o that
she was secure from attack in rear.

In a few minutes another rifle-shot was heard, and the war-whoop was
repeated, this time much nearer than before.

With compressed lips and heightened colour, the solitary girl prepared
to defend her castle. Presently she heard footsteps among the thick
bushes below, as if of some one running in hot haste. Softswan laid her
finger on the trigger, but carefully, for the advancing runner might be
her husband. Oh why did he not shout to warn her? The poor girl
trembled a little, despite her self-restraint, as she thought of the
danger and the necessity for immediate action.

Suddenly the bushes on her left moved, and a man, pushing them aside,
peeped from among them. He was a savage, in the war-paint and panoply
of a Blackfoot brave. The spot to which he had crept was indeed the
nearest to the hut that could be reached in that direction, but Softswan
knew well that an impassable chasm separated her from the intruder, so
she kept well concealed behind the breastwork, and continued to watch
him through one of the peep-holes made in it for that purpose. She
might have easily shot him, for he was within range, but her nature
revolted from doing so, for he seemed to think that the hut was
untenanted, and, instead of looking towards her place of concealment,
leaned over the cliff so as to get a good view of the lower end of the
zigzag track where it entered the woods.

Could he be a foe to the approaching Indians, or one of them? thought
the poor girl, rendered almost desperate by doubt and indecision.

Just then a man burst out of the woods below with a defiant shout, and
sprang up the narrow track. It was Big Tim. The savage on the cliff
pointed his rifle at him. Indecision, doubt, mercy were instantly swept
away, and with the speed of the lightning flash the girl sent her charge
of slugs into the savage. He collapsed, rolled over the cliff, and went
crashing into the bushes underneath, but instantly sprang up, as if
unhurt, and disappeared, just as a dozen of his comrades burst upon the
scene from the woods below.

The echoing report of the gun and the fall of their companion evidently
disconcerted the aim of the savages, for their scattering fire left the
bounding Tim untouched. Before they could reload, Softswan sent them a
present of another charge of slugs, which, the distance being great, so
scattered itself as to embrace nearly the whole party, who thereupon