That shot in the darkness furnished a theme for endless gossip amongst
the villagers. There was not much work done the next day. When the
exercise of the faculties is limited to considerations associated with
the rare occurrence of a wedding or a death, intellectual activity is
not great. Abstract reasoning is unknown; but a new objective fact
connected with the environment is seized upon with great avidity. That
shot was felt to be ominous. Was it the prologue to the tragedy? There
was to be something more than that shot.
What was it?
Would anything else happen, and when would it happen?
The villagers were not kept long in suspense.
A few nights afterwards there was a lurid glare in the sky.
It was red, and sinister, and quivering.
What could it mean?
Was it a celestial portent which thus wrote itself upon the face of the
heavens?
The villagers assembled in alarm.
"Why, it's Duquette's place on fire!"
Yes, the homestead had been fired, and the conflagration made a red,
ragged hole in the blackness of the night!