had that many a time, major, when I couldn't help myself,"
replied the hunter, soberly. "They didn't get any encouraging from me
this day, though, for they didn't see me. I was too snugly hid for
that. But to make a short story, they tormented that poor chap in one
way and another until I thought he must be done for, and all the time
he never uttered a sound except to jeer at 'em, nor quivered an
eyelash. Once, when they saw he was nearly dead with thirst, they
loosed his hands and gave him a bowl of cool spring water; but as he
lifted it to his lips, they dashed it to the ground. After that they
held another bowl of water close to his face, but he never gratified
'em by making a move to try and drink it.

"Finally, they made a circle of dry wood around him and set fire to it.
Then I thought it was all up with the poor fellow, and his torment
would soon be over. I was just saying this to myself when something
swift and still as a shadder brushed past the place where I was hid. I
had just time to see that it was a woman, when she cleared the woods
like a flash, ran to the stake, never minding the flames more'n ef
they'd been a shower of rain, and cut Songa free.

"He gave a great leap, like a deer, out of the ring of fire that was
slowly roasting him, knocked down two or three warriors that stood in
his path, and gained the woods, with her close beside him, almost
before any one knew what had happened. A score of rifle balls whizzed
after them, but they wasn't hit, and they had a clear start of a
hundred yards afore the crowd took after 'em. Mahng was the only one
who could keep 'em in sight, and when they separated at the foot of the
lake, he taking up one side, and she the other, Mahng trailed the one
he hated most, which was Songa."

"How did you happen to see all this?" inquired the major. "They must
have passed from view of your hiding-place very quickly."

"Oh, I jined in the hunt, too," replied Truman Flagg. "I thought some
one might find it handy to have me 'round. Besides, I was feeling
cramped and in need of a bit of exercise."

"Well, it was handy to have you around," said the major, heartily, "and
it will be long ere I forget the gratitude with which I saw you at that
critical moment. I am thankful, too, that the poor fellow escaped and
sought the refuge he did, though what I am to do with him is more than
I can imagine. I wish with all my heart that he were well on his way
toward the Otta