p, and now for the first Captain
Moore saw how he was suffering.

"You are wounded, Peck."

"That's right, captain."

"You can't run any more."

"I've got to run," muttered Peck, between his set teeth. "They'll be
on--oh!--on us in another minute."

"Give me your arm--I'll help you along."

The private held out his hand, then gave a pitch, and, before the young
officer could catch him, sank on the grass insensible.

Captain Moore's heart leaped into his throat, for he had known Peck for
years, and the two were very friendly. He listened, and heard a distant
shot. Evidently the Indians were not yet coming in that direction. They
would first hunt down the others, providing they were not already slain.

Bending down, the young officer took Peck in his strong arms and threw
the private over his shoulder. The weight was considerable, and made him
stagger.

"I've got to carry him, somehow!" he muttered. "Heaven give me strength
to do it!"

The brushwood was thick ahead, but there was a sort of trail, made by
wild animals, and he pursued this until he came to a brook. Then to keep
the Indians from following them, should they come in that direction, he
followed the brook for a hundred yards or more. At last he reached a
point where the banks of the brook were rocky, and here he came out, and
crawled over the rocks. Not far off was an opening between two large
bowlders, and here he sank down, too exhausted to take another step.

It was half an hour before Peck came to his senses. In the meantime the
captain had obtained some water, washed the private's wound and bound it
up in bandages torn from his shirt. The loss of blood had made Peck
light-headed.

"Keep them off!" he murmured. "Keep them off! They want to bore a hole
in my side. Keep them off!"

"Be quiet, Peck, you are safe," answered the young captain soothingly.
"You've been wounded, that's the trouble," but the private continued to
rave for some time, when he relaxed into a stupor.

With strained ears Captain Moore waited for the appearance of friends or
enemies, but nobody came up the brook. Once he heard two shots far to
the northward, but whether fired by the soldiers or the Indians he could
not tell.

"I'm afraid it's been a regular slaughter," he mused sadly. "And our
getting away was a miracle," and this surmise proved correct, for, as
was afterward proven, all the others of the party were slain within an
hour after the surprise occurred.