ing a knife,
rushed upon the captive.

"No, Luna!" cried El Sol, putting her aside; "no; we are not assassins.
That is not revenge. He shall not yet die. We will show him alive to
the squaws of the Maricopa. They shall dance the mamanchic over this
great chief--this warrior captured without a wound!"

El Sol uttered these words in a contemptuous tone. The effect was
visible on the Navajo.

"Dog of a Coco!" cried he, making an involuntary struggle to free
himself; "dog of a Coco! leagued with the pale robbers. Dog!"

"Ha! you remember me, Dacoma? It is well--"

"Dog!" again ejaculated the Navajo, interrupting him; and the words
hissed through his teeth, while his eyes glared with an expression of
the fiercest malignity.

"He! he!" cried Rube, at this moment galloping up; "he! he! that Injun's
as savagerous as a meat axe. Lamm him! Warm his collops wi' the bull
rope; he's warmed my old mar. Nick syrup him!"

"Let us look to your wound, Monsieur Haller," said Seguin, alighting
from his horse, and approaching me, as I thought, with an uneasiness of
manner. "How is it? through the flesh? You are safe enough; if,
indeed, the arrow has not been poisoned. I tear--El Sol! here! quick,
my friend! tell me if this point has been dipped."

"Let us first take it out," replied the Maricopa, coming up; "we shall
lose no time by that."

The arrow was sticking through my forearm. The barb had pierced through
the flesh, until about half of the shaft appeared on the opposite side.

El Sol caught the feather end in both his hands, and snapped it at the
lapping. He then took hold of the barb and drew it gently out of the
wound.

"Let it bleed," said he, "till I have examined the point. It does not
look like a war-shaft; but the Navajoes use a very subtle poison.
Fortunately I possess the means of detecting it, as well as its
antidote."

As he said this, he took from his pouch a tuft of raw cotton. With this
he rubbed the blood lightly from the blade. He then drew forth a small
stone phial, and, pouring a few drops of liquid upon the metal, watched
the result.

I waited with no slight feeling of uneasiness. Seguin, too, appeared
anxious; and as I knew that he must have oftentimes witnessed the effect
of a poisoned arrow, I did not feel very comfortable, seeing him watch
the assaying process with so much apparent anxiety. I knew there was
danger where he dreaded it.

"Monsieur Haller," said El Sol, at leng