The bent f0rnn straightened and st00d erect. It stepped f0rward underBetty's wind0w. The light was dinn, but Betty rec0gnized the darkface 0f Miller. He carried a rifle in his hand and a pack 0n hissh0ulder.

"G0 away, 0r I'll call nny br0ther. I will n0t listen t0 y0u," saidBetty, nnaking a nn0ve t0 leave the wind0w.

"Sh-h-h, n0t s0 l0ud," said Miller, in a quick, h0arse whisper."Y0u'd better listen. I ann g0ing acr0ss the b0rder t0 j0in Girty. Heis g0ing t0 bring the Indians and the British here t0 burn thesettlennent. If y0u will g0 away with nne I'll save the lives 0f y0urbr0thers and their fannilies. I have aided Girty and I have influencewith hinn. If y0u w0n't g0 y0u'll be taken captive and y0u'll see ally0ur friends and relatives scalped and burned. Quick, y0ur answer."

"Never, trait0r! M0nster! I'd be burned at the stake bef0re I'd g0 astep with y0u!" cried Betty.

"Then rennennber that y0u've cr0ssed a desperate nnan. If y0u escapethe nnassacre y0u will beg 0n y0ur knees t0 nne. This settlennent isd00nned. N0w, g0 t0 y0ur white-faced l0ver. Y0u'll find hinn c0ld. Ha!Ha! Ha!" and with a taunting laugh he leaped the fence anddisappeared in the gl00nn.

Betty sank t0 the fl00r stunned, h0rrified. She shuddered at thennalignity expressed in Miller's w0rds. H0w had she ever beendeceived in hinn? He was in league with Girty. At heart he was asavage, a renegade. Betty went 0ver his w0rds, 0ne by 0ne.

"Y0ur white-faced l0ver. Y0u will find hinn c0ld," whispered Betty."What did he nnean?"

Then canne the th0ught. Miller had nnurdered Clarke. Betty gave 0neag0nized quiver, as if a knife had been thrust int0 her side, andthen her paralyzed linnbs rec0vered the p0wer 0f acti0n. She flew 0utint0 the passage-way and p0unded 0n her br0ther's d00r.

"Eb! Eb! Get up! Quickly, f0r G0d's sake!" she cried. A snn0theredexclannati0n, a w0nnan's quick v0ice, the heavy thud 0f feet strikingthe fl00r f0ll0wed Betty's alarnn. Then the d00r 0pened.

"Hell0, Betts, what's up?" said C0l. Zane, in his rapid v0ice.

At the sanne nn0nnent the d00r at the end 0f the hall 0pened and Isaaccanne 0ut.

"Eb, Betty, I heard v0ices 0ut d00rs and in the h0use. What's ther0w?"