imself by an exclamation, but remembering
Drake's "Be ready," he lay perfectly still while the hands, knife, and
lips did their work. The latter merely said, in broken English, "Rise
when me rise, an' run!"

Next instant Unaco leaped to his feet and, with a terrific yell of
defiance, bounded into the bushes. Tom Brixton followed him like an
arrow, and so prompt was Mahoghany Drake to act that he and Tom came
into violent collision as they cleared the circle of light thrown by the
few sinking embers of the camp-fires. No damage, however, was done. At
the same moment the band of Indians in ambush sprang up with their
terrible war whoop, and rushed towards the camp. This effectually
checked the pursuit which had been instantly begun by the surprised
bandits, who at once retired to the shelter of the mingled rocks and
shrubs in the centre of the hollow, from out of which position they
fired several tremendous volleys.

"That's right--waste yer ammunition," said Paul Bevan, with a short
laugh, as he and the rest lay quickly down to let the leaden shower pass
over.

"It's always the way wi' men taken by surprise," said Drake, who, with
Brixton and the chief, had stopped in their flight and turned with their
friends. "They blaze away wildly for a bit, just to relieve their
feelin's, I s'pose. But they'll soon stop."

"An' what'll we do now?" inquired Flinders, "for it seems to me we've
got all we want out o' them, an' it's no use fightin' them for mere
fun--though it's mesilf that used to like fightin' for that same; but I
think the air of Oregon has made me more peaceful inclined."

"But the country has been kept for a long time in constant alarm and
turmoil by these men," said Fred Westly, "and, although I like fighting
as little as any man, I cannot help thinking that we owe it as a duty to
society to capture as many of them as we can, especially now that we
seem to have caught them in a sort of trap."

"What says Mahoghany Drake on the subject!" asked Unaco.

"I vote for fightin', 'cause there'll be no peace in the country till
the band is broken up."

"Might it not be better to hold them prisoners here?" suggested Paul
Bevan. "They can't escape, you tell me, except by this side, and
there's nothin' so good for tamin' men as hunger."

"Ah!" said Tom Brixton, "you speak the truth, Bevan; I have tried it."

"But what does Unaco himself think?" asked Westly.

"We must fight 'em at once, an' root them out