Crack!

All heard the shot of a rifle; all noticed the difference between its clear, ringing intonation and the loud reports of the other two.  All distinctly heard the zip of a bullet as it whistled over their heads.

All?  No, not all.  One did not hear that speeding bullet.  He who was the central figure in this tragic scene, he who had doomed the Christians might have seen that tiny puff of smoke which heralded his own doom, but before the ringing report could reach his ears a small blue hole appeared, as if by magic, over his left eye, and pulse, and sense, and life had fled forever.

Half King, great, cruel chieftain, stood still for an instant as if he had been an image of stone; his haughty head lost its erect poise, the fierceness seemed to fade from his dark face, his proud plume waved gracefully as he swayed to and fro, and then fell before the Christians, inert and lifeless.

No one moved; it was as if no one breathed.  The superstitious savages awaited fearfully another rifle shot; another lightning stroke, another visitation from the paleface’s God.

But Jim Girty, with a cunning born of his terrible fear, had recognized the ring of that rifle.  He had felt the zip of a bullet which could just as readily have found his brain as Half King’s.  He had stood there as fair a mark as the cruel Huron, yet the Avenger had not chosen him.  Was he reserved for a different fate?  Was not such a death too merciful for the frontier Deathshead?  He yelled in his craven fear: 

“Le vent de la Mort!”

The well known, dreaded appellation aroused the savages from a fearful stupor into a fierce manifestation of hatred.  A tremendous yell rent the air.  Instantly the scene changed.

Chapter XXVI.

In the confusion the missionaries carried Young and Edwards into Mr. Wells’ cabin.  Nell’s calm, white face showed that she had expected some such catastrophe as this, but she of all was the least excited.  Heckewelder left them at the cabin and hurried away to consult Captain Williamson.  While Zeisberger, who was skilled in surgery, attended to the wounded men, Jim barred the heavy door, shut the rude, swinging windows, and made the cabin temporarily a refuge from prowling savages.

Outside the clamor increased.  Shrill yells rent the air, long, rolling war-cries sounded above all the din.  The measured stamp of moccasined feet, the rush of Indians past the cabin, the dull thud of hatchets struck hard into the trees—­all attested to the excitement of the savages, and the imminence of terrible danger.

In the front room of Mr. Wells’ cabin Edwards lay on a bed, his face turned to the wall, and his side exposed.  There was a bloody hole in his white skin.  Zeisberger was probing for the bullet.  He had no instruments, save those of his own manufacture, and they were darning needles with bent points, and a long knife-blade ground thin.