He saw the sledge.

Still in the traces lay the bodies of two of the dogs, and he knew what the pistol shots had meant.

The others had been cut loose; straight out into the forest led the trails of several men; and the meaning of it all, the reality of what had happened, surged upon him in all its horror.

Lang and his cutthroats had carried off Josephine.

He knew by the thickening darkness that they had time to get a good start on their way to Thoreau's.
One thought filled his dizzy brain now.