head to see how it fared with the
girls, was hit on the head by Peg Tatem's club and knocked unconscious.
As it proved later, the blow was a light one and Tom was not seriously
hurt.

The foreman, uttering an exultant yell, aimed a kick at Tom's head with
his peg leg.

Grace Harlowe hurled her club at the foreman's head, but missed the
mark.

_Bang!_

A bullet hit Peg's wooden leg, and the leg went out from under its owner
like magic. Peg landed on the ground but he was up in an instant, raging
and springing for Tom. A second bullet hit the wooden leg and split it.

The Overlanders were amazed.

"Who shot?" cried Anne.

"Don't know," panted Elfreda as she and Hippy charged two jacks who were
trying to reach Emma.

Peg, frantic with rage, turned his attention to the others of the party,
apparently believing that one of them had fired the shots. He raised his
club to strike Grace who was bending over Tom.

_Bang!_

The club dropped from Peg's hand, and the arm fell to his side with a
bullet hole through it.

[Illustration: The Club Dropped from Peg's Hand.]

"I'm hit! Kill 'em!" he screamed. Grabbing up the stick with his left
hand, the foreman again started for Grace, his eyes bloodshot, his lips
purple.

Grace grabbed what was nearest to her hand, a pine knot, and hurled it
at the ruffian. It hit him full in the face, and the sharp protuberances
on the knot drew points of blood.

A blow from a lumberjack's fist, at this juncture, knocked Joe Shafto
flat on her back. She was up with a bound.

"Henerey! Henere-e-e-e-e!" There was a wild note in her voice, a note of
alarm and command. "Henere-e-e-e-e-e!"

They heard Henry sliding down a tree--heard his paws raking the bark as
he slid. Joe heard it too.

"Sick 'em! Sick 'em! Sick 'em!" she screamed, giving Henry a violent
prod with her club and driving the bear towards the lumberjacks. One of
them struck the beast with a club, hitting Henry over the shoulders.

Henry made a pass at the man, bringing away a section of the fellow's
coat in his claws which dug into the jack's flesh with their sharp
points. The man howled and fled from the beast.

Alternately prodding the bear with her club, and cracking a lumberjack
head wherever possible, the forest woman fought her way ahead, backed by
Tom and Hippy.

Thus goaded, Henry rose on his hind legs and went through that party of
rough-necks like one of his kind cuffing its way through a flock of
grazin