he
whites; and when the fire ceased, not more than half of them regained
their seats and galloped off, leaving the rest, men and horses, in a
ghastly heap. Seeing them in full retreat, the occupants of the tower
descended to receive Mr. Hardy and Fitzgerald, Terence much delighted at
having at last had his share in a skirmish.

'Well done, boys! Very well planned, Charley!' Mr. Hardy said as he
reined in his horse. 'That was a near escape.'

'Not as near a one as Hubert has had, by a long way, papa.'

'Indeed!' Mr. Hardy said anxiously. 'Let me hear all about it.'

'We have not heard ourselves yet,' Charley answered. 'It occurred only a
few minutes before your own. The girls behaved splendidly; but they are
rather upset now. If you will go up to the house to them, I will be up
directly, but there are a few things to see about first. Lopez,' he went
on, 'carry out what I told you before: get the men in from the ploughs
and see all secured. Tell them to hurry, for it will be dark soon. Kill
a couple of sheep and bring them up to the house; we shall be a large
party, and it may be wanted. Then let the peons all have supper. Come up
to the house in an hour for instructions. See yourself that the dogs are
fastened down by the cattle. Terence, take your place on the lookout,
and fire a gun if you see any one moving.'

Having seen that his various orders were obeyed, Charley went up to the
house. He found the whole party assembled in the sitting-room. Maud and
Ethel had quite recovered, although both looked pale. Mrs. Hardy,
absorbed in her attention to them, had fortunately heard nothing of her
husband's danger, until the firing from above, followed by a shout of
triumph, told her that any danger there was, had been defeated.

'Now, papa,' Charley said, 'you give us your account first.'

'I have not much to tell, Charley. Fitzgerald and I had ridden out some
distance,--five miles, I should say,--when the dogs stopped at a thicket
and put out a lion. Fitzgerald and I both fired with our left-hand
barrels, which were loaded with ball. The beast fell, and we got off to
skin him. Dash barked furiously, and we saw a couple of dozen Indians
coming up close to us. We stopped a moment to give them our barrels with
duck-shot, and then jumped into our saddles and rode for it.
Unfortunately, we had been foolish enough to go out without our
revolvers. They pressed us hard, but I was never in fear of their
actually catching us; my