mured faintly in my ear.

"I will save you," I cried, "or I will perish with you."

I had hardly spoken when a voice--an English voice--rang loud and sharp
from the forest:

"Don't harm the girl! Take her alive!"

I knew that the command came from Cuthbert Mackenzie. He was hidden by
the trees, and I vainly tried to catch a glimpse of him while I fought
my way through the boiling current. A moment later the stream grew
suddenly calmer and more shallow, and few feet below me, on a reef that
jutted out into the water I saw an Indian standing. The sunlight shone
on his feathered scalp-lock, on his breech-clout and fringed leggings, on
his hideously painted face. With a whoop of triumph he leveled his
musket and pointed it straight at my head.

I heard the click of the hammer as it was drawn back, and knew that I
must die--shot down like a dog. Life was sweet, and I could have cursed
my bitter fate as I stood there, breast-deep in the water, trying to
shelter Flora with my body. She uttered a heart-rending cry, and clung
to me tightly.

"Save the girl, but kill the Englishman!" Mackenzie yelled again from
the shelter of the forest.

The savage seemed to hesitate, still keeping his finger on the trigger
of his weapon and the muzzle pointed at my head and as I stared at him,
and noted the purple scars on his breast, I suddenly recognized him
beneath the war-paint that wrinkled his face. A wild hope flashed to my
mind.

"Gray Moose!" I cried hoarsely. "Is this your gratitude? Don't you know
me?"

The merciless aspect of the savage's countenance softened. With a
guttural grunt he leaped forward and gazed at me hard. Then he lowered
his musket and said quickly:

"Pantherfoot!"

"Ay, Pantherfoot," I replied. "Do I deserve death at your hands?"

"The white man is my brother," said the Indian. "I knew not that he
would be here, else I would have refused to take the war-path. I have
listened to words of evil."

"And you will save us all?" I cried.

For answer, Gray Moose turned to his braves, who were whooping like
fiends and firing an occasional shot, and shouted a few words to them in
the native tongue. In a moment more--almost before I could realize my
good fortune, every Indian had melted away into the forest. I heard
Mackenzie cry out with baffled rage and furiously curse his recreant
allies. Then a silence fell, broken only by the dull roar of the falls.

I waded to the shore, and placed Flora's trembling a