itself in favor of the sturdy keeper. Aware of his opponent's
strength, it was Luke's chief endeavor to keep his lower limbs
disengaged, and to trust more to skill than force for ultimate success.
To prevent this was Hugh's grand object. Guarding himself against every
feint, he ultimately succeeded in firmly grappling his agile assailant.
Luke's spine was almost broken by the shock, when he suddenly gave way;
and, without losing his balance, drew his adversary forward, kicking his
right leg from under him. With a crash like that of an uprooted oak,
Hugh fell, with his foe upon him, into the bed of the rivulet.

Not a word had been spoken during the conflict. A convulsive groan burst
from Hugh's hardy breast. His hand sought his girdle, but in vain; his
knife was gone. Gazing upwards, his dancing vision encountered the
glimmer of the blade. The weapon had dropped from its case in the fall.
Luke brandished it before his eyes.

"Villain!" gasped Hugh, ineffectually struggling to free himself, "you
will not murder me?" And his efforts to release himself became
desperate.

"No," answered Luke, flinging the uplifted knife into the brook. "I will
not do _that_, though thou hast twice aimed at my life to-night. But I
will silence thee, at all events." Saying which, he dealt the keeper a
blow on the head that terminated all further resistance on his part.

Leaving the inert mass to choke up the current, with whose waters the
blood, oozing from the wound, began to commingle, Luke prepared to
depart. His perils were not yet past. Guided by the firing, the report
of which alarmed them, the keeper's assistants hastened in the direction
of the sound, presenting themselves directly in the path Luke was about
to take. He had either to retrace his steps, or face a double enemy. His
election was made at once. He turned and fled.

For an instant the men tarried with their bleeding companion. They then
dragged him from the brook, and with loud oaths followed in pursuit.

Threading, for a second time, the bosky labyrinth, Luke sought the
source of the stream. This was precisely the course his enemies would
have desired him to pursue; and when they beheld him take it, they felt
confident of his capture.

The sides of the hollow became more and more abrupt as they advanced,
though they were less covered with brushwood. The fugitive made no
attempt to climb the bank, but still pressed forward. The road was
tortuous, and wound round a j