atisfied himself that offensive measures were necessary,
he began to climb the tree. Having reached the leading branch, and
embraced the trunk to raise himself to that on which Tula was seated,
the brave girl rose suddenly to her feet, and brought down her club upon
the enemy's nose with such desperate and well directed force, as to send
him, stunned and insensible, to the ground. Without allowing him a
moment to recover, she leaped down to his side, and dealt a succession
of heavy blows upon his head, till the blood flowed in torrents, and his
struggles and his breathing ceased.

* * * * *

In this manner, many days and nights passed on, during which she
encountered many imminent dangers, and severe conflicts, and made but
little progress. Hunger, weariness, a continual sense of danger, and
that sickness of the heart, which solitude and suspense beget, were her
inseparable companions. Every day, her hope of ultimately reaching the
home of her childhood grew fainter and fainter. But she had a woman's
endurance, and a woman's fertility of resource. She never for a moment
repented her flight. She would have preferred death in any form to a
forced espousal with the murderer of her family. Sometimes with roots
and herbs, sometimes with nutritious mosses, and sometimes with wild
fruits and nuts, she continued to satisfy the cravings of appetite, and
to sustain her severely tried fortitude, for the fatigues and perils
that were yet before her.

The forest seemed interminable; and so indeed it might well have been
regarded, for she was continually travelling round and round, in the
same track, having only an occasional glimpse of the sun to direct her
way, or a view of the stars, when she climbed some tall tree at night.
She knew little of the direction in which she was going; but she was
sure that that forest lay between her enemy and her home, and was
therefore resolved, at any expense of labor and suffering, to find her
way through it, or perish in the attempt.

After several weeks of incredible toil, fatigue, hardship and danger,
the brave persevering Tula emerged into a wide opening, having a
considerable mountain on one side, and a large sheet of water, and a
stream from the mountain pouring into it, on the other. It was a
beautiful spot, but the whole aspect of it was new and strange. She was
confident she had not passed that way, while a captive in the hands of
the Athapuscows. She wa