at short
intervals, and their weapons rose and fell with a force and might that
the Indian hatchets could seldom stem or avert.

Not bloodless on their part had the fight been up to this time. Most of
them had received gashes more or less severe, and Martinez the Guacho
and Cook lay dead at their feet.

Charley and Hubert, upon emptying their revolvers, had fallen back and
taken their carbines, and now stood with the reserve upon a flat rock a
few paces in the rear, all burning with impatience to take part in the
strife.

At this moment they were joined by the two Guachos who had been left
with the horses, but who now, hearing the firing, had arrived to take
part in the fray.

At last Mr. Hardy judged that the time had come, and shouted,

'Take aim into the middle of the mass, and fire as quick as you can,
then all charge together. Now!'

In less than half a minute the four barrels of the Guachos' guns, and
the thirty shots from the revolvers, had been discharged into the
densely-packed throng; then the seven men leapt from the rock, and with
a cheer the whites threw themselves upon the Indians, already recoiling
and panic-struck by the tremendous and deadly fire.

The Indians in front, surprised and confused, were mown down by the long
rifles like grass before the mower, and those behind, after one moment's
hesitation, broke and fled; in another two minutes the fight was over,
and the Indians in full flight to their village.

After a few words of hearty congratulation, the whites threw themselves
on the ground, panting and exhausted, after their tremendous exertions.

Their first care, upon recovering a little, was to load their revolvers;
as for the rifles, there was not one, with the exception of those of the
three men who had formed the reserve, and the boys' carbines, which were
not disabled. The stocks were broken, the hammers wrenched off, and the
barrels twisted and bent.

The party now crowded round Ethel, with whom not a single word had yet
been exchanged since her rescue, and warm and hearty were the
congratulations and welcome bestowed upon her. There was then an
examination of wounds.

These had been many, and in some cases severe. Mr. Farquhar was
completely disabled by a deep wound in the shoulder. Mr. Percy had
received a fearful gash on the arm. Charley had one ear nearly cut off,
and the side of his face laid completely open with a sweeping blow. Four
others were seriously wounded, and s