ing his
eyes from the sun with his right hand, as he gazed earnestly at the two
riders.

"No-n-no. They're whites," he continued, "one o' them a man; t'other a
woman. I can make that out, anyhow."

As he spoke, the racing riders topped a far-off knoll; halted, and
turned round as if to gaze back towards the north--the direction from
which they had come. Then, wheeling round as if in greater haste than
ever, they continued their headlong gallop and disappeared on the other
side of the knoll.

Dick naturally turned towards the north to see, if possible, what the
two riders were flying from. He was not kept long in doubt, for just
then a band of horsemen was seen topping the farthest ridge in that
direction, and bearing down on the belt of woodland, along the edge of
which they galloped towards him.

There was no mistaking who they were. The war-whoop, sounding faint and
shrill in the distance, and the wild gesticulations of the riders, told
the story at once to our seaman--two pale-faces, pursued by a band of
bloodthirsty savages!

Unskilled though he was in backwoods warfare, Dick was not unfamiliar
with war's alarms, nor was he wanting in common sense. To side with the
weaker party was a natural tendency in our seaman. That the pursuers
were red, and the pursued white, strengthened the tendency, and the fact
that one of the latter was a woman settled the question. Instantly Dick
shook the reins, drove his unarmed heels against the sides of Polly, and
away they went after the fugitives like a black thunderbolt, if there be
such artillery in nature!

A wild yell told him that he was seen.

"Howl away, ye land lubbers!" growled Dick. "You'll have to fill your
sails wi' a stiffer breeze than howlin' before ye overhaul this here
craft."

Just then he reached the crest of a prairie billow, whence he could see
the fugitives still far ahead of him. Suddenly a suspicion entered the
seaman's mind, which made his heart almost choke him. What if this
should be Mary Jackson and her father? Their relative size countenanced
the idea, for the woman seemed small and the man unusually large.

In desperate haste Dick now urged on his gallant steed to her best pace,
and well did she justify the praises that had been often bestowed on her
by Hunky Ben. In a very brief space of time she was close behind the
fugitives, and Dick was now convinced that his suspicions as to who they
were was right. He rode after them wi