dosed rum. It was a crazy scheme, but worth a trial.
If we could get possession of the canoe, there was some hope that we
could make our way to the Malhominis village.

No teacher was ever more zealous than I for my net-thrower. Early the
next morning I winked toward the swamp, and jerked my thumb over my
shoulder. The Indian came willingly. Why should he not? I was
unarmed, and he had knife and hatchet and was my peer in strength. He
thought me a strange fool, but useful.

But that morning the lesson went badly. The Indian was clumsy, and
being ashamed of himself, grew surly and indifferent. The sun was hot,
the water dazzling, and mosquitoes rose in clouds. The Indian wanted
to go back to camp, and I cudgeled my wits for expedients to keep him
there.

And then I bethought me of an accomplishment which I had shown Indians
before. Quickness of hand is my greatest resource, and I had been
known to noose a fish. I tore my handkerchief in ribands, made a
weighted sling, and had the Indian swing the canoe over a ripple where
a great bass lay. I waited my time, then plunged my hand down with the
weighted noose. I drew it up, with the fish caught through the gills.

The Indian was pleased. He grunted and exclaimed in his own speech,
though he thought I could not understand.

"They say the Frenchman, Montlivet, can do that." Then he looked at me
and light dawned.

"You are Montlivet!"

I wasted no time. I do not know how I did it, but I sprang the length
of the canoe and was on him before he could reach his knife. The canoe
rocked, but righted itself. I knotted my fingers in the Indian's
throat, and my body pinioned his arms.

The surprise of my attack gave me a second's vantage, and in it I
snatched at the vial in my shirt, and drew the stopper with my teeth.
It was difficult, for the great, naked frame was writhing under me, and
the canoe pitched like a cork in an eddy. I felt the Indian's hot
breath, and his teeth snapping to reach me. His arm was working free
and his knife unsheathed. I threw my whole weight on his chest,
released my clutch on his neck, and taking both hands, forced his mouth
open and dashed the contents of my laudanum vial down his throat. Then
I sprang into the water, dragging Indian and canoe after me.

I felt the slash of a knife in my right shoulder as I touched the
water, and the Indian's wiry grasp on my coat. I rolled and grappled
with him, and the canoe floated aw