"
She paused, as if to catch her breath, then, with her eyes still fixed on
her husband, she went on, "I did not think that it was safe, and I untied
the rope and picked up the paddle that was lying on the dam, intending to
drag the boat farther up and tie it to a tree." She stopped again. Her
husband put his arm about her.
"And then?" he said.
"And then--something, I don't know what; not a sound, but
something--something made me turn, and I saw him--saw him coming--saw him
stealing up behind me--with the hatchet in his hand, and a look--a
look"--closing her eyes as if in horror--"such an awful, awful look! And
everybody gone. Oh, John!" she gasped, and clinging to her husband, she
broke into hysterical sobs, while the judge gripped his walking-stick and
cleared his throat, and the sheriff swore fiercely under his breath.
"I was paralyzed," she went on, recovering herself, "and when he saw me
looking he stopped. The next moment he threw the hatchet at me, and began
to run toward me. The hatchet struck my foot, and the blow roused me, and I
sprang into the boat. There were no trees just there, and jumping in, I
pushed the boat off into the deep water.
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