The noise of the other conflict ceased.  More savages joined the three who glided to and fro before their desperate foe.  They closed in upon him, only to be beaten back.  One savage threw a glittering knife, another hurled a stone, a third flung his tomahawk, which struck fire from the swinging rifle.

He held them at bay.  While they had no firearms he was master of the situation.  With every sweep of his arms he brought the long rifle down and knocked a flint from the firelock of an enemy’s weapon.  Soon the Indians’ guns were useless.  Slowly then he began to edge away from the stone, toward the opening where he had seen the fleeting form vanish.

His intention was to make a dash for life, for he had heard a noise behind the rock, and remembered the guard.  He saw the savages glance behind him, and anticipated danger from that direction, but he must not turn.  A second there might be fatal.  He backed defiantly along the rock until he gained its outer edge.  But too late!  The Indians glided before him, now behind him; he was surrounded.  He turned around and around, with the ever-circling rifle whirling in the faces of the baffled foe.

Once opposite the lane leading from the glade he changed his tactics, and plunged with fierce impetuosity into the midst of the painted throng.  Then began a fearful conflict.  The Indians fell before the sweep of his powerful arms; but grappled with him from the ground.  He literally plowed his way through the struggling mass, warding off an hundred vicious blows.  Savage after savage he flung off, until at last he had a clear path before him.  Freedom lay beyond that shiny path.  Into it he bounded.

As he left the glade the plumed guard stepped from behind a tree near the entrance of the path, and cast his tomahawk.

A white, glittering flash, it flew after the fleeing runner; its aim was true.

Suddenly the moonlight path darkened in the runner’s sight; he saw a million flashing stars; a terrible pain assailed him; he sank slowly, slowly down; then all was darkness.

Chapter XVII.

Joe awoke as from a fearsome nightmare.  Returning consciousness brought a vague idea that he had been dreaming of clashing weapons, of yelling savages, of a conflict in which he had been clutched by sinewy fingers.  An acute pain pulsed through his temples; a bloody mist glazed his eyes; a sore pressure cramped his arms and legs.  Surely he dreamed this distress, as well as the fight.  The red film cleared from his eyes.  His wandering gaze showed the stern reality.