d to
the missiles which the girls were unceasingly hurling in the direction
of the assailants. Forgetting, in an instant, every thing but the glory
of being the first to give this jewel to the catalogues of science, he
sprang upward at the prize with the avidity with which the sparrow darts
upon the butterfly. The rocks, which instantly came thundering down,
announced that he was seen; and for a moment, while his form was
concealed in the cloud of dust and fragments which followed the furious
descent, the trapper gave him up for lost; but the next instant he was
seen safely seated in a cavity formed by some of the projecting stones
which had yielded to the shock, holding triumphantly in his hand the
captured stem, which he was already devouring with delighted, and
certainly not unskilful, eyes. Paul profited by the opportunity. Turning
his course, with the quickness of thought, he sprang to the post which
Obed thus securely occupied, and unceremoniously making a footstool
of his shoulder, as the latter stooped over his treasure, he bounded
through the breach left by the fallen rock, and gained the level. He
was followed by Middleton, who joined him in seizing and disarming the
girls. In this manner a bloodless and complete victory was obtained
over that citadel which Ishmael had vainly flattered himself might prove
impregnable.

CHAPTER XV

So smile the heavens upon this holy act,
That after-hours with sorrow chide us not!
--Shakspeare.

It is proper that the course of the narrative should be stayed, while
we revert to those causes, which have brought in their train of
consequences, the singular contest just related. The interruption must
necessarily be as brief as we hope it may prove satisfactory to that
class of readers, who require that no gap should be left by those who
assume the office of historians, for their own fertile imaginations to
fill.

Among the troops sent by the government of the United States, to take
possession of its newly acquired territory in the west, was a detachment
led by a young soldier who has become so busy an actor in the scenes of
our legend. The mild and indolent descendants of the ancient colonists
received their new compatriots without distrust, well knowing that
the transfer raised them from the condition of subjects, to the more
enviable distinction of citizens in a government of laws. The new r