ntained an execration, it may well be imagined
that a most vigorous one escaped the lips of the baffled redskin, who
was shut out from his prize at the moment of closing his fingers upon
it.

The warrior was a brawny, full-grown Indian, almost in middle life, who
had sunk on one knee and brought his gun to his shoulder, after briefly
studying the form which had approached his lurking place. He had never
seen the stranger until that moment, and he only knew that he belonged
to some totem unknown to him. It was probable that his home was on the
eastern shore of the Mississippi, and he resented the intrusion upon his
hunting grounds as he did that of a white man: consequently he was as
quick to take the life of one as of the other.

Finding that his intended victim had disappeared beyond all question,
the next step of the fierce assassin was to solve the meaning of the
unaccountable occurrence. He noiselessly straightened up, and craning
his head forward peeped through the undergrowth. All that he saw was the
huge boulder or rock, within a few feet of where the youth had been
standing. It followed, therefore that he had flung himself behind it,
and was hiding there at that moment.

The painted visage glowed with a baleful light, for he was assured his
triumph was postponed only for a few moments. The boulder might serve as
a shelter while the relative positions of the two were the same, but it
was in the power of the savage to change that by putting forth only
moderate skill.

Taking care not to reveal himself, he began a guarded movement to the
right, his course being the same as if starting to describe a circle
about the hiding place. It will be seen that if he could accomplish this
without exposing himself to the fire of the other, he would not need to
go far before gaining a view of the opposite side of the boulder, and
necessarily of him who was seeking to screen himself from discovery. To
do this, however, the victim must remain where he was, for manifestly,
if he shifted his position correspondingly, he would continue invisible,
but he counted himself fortunate that he had noticed the peculiar
configuration of the boulder, which rendered such a man[oe]uvre beyond
the power of an ordinary warrior. As for himself, he had no personal
fear, for the trees were so numerous that he could use them to shield
his body while leaping from one to the other, while in many places he
could steal along the ground without the pos