BESIEGING THE LIGHT-HOUSE. 401 



glaring eye, had something in it of so paralyzing a horror 

 that she only gazed as she would have gazed in the 

 dilating pupils of a lion, without making a motion of 

 defence. 



At this instant there came to the ear of the girl the 

 crack of a rifle. The surf roared so heavily on the 

 beach, and the wind rushing so fiercely through the pal- 

 mettoes, and wrestled with the cocoa-nut tree, that the 

 report of the rifle could just be heard by the crouching 

 girl in the lantern, and not at all by the crowd assem- 

 bled on the noisy strand. 



But the Indian clinging to the tower heard it, and 

 sprang half his length above the ledge by the contrac- 

 tion of his arms alone. He writhed around so that his 

 back turned toward the wall. His eyes searched the 

 thickets and the little island that lay near by in the bay. 

 He attempted to sound the war-cry, but the blood bub- 

 bled out of his mouth and fell pattering on the astonished 

 staring group below. One hand fell off from its grasp 

 on the stone coping. He tried to reach it back again, 

 but it wavered in the air half lifted. His eye, filming 

 with death, caught sight of the white sea-gulls that, 

 drawn by the strange sight, balanced in the air above 

 him, uttering their plaintive cries. He saw in them the 

 pure spirits of the happy Hunting Grounds promised by 

 his religion. His body swung around in the wind. The 

 head fell back, and the fingers slipped their hold, while 

 the dead corpse fell with a heavy thud on the sands. 



During the occurrence the savages stood in horror 



