THE TRAIL OF THE RAIDERS Shocked and unmanned as I was at this discovery, to pause there staring at those gruesome figures would have only brought fresh alarm to the two watching my every movement from the edge of the clearing.

Gripping my nerves I advanced over the first body, watchful for any sign of the presence of life within the cabin.

There was none--the work of the murder had been completed, and the perpetrators had fled.

I saw the entire interior at a glance, the few articles of rude, hand-made furniture, several overturned, the fire yet smouldering on the hearth, some broken crockery, and pewter dishes on the floor, and on every side the evidences of a fierce, brutal struggle.

The dead man, with ghastly countenance upturned to the roof rafters, and the snowy beard, was undoubtedly the negro helper, Amos Shrunk.