ow--we shall be at close quarters directly."

It was now the time for Munro to practise the subtlety which he had
designed, and a reasonable prospect of success he promised himself from
the bull-headed stupidity of his opponent. He had planned a stratagem,
upon which parties, as we have seen, were despatched; and he now
calculated his own movement in concert with theirs. It was his object to
protract the parley which he had begun, by making propositions for an
arrangement which, from a perfect knowledge of the men he had to deal
with, he felt assured would not be listened to. In the meantime, pending
the negotiation, each party left its cover, and, while they severally
preserved their original relationships, and were so situated as, at a
given signal, to regain their positions, they drew nearer to one
another, and in some instances began a conversation. Munro was cautious
yet quick in the discussion, and, while his opponent with rough sarcasms
taunted him upon the strength of his own position, and the utter
inadequacy of his strength to force it, he contented himself with sundry
exhortations to a peaceable arrangement--to a giving up of the
possessions they had usurped, and many other suggestions of a like
nature, which he well knew would be laughed at and rejected. Still, the
object was in part attained. The invaders, becoming more confident of
their strength from this almost virtual abandonment of their first
resort by their opponents, grew momently less and less cautious. The
rifle was rested against the rock, the sentinel took out his tobacco,
and the two parties were almost intermingled.

At length the hour had come. A wild and sudden shriek from that part of
the beleaguered district in which the women and children were
congregated, drew all eyes in that direction where the whole line of
tents and dwellings were in a bright conflagration. The emissaries had
done their work ably and well, and the devastation was complete; while
the women and children, driven from their various sheltering-places, ran
shrieking in every direction. Nor did Munro, at this time, forget his
division of the labor: the opportunity was in his grasp, and it was not
suffered to escape him. As the glance of Dexter was turned in the
direction of the flames, he forgot his precaution, and the moment was
not lost. Availing himself of the occasion, Munro dashed his flag of
truce into the face of the man with whom he had parleyed, and, in the
confus