helpless victim,
for with a grunt of satisfaction he struck once again, the blow meeting
my shoulder, where he judged in the dark her face would be.

"White squaw mind now--"

I had him gripped by the throat before he ended, and we went down
together for a death-struggle in the darkness, from which each realized
in an instant both could never rise again. My furious grip sobered
him, and he made desperate efforts to break free, struggling vainly to
utter some cry for rescue. Once I felt him groping at his waist for a
knife; but I got first clasp upon its hilt, though I twisted helplessly
for some minutes before I could loosen his hold at my wrist so as to
strike him with the blade. His teeth closed upon my hand, biting deep
into the flesh like a wildcat, and the sharp sting of it yielded me the
desperate strength I needed to wrench my hand free, and with one quick
blow the knife I clutched cut deep into his side, so that I could feel
the hot blood spurt forth over my hand. I held him in a death grip,
for I knew a single cry meant ruin to all our plans, until the last
breath sped, and I knew I lay prostrate above a corpse. It had been so
swift and fierce a contest that I staggered half-dazed to my feet,
peering about me as if expecting another attack. I was steadied
somewhat by the sound of a low sob from the darkness.

"'T is well over with, Toinette," I murmured hastily, my voice
trembling from the strain that still shook me.

"Oh, John! John Wayland! And you are truly unhurt of the struggle?"
It was scarcely her voice speaking, so agitated was it. "Have you
killed him?"

"Yes," I answered, finding my way cautiously toward her, and speaking
in whispers. "I had no other choice. It was either his life or yours
and mine. Knew you the savage?"

"It was Little Sauk," she replied, clinging to me, and growing somewhat
calmer from my presence. "Oh, what can we do now?"

"There remains but one thing, and that is to accept the chance that
Providence has given us. There remains no longer a shadow of excuse
for your staying here, even by your own reasoning. You are no longer
prisoner to Little Sauk. Your pledge has been dissolved by Fate, and
it must be God's will that you go forth with me. What say you,
Mademoiselle?" And I crushed her hands in mine.

I could feel her slight form tremble as I waited her reply, and
believed she peered across my shoulder through the darkness, imagining
she saw the dead In