lackfoot, who dropped with a
thump that forced a gasp from his body and literally shook the earth.

George and Victor Shelton, in their excitement, sprang up from behind
the rock that hid them. When Taggarak went over on his back, with
Deerfoot bearing him down, Victor could restrain himself no longer.
Snatching his cap from his head he swung it aloft, and had opened his
mouth to cheer when the slightly less excited brother clapped his hand
over his lips.

"What do you mean, you idiot?"

"I want to cheer for Deerfoot! If I don't I'll bust!"

"You will get all the busting you want from him if he finds out we came
here, after he told us to stay at home."

"By gracious! That's so; I forgot it. I'm glad you stopped me; we must
keep mum. Look!"

CHAPTER XVIII.

DISCIPLINE IN THE RANKS.

The force of the impact and the crushing weight of the Shawanoe's body
knocked Taggarak senseless for the moment. He lay panting, with eyes
half closed and his countenance glistening with moisture.

Deerfoot, without removing his knees, watched the eyes until they
slowly opened and glared upward with a dazed expression. The youth had
removed his fingers from the wrist of the chief. He now bent his face
close to his and asked:

"Who now is master--the Blackfoot or the Shawanoe? Whose God is the
greater--Taggarak's or Deerfoot's?"

But the chieftain was game. He had put up a hurricane fight and had
been conquered--conquered by a youth who carried no weapon in his hand,
and who could have driven out his life at any moment during the
progress of the battle. Instead of slaying his victim, the Shawanoe
had put one indignity after another upon him.

"Let the Shawanoe take his knife and kill Taggarak! He does not wish to
live!"

"So Taggarak would do with the Shawanoe, but so does not the Shawanoe,
for he is a Christian," replied Deerfoot, rising from the prostrate
body and stepping back for a couple of paces.

The Blackfoot was still bewildered. He lay motionless for a few
seconds, staring at the youth looking serenely down upon him. The chief
had been conquered, absolutely, crushingly and to the last degree
humiliatingly; for, most amazing thing of all, his conqueror had
refused to take his life, knowing that it would have been the other way
had the Shawanoe suffered defeat.

And he who showed this unheard-of mercy professed to be a Christian!
What a strange religion to make a warrior act in that manner!

Slowly the ir