which Terence dropped a bullet upon the top of the shot. Hubert
could scarcely help giving a cry. At a distance of a quarter of a mile,
Mr. Hardy and Fitzgerald were coming along, pursued by at least a dozen
Indians, who were thirty or forty yards in their rear. They were
approaching from behind the house, and would have to make a sweep to get
round to the entrance, which was on the right, on the side facing the
dam. This would evidently give their pursuers a slight advantage.

'They hold their own,' Charley said after a minute's silence; 'there is
no fear. Lopez!' he shouted, 'run and see that the outside as well as
the inside gates are open.'

It has been already said that a low wire fence had been placed at a
distance of a hundred yards beyond the inner enclosure, to protect the
young trees from the animals. It was composed of two wires, only a foot
apart, and was almost hidden by the long grass. It had a low gate,
corresponding in position to the inner one. Charley's quick eye saw at
once the importance of the position.

'I think you might use the long rifle now,' Hubert said; 'it might stop
them if they feel that they are in reach of our guns.'

'No, no,' Charley said, 'I don't want to stop them; don't show the end
of a gun above the wall.' Then he was silent until his father was within
three hundred yards. He then shouted at the top of his voice, 'Mind the
outside fence, mind the outside fence!'

Mr. Hardy raised a hand to show that he heard, and as he approached,
Charley shouted again, 'Sweep well round the fence, well round it, for
them to try and cut you off.'

Charley could see that Mr. Hardy heard, for he turned his horse's head
so as to go rather wide of the corner of the fence. 'Now, Hubert and
Terence, get ready; we shall have them directly.'

Mr. Hardy and his companion galloped past, with the Indians still fifty
yards behind them. Keeping twenty yards from the corner of the fence,
the fugitives wheeled round to the right, and the Indians, with a cry of
exultation, turned to the right also to cut them off. The low
treacherous wire was unnoticed, and in another moment men and horses
were rolling in a confused mass upon the ground.

'Now,' Charley said, 'every barrel we have;' and from the top of the
tower a rain of lead poured down upon the bewildered Indians. The
horses, frightened and wounded, kicked and struggled dreadfully, and did
almost as much harm to their masters as the deadly bullets of t