He knew that Paul
Colbert lay there, badly wounded, dying perhaps, in his place. He was
too much moved at first to speak.
"He knew that I was coming alone over this road to-night. He suspected a
plot to waylay me, too late to warn me. When he could not do that he
came to share the danger. It was like him," he said when he found voice.
He took the nerveless hand and held it a moment in silence, and then he
laid it gently down and stood up, looking about through the moonlight,
toward the cypress swamp and Duff's Fort.
"But why did the scoundrels run away before finishing their infamous
work? And where is the doctor's horse? Ah! They have stolen that, of
course. Which way did they go? Did you see or hear them, Father?"
"No; Toby and I were too far off," the priest replied. "We were coming
back from a sick call. It was too dark to see. The first and only sound
I heard was Ruth's voice, calling Philip Alston's name."
"Oh!--I begin to understand," said the attorney-general.
He stopped--remembering--and looked down at Ruth. She had not heard
what he said.
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