the hands of Elizabeth, who had run around to his left, and
who now, suddenly endowed with the strength of a tigress, wrenched it
from him as she had wrenched the broken sword earlier in the evening.
She tried to discharge the pistol at one of the two soldiers, as they,
relieved of the brief interposition of Williams and Sam, were again
taking position to bring down their muskets on Peyton's head while he
continued at sword-work with Colden. But the pistol snapped without
going off, whereupon Elizabeth hurled it in the face of the man at
whom she had aimed. The blow disconcerted him so that his musket fell
wide of Peyton, who at the same instant, having seen from the corner
of his eye how he was menaced, leaped backward from under the other
descending musket. Then, taking advantage of the moment when the
muskets were down, he ran to the music seat before the spinet, and
mounted upon it, thinking rightly that the infuriated major would
follow him, and that he might the better execute a certain manoeuvre
from the vantage of height. Colden indeed rushed after him, and thrust
at him, Peyton sweeping the thrusts aside with pendulum-like swings of
his own short weapon. His thought was to send the point that menaced
him so astray that he might leap forward and cleave his enemy with a
downward stroke before the Tory could recover his guard. But Colden
pressed him so speedily that he was at last fain to step up from the
music seat to the spinet, landing first on the keyboard, which sent
out a frightened discord as he alighted on it. Finding the keys an
uncertain footing, he took another step, and stood on the body of the
instrument, so that Colden would be at the disadvantage of thrusting
upwards. But Colden, seeming to tire a little after a few such
thrusts, called to his men:

"Shoot the dog in the legs!"

Both men aimed at once. Elizabeth screamed. Peyton leaped down from
his height to the little space behind the spinet projection, where he
had hidden a week before. Here he found himself well placed, for here
he could be approached on one side only,--unless his adversaries
should follow his example and come at him from the top of the spinet.

Colden attacked him with sword, at the open side, and shouted to his
men:

"One of you get on the spinet. The other crawl under. We have him
now."

Still guarding himself from his enemy's thrusts, Peyton heard one of
the men leap from the music seat to the spinet, and the other adv