CHAPTER 24
The Wages of Sin
FOR a few minutes Tom was at a loss as to what he should do. Two forces contended strongly within him. One clamored for revenge, the other for mercy. Here before him was an unscrupulous enemy, the man who had injured the half-breed girl, who had shot the Gikhi, and who, he was certain, had committed that terrible murder near the C. D. Cut-off. The spirit of his savage ancestors swept upon him, and for a while seemed to have the complete mastery. His eyes glowed, and his body trembled with intense excitement. He looked around for some weapon of destruction, and seeing a small axe lying on the floor, he sprang toward it, clutched it fiercely with both hands, and turned again toward the bunk. He had the axe raised, and in another instant it would have fallen, when with a great cry, he suddenly desisted, and flung the weapon with his full strength against the opposite side of the room. He then turned, rushed from the building, and stood outside, trembling in every limb. His brain was in a tumult, but he was slowly regaining his senses. The horror of the terrible deed he had almost committed possessed his soul. It was not a dread of the Law which affected him; in fact, he never thought of that. It was a greater Law which said “Thou shalt do no murder.” There came to him the teaching of the missionary,
and the words of the Master which he had
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