rful point. Suddenly he saw the warrior stretching
every muscle for the leap--and with the agility of a deer he made the
spring--instead of reaching the rock he sprung ten feet in the air, and
giving one terrific yell he fell upon the earth, and his dark corpse
rolled fifty feet down the hill. He had evidently received a death shot
from some unknown hand. A hundred voices from below re-echoed the terrible
shout, and it was evident that they had lost a favorite warrior, as well
as been foiled for a time in their most important movement. A very few
moments proved that the advantage so mysteriously gained would be of short
duration; for already the scouts caught a momentary glimpse of a swarthy
warrior, cautiously advancing towards the cover so recently occupied by a
fellow companion. Now, too, the attack in front was resumed with increased
fury, so as to require the incessant fire of both scouts, to prevent the
Indians from gaining the eminence--and in a short time M'Clelland saw the
wary warrior turning a somerset, his corpse rolled down towards his
companion: again a mysterious agent had interposed in their behalf. This
second sacrifice cast dismay into the ranks of the assailants; and just as
the sun was disappearing behind the western hills, the foe withdrew a
short distance, for the purpose of devising new modes of attack. The
respite came most seasonably to the scouts, who had bravely kept their
position, and boldly maintained the unequal fight from the middle of the
day.

[Illustration: THE SCOUT.]

Now, for the first time, was the girl missing, and the scouts supposed
through terror she had escaped to her former captors, or that she had been
killed during the fight. They were not long left to doubt, for in a few
moments the girl was seen emerging from behind a rock and coming to them
with a rifle in her hand.

During the heat of the fight she saw a warrior fall, who had advanced some
fifty yards before the main body in front. She at once resolved to possess
herself of his rifle, and crouching in undergrowth she crept to the spot,
and succeeded in her enterprise, being all the time exposed to the cross
fire of the defenders and assailants--her practised eye had early noticed
the fatal rock, and hers was the mysterious hand by which the two warriors
had fallen--the last being the most wary, untiring, and bloodthirsty brave
of the Shawnese tribe. He it was, who ten years previous had scalped the
family of the girl,