The one fear in my heart was that in the fierce anger of disappointment they might fire the house, but I could not frighten her by giving utterance to the suspicion. My fingers tightened their grip; the men below had moved on, their voices grumbling along the hall.
"They will discover the preacher presently," I said, endeavoring to make my words as reassuring as possible. "I only wonder they have overlooked him so long; I supposed he would make an outcry."
"Perhaps he is afraid," she commented. "I have heard that Anse Cowan has a horrible temper, and when things go wrong acts like a crazed man—Nichols may dread facing his anger, and hope to escape discovery by remaining still."
"That may be true; the fellow is chicken-hearted enough from what I saw of him, but no less a villain. They will find him, however, for, from the sounds, they are prying into every nook and cranny. I heard them breaking down one door which must have been locked—there! they are battering in another now! They are old hands at this game, and this is not the first house they have looted. When they do find the preacher he will tell everything he knows, as fast as he can talk."
She drew in her breath sharply, and sat up. The movement was noiseless, but in the instant of intense
