alls of his chamber. But it was
in vain; the wounded leg refused to bear his weight, and he was forced
to relinquish his design. Brewster, however, snatched the sword, and
drawing it, rushed from the hut, leaving Edith and Ludovico clinging
with trembling hands around their brother.

Henrich's fears proved but too true. No sooner had the elder traversed
the enclosure that surrounded Maitland's dwelling, than he beheld
Helen, and several of the other women who had gone out to assist their
husbands in the lighter parts of their agricultural labors, flying in
terror and confusion to their huts, while the men were engaged in close
combat with a party of native Indians. The same war-cry which had rung
on their ears in the first encounter told Rodolph and his comrades that
these savages were of the same tribe, and probably the same individuals
from whom they had escaped with such difficulty on that occasion. They
were right; for it was indeed a band of the Nausetts, who, headed by
their Chief, had come to seek revenge for the loss they had sustained
at their former meeting. The warrior whom Rodolph's musket had laid
low was Tekoa, the only son of the Nausett chief; and he was resolved
that the white man's blood should flow, to expiate the deed. He knew
that the son of the stranger who had slain his young warrior had been
wounded, and, as he hoped, mortally; but that did not suffice for his
revenge, and he had either suddenly attacked the settlement, in the
hope of securing either Rudolph himself or some of his comrades, that
he might shed the white man's blood on the grave of his son, and tear
off their scalps as trophies of victory.

The settlers who now contended with the savages were but few in number,
for many of the men lay sick, and many had died; and they were mostly
unarmed, except with their agricultural implements. Rudolph and a few
others had short swords, or dirks, attached to their girdles, and with
these they dealt blows that told with deadly effect on the half-naked
bodies of their foes; and the good broad-sword that Brewster quickly
placed in Maitland's hand, was not long in discomfiting several of the
Indians, who had singled him out, at the command of their Chief, as the
special object of their attack. Meanwhile, many of the women, and such
of the invalids as had power to rise, had again left the huts, and
borne to their husbands and friends the arms which had been left in
their dwellings; and in spite