inable forest, and sustain life.

About mid-day, as they were making their way among a thick growth of
brush, a quick rattle was heard, which they all recognized as the
warning of a deadly snake; but before they could save themselves, it
had struck its poisonous fangs deep into the fleshy part of Jane's
right foot.

Howe saw the snake bite her, and was at her side in a moment, and with
a heavy club killed the terrible reptile on the spot. He then proceeded
to bind the limb to prevent a free circulation of the blood, which in a
few minutes would have conveyed the poison to the heart, and proved
fatal. In the meantime, the chief and Sidney had been gathering an
herb, which they bruised between two flat stones and poured over the
wound, and put a few drops of the juice in her mouth.

She soon began to suffer excruciating pain, the limb swelling rapidly
and turning a livid hue, while the bruised herbs which were bound over
the wound every few minutes had to be exchanged for fresh ones, so
rapidly did the poison act upon them.

"I feel it here!" said the poor girl, laying her hand on her heart; "it
chokes, it suffocates me! Oh, it is terrible to die here! can you do
nothing more? can nothing save me?" she added, turning her eyes
inquiringly from one to the other of the group around her.

"We will do our best," said Sidney, "but that is very little," he added
bitterly.

"Be brave, my poor child and never say _die_ while there is life. As
yet I see nothing to fear. The Indian's remedy is doing its work; we
see that by the poison it extracts," said Howe, at the same time
turning aside to hide the emotion that was welling up from his heart.

"The antelope shall not die," said the chief, "there is another remedy
if the plant can be found," and with these words he hastened away into
the forest. Her breathing now became more labored, her eye grew glassy,
and languor began to pervade her whole frame. With breathless anxiety
they awaited the return of the chief; for, if even successful in
finding what he was in search of, he might be too late, as already life
was waning; and as they knelt around her in speechless agony, and saw
the distorted features and glassy eye, they knew that unless some
active and powerful stimulant could be procured immediately she would
be dead.

After twenty minutes' absence, though it seemed to them to be an hour,
the chief returned with his hands filled with roots freshly torn from
their bed, and