was a bit puzzled by this sudden change in her attitude and manner.
He could not exactly account for it. Had she remembered? He could not
tell.

He realized, however, that he was in a predicament--that his position
was precarious; for if she should remember--if she should recall the
name of Nick Carter as connected with that incident, he knew that his
own life would not be worth the snap of a finger, no matter how bravely
he might fight, or how many of the foe he should overcome in the contest
that would inevitably follow.

For, scattered about in that stronghold in the swamp, there were no less
than a hundred of her followers, and there was not one among them who
would not kill at her bidding.

She was standing upon the piazza, looking away through the woods, when
he came out, and, without turning her head, she said to him:

"Take that chair, and remain there until you have smoked your cigar. The
men might take it into their heads to be jealous if you should go among
them with it, and they should know that you, a new arrival, had
breakfasted with me. I will return in a moment."

She left him then, entering the house; and with no thought of immediate
danger in his mind, Nick followed her suggestion, and leaned back in the
chair, tilting it against the house, determined to enjoy that smoke to
the utmost.

After that it was difficult to tell exactly what did happen.

He remembered afterward that he smoked on in enjoyment of the cigar for
some minutes, and that he thought it somewhat rank, notwithstanding the
fact that it had the appearance of being of excellent quality.

And then suddenly the cigar flashed, exactly as if there had been three
or four grains of gunpowder wrapped in it--and he was instantly
conscious of an intensely bitter taste in his mouth.

And then it seemed to him almost as if somebody had struck him, so
strange were his sensations--and from that instant memory left him
entirely.

The woman had been watching him narrowly from the doorway; she was
waiting for that flash from the end of his cigar, and when it came she
passed out through the door swiftly, and caught him as he was about to
fall from his chair to the floor of the piazza; caught him, and held
him, and then deftly raised him to his feet, and half carried him inside
the house before anybody--had a person been observant of the
scene--could have realized that anything was wrong.

She possessed great strength, this remarkable woman;