himself. The spirit of his ancestor, the shrewd and wary Indian fighter,
descended upon him again, and, lying upon his stomach behind the horse,
with the rifle ready he was anxious for the attack to come.

Dick was firmly convinced that he had but a single enemy. Otherwise he
would have been attacked in force earlier, and more than one shot would
have been fired. But the report of the rifle was succeeded by deep
silence. The forest was absolutely still, not a breath of wind stirring.
His enemy remained invisible, but the besieged youth was confident that
he was lying quiet, awaiting another chance. Dick, still hot with anger,
would wait too.

But other enemies were far more reckless than the hidden marksman. The
swarm of gnats, flies, and mosquitoes assailed him again and he could
have cried out in pain. His only consolation lay in the fact that the
other man might be suffering just as much.

He was aware that his enemy might try a circling movement in order to
reach him on the flank or from behind, but he believed that his ear
would be keen enough to detect him if he came near. Moreover he lay in
a slight dip with the body of the horse in front of him, and it would
require an uncommon sharpshooter to reach him with a bullet. If he could
only stand those terrible mosquitoes an hour he felt that he might get
away, because then the night would be at hand.

He saw with immense relief that the sun was already very low. The
heat, gathered in the woods, was at its worst, and over his head the
mosquitoes buzzed and buzzed incessantly. It seemed to him a horrible
sort of irony that he might presently be forced from his shelter by
mosquitoes and be killed in flight to another refuge.

But he was endowed with great patience and tenacity and he clung to his
shelter, relying rather upon ear than eye to note the approach of an
enemy. Meanwhile the sun sank down to the rim of the wood, and the
twilight thickened rapidly in the east. Then a shot was fired from the
point from which the first had come. Dick heard the bullet singing over
his head, but it gave him satisfaction because he was able to locate his
enemy.

He sought no return fire, but lay in the dip, wary and patient. The sun
sank beyond the rim, the western sky flamed blood red for a few moments,
and then the Southern night swept down so suddenly that it seemed to
come with violence. Dick believed that his escape was now at hand, but
he still showed an infinite patien