t to escape than suffer the agony of this
suspense. Can't you loosen your arms one little bit, aunty?"

As the girl spoke she strained at her own bonds until they sunk deep
into her tender flesh, but without loosening them in the slightest.

The elder woman also struggled for a moment with all her strength, and
then sank back with a groan.

"I can't, Edith! It's no use, and only hurts. No, we can do nothing
save commend ourselves to God and trust to his mercy. Oh, my poor
child! My poor dear child!"

The fires blazed higher, the maddening liquor flowed like water, the
yells grew fiercer, and the dancing more furious. The lurid scene
became a very pandemonium, and the leaping forms of the savages seemed
those of so many devils. The captive women closed their eyes to shut
out the horrid picture.

Suddenly Edith uttered a stifled scream--a warm breath was on her neck,
and a soft voice was whispering words of comfort in her ear:--

"Hush! Do not scream. Do not fear. You shall be saved. I am Ah-mo,
daughter of Pontiac, the great chief, sent by my father to see that you
are not harmed. Now I will take you away. It is not safe for you
longer to remain in this place. There. Do not rise. You would be
seen. Move yourself carefully into the shadow behind the tree."

As these words were uttered, Edith's bonds were severed; she felt that
she was again free, and, filled with courage born of a new hope, she
obeyed implicitly the directions of her unseen friend. As she gained
the shadow she found herself beside a girlish figure, who placed a
finger on her lips, and then in a whisper bade her speak to Madam
Rothsay, that she might not be frightened into an outcry. This Edith
did, the elder woman was released as she had been, and in another
minute the freed captives, trembling with excitement and nearly
suffocated by the intensity of their emotions, were following, hand in
hand, their silently flitting guide in the direction of the lake shore.

Their escape was effected none too soon, for they were not gone a
hundred yards when it occurred to one of the Indians who had captured
them to take a look at his prizes. His listless saunter toward where
he had left them was changed to movements of bewildered activity, as in
place of the cowering captives, he found only severed thongs, and
realized that in some mysterious manner a release had been effected.
He uttered a yell that brought a number of his companions to t