Munro
now hurried to his relief, but the stroke was already descending--when,
on a sudden, to the surprise of all, the look of Dexter was turned from
the foe beneath him, and fixed upon the hills in the distance--his blow
was arrested--his grasp relaxed--he released his enemy, and rose
sullenly to his feet, leaving his antagonist unharmed.

[Transcriber's note: The following chapter was misnumbered in the
original book. It is actually Chapter XIII.]

CHAPTER IX.

NEW PARTIES TO THE CONFLICT.

This sudden and unlooked-for escape of Munro, from a fate held so
inevitable as well by himself as all around him, was not more a matter
of satisfaction than surprise with that experienced personage. He did
not deliberate long upon his release, however, before recovering his
feet, and resuming his former belligerent attitude.

The circumstance to which he owed the unlooked-for and most unwonted
forbearance of his enemy was quickly revealed. Following the now common
direction of all eyes, he discerned a body of mounted and armed men,
winding on their way to the encampment, in whose well-known uniform he
recognised a detachment of the "Georgia Guard," a troop kept, as they
all well knew, in the service of the state, for the purpose not merely
of breaking up the illegal and unadvised settlements of the squatters
upon the frontiers, upon lands now known to be valuable, but also of
repressing and punishing their frequent outlawries. Such a course had
become essential to the repose and protection of the more quiet and more
honest adventurer whose possessions they not only entered upon and
despoiled, but whose lives, in numerous instances, had been made to pay
the penalty of their enterprise. Such a force could alone meet the
exigency, in a country where the sheriff dared not often show himself;
and, thus accoutred, and with full authority, the guard, either _en
masse_, or in small divisions like the present, was employed, at all
times, in scouring, though without any great success, the infested
districts.

The body now approaching was readily distinguishable, though yet at a
considerable distance--the road over which it came lying upon a long
ridge of bald and elevated rocks. Its number was not large, comprising
not more than forty persons; but, as the squatters were most commonly
distrustful of one another, not living together or in much harmony, and
having but seldom, as in the present instance, a community of interest