you are sure there is a sock full of gold here, and you know where it is, then there is n't any need of my staying here any longer."

Stepping past the man, she took her gun in her hands and at once went to the kitchen. Outside the kitchen door was a box or kennel in which the huge dog that had greeted Robert the preceding night was confined. The entrance of the kennel had been barred by Hannah early in the morning, for she was fearful of the dog's attentions to Robert, and for the safety of both she had shut the animal within his house. Why it was that he had been silent or not discovered during the visit of the members of the band she could not understand, but it would be safer to release him now, and accordingly she unfastened the strap and, bidding the dog follow her into the kitchen, began to prepare his breakfast.

She was sharply interrupted by the sudden growling of the beast as well as by the sounds that came from the room where she had left her mother. A struggle of some kind was going on there, and instantly seizing her gun