"
Miss Barrington made no answer, but her face was very grave, and just
then those nearest it drew back a little from the door. A trooper
stood outside it, his carbine glinting in the light, and another was
silhouetted against the sky, sitting motionless in his saddle further
back on the prairie.
"The police are still here," said somebody. One by one they passed out
under the trooper's gaze, but there was the usual delay in harnessing
and saddling, and the first vehicle had scarcely rolled away, when
again the beat of hoofs and thin jingle of steel came portentously out
of the silence. Maud Barrington shivered a little as she heard it.
In the meanwhile, the few who remained had seated themselves about
Colonel Barrington. When there was quietness again, he glanced at
Winston, who still sat at the foot of the table.
"Have you anything more to tell us?" he asked. "These gentlemen are
here to advise me if necessary."
"Yes," said Winston quietly. "I shall probably leave Silverdale before
morning, and have now to hand you a statement of my agreement with
Courthorne and the result of my farming here, drawn up by a Winnipeg
accountant. Here is also a document in which I have taken the liberty
of making you and Dane my assigns. You will, as authorized by it, pay
to Courthorne the sum due to him, and with your consent, which you have
power to withhold, I purpose taking one thousand dollars only of the
balance that remains to me.
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