n to it. So
Hubert went on: 'Well, after looking at the duck, I put it into my
pocket, and went out from the bushes to my horse. As I got to him, I
heard a yell, which nearly made me tumble down, it startled me so; and
not a hundred yards away, and riding to cut me off from home, were
thirty or forty Indians. I was not long, as you may guess, climbing into
my saddle, and bolted like a shot. I could not make straight for home,
but had to make a sweep to get round them. I was better mounted than all
of them, except three; but they kept gradually gaining on me, while all
the rest in turn gave up the chase: and, like papa, I had left my
revolver behind. Black Tom did his best, and I encouraged him to the
utmost; but I began to think that it was all up with me, for I was
convinced that they would catch me before I could get in. When I was
little more than three hundred yards from the gate, I saw Maud come
dashing down with her rifle towards the gate, and a little afterwards
Ethel came too. The Indians kept getting nearer and nearer, and I
expected every moment to feel the tomahawk. I could not think why the
girls did not fire, but I supposed that they did not feel sure enough of
their aim; and I had the consolation that the Indian nearest could not
be going to strike, or they would risk a shot. On I went: the Indian was
so close that I could feel his horse's breath, and the idea came across
my mind that the brute was trying to catch hold of the calf of my leg.
At a hundred yards I could see Maud's face quite plain, and then I felt
certain I was saved. She looked as steady as if she had been taking aim
at a mark, and the thought flashed across me of how last week she had
hit a small stone on a post, at eighty yards, first shot, when Charley
and I had missed it half a dozen times each. Then there was a frightful
yell, almost in my ear. Then I heard Maud cry out, "Stoop, Hubert,
stoop!" I was stooping before, but my head went down to the horse's
mane, I can tell you. And then there was the crack of the two rifles,
and a yell of pain. I could not look round, but I felt that the horse
behind me had stopped, and that I was safe. That's my story, papa.'

[Illustration: Hubert's Escape from the Indians.--_Page 242._]

A few more questions elicited from Mrs. Hardy all that she knew of it,
and then the warmest commendations were bestowed upon the girls. Ethel,
however, generously disclaimed all praise, as she said that she
should hav