the old hunter's side.

Brighter and brighter grew the stars in the heavens that bent lovingly
above the river, and the night winds stirred the leaves with a sweet
melody.

Now and then the cry of some night bird or animal would startle the
sentries, but they would soon turn therefrom and listen for more
important sounds.

Harvey Catlett was on the alert, and his ears at length caught a sound
that roused him. It seemed the peculiar tread of the panther, dying away
like the step of the beast, and recurring no more. It was in vain that
he listened for a repetition of the sound. The very silence told him
that he had permitted something important to escape investigation.

"It may not be too late to follow yet," he said to himself. "I am a fool
that I permitted----"

The strange cry that the night hawk sends forth when frightened from its
perch, fell startlingly upon his ears, and he severed his sentence.

"That is my panther!" he said. "There is mischief afoot."

We have said that he was near the river.

The cry, or signal, as the young scout hastened to interpret the sound,
seemed to emanate from a spot not forty feet away, and with the skill of
the experienced trailer, he glided toward it.

The cry was repeated, then there was a response which seemed to have
crossed the river, and that in turn was answered from the very shore
which the daring scout was noiselessly approaching.

All at once he halted and hugged the dark ground, for the night caller
was before him.

It was not a hawk, nor was it the stealthy panther that greeted young
Catlett's gaze; but the figure of an Indian!

Ready to spring upon the redskin, the scout resolved to witness the
result of the bird calls.

He expected to see several boats cross the river for an attack upon the
camp; but was doomed to disappointment.

A sound to his left drew his attention in that direction.

The Indian heard it, rose and started toward the river. At the edge of
the water he was joined by a figure that carried a burthen. The scout
could not distinguish it in the uncertain light.

A few whispered words passed between the twain who had stepped into a
boat, and Catlett was about to try the effect of a shot, when a
startling shriek rose from the ravine.

It was a woman's voice!

The occupants of the boat heard it, and shoved the craft from shore. Out
into the stream it shot like an arrow from a bow.

Harvey Catlett sprang to his feet and fired at the dis