e in front, with a
shortened survey of the portion still nearer.

Her eyes were keen, but they detected nothing of the Comanche who was
prowling about the scuttle only a few moments before. The darkness was
not dense enough to prevent her seeing to the edge of the roof on all
sides, had her view been unobstructed. Could she have dared to throw
back the door, and raise her head above the peak of the roof, she could
have traced the outlines of the eaves in every direction.

But she was too wise to try anything like that. The slightest noise on
her part would be heard by the Indian, who, like all members of the
American race, had his senses trained to a fineness that seems
marvellous to the Caucasian. He would take the alarm on the instant, and
leap to the ground, or, what was more likely, assail her with his knife,
since his rifle had been left below.

"What's become ob dat villain?" Dinah asked herself, after peering about
in the gloom for a full minute; "I wonder wheder he hasn't got 'shamed
ob hisself, and hab slunk off and is gwine down to knock at my door and
ax my pardon--Lor' a massy!"

There was good cause for this alarm on her part, for at that moment she
made a discovery that fairly took away her breath.

CHAPTER VII.

DINAH'S EXPLOIT.

The revelation that broke upon the senses of the colored servant did not
reach her through her power of vision. She still saw nothing but the
all-encircling night, nor did she hear anything except the sighing of
the wind through the mesquite bush, or the guarded movements of the red
men below.

It was her power of smell that told her an appalling fact. She detected
the odor of burning wood!

The Indian whom she had heard prowling like a hungry wolf over the roof,
was there for a more sinister purpose, if possible, than that of gaining
entrance through the scuttle into the building. He had managed to climb
undetected to his perch for the purpose of setting fire to the building,
and not only that, but he had succeeded in his design.

[Illustration: A STARTLING DISCOVERY.]

The same delicacy of scent that had told the woman the frightful truth
enabled her to locate the direction of the fire. It was over the peak of
the roof, a little in front and to the left.

Gazing toward the point, she observed a dim glow in the darkness, such
as might have been made by the reflection of a lucifer match. It was the
illumination produced by the twist of flame the Comanche ha