The blade of the axe struck the floor, sinking deep into the boards;
while Link, hurled off balance by the viciousness of his attack, tumbled
headlong after the axe, sprawling on his hands and knees on the cabin
floor, muttering curses.
CHAPTER XX
THE "KILLING"
For an instant following the attack there was no change in the scene
inside the cabin. Surprise that Lawler had escaped his blow seemed to
retard Link's movements quite as much as the force of his fall. For he
floundered on the floor, unable to get his feet under him; while the
bitter wind, howling in through the open door, hurled a blinding
avalanche of white clear to the fireplace. On the floor in the smother
of white was Link, and near him the handle of the axe stuck rigidly
upward, its blade buried deeply in the floor.
Della Wharton had been watching Lawler as he opened the door, and she
had seen what quickly had followed. Now, though a nameless terror had
seized her, she still watched, unable to withdraw her gaze, powerless to
move or to open her lips.
She saw Lawler standing where he had halted when he had opened the
door--one hand grasping the bar that he had lifted when he had drawn the
door back; the other hanging at his side. She saw him dimly through the
driving mist that was between them, but he loomed big, gigantic, as he
stood there, motionless in the instant following the attack, watching
Link.
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