312 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 
about day-break, and has since seen them. She has just 
got in. They are on her trail now, I suppose, for we expect 
them here soon !” 
The blood rushed to my heart, and it beat very loud and 
fast.. I had never met the Indians of any sort, as yet. Here 
at once was a stern novely in the excitements that I had 
courted. 
T had little time to understand the thing, for we now saw and 
felt the imminent necessity of hurrying towards the house 
before the approaching savages. I had to assist the old man, 
and the moment I got into motion, the blood rushed in a 
burning tide back to my head and face, and then every limb 
and fibre thrilled with a new sensation. Everything seemed 
confused around me for the moment. The trees spun, and 
the moss and grass were whirled together in a chaotic blend- 
ing, most like that before the eyes of a drunken man; while 
the only objects that I saw with perfect and vivid distinct- 
ness, were the tall forms of eight or ten warriors that had 
suddenly appeared in the distance, and were gliding rapidly 
across a smal] “pening between the oaks, evidently with the 
view of gvttui; between us and the house, and thus cutting 
us off from ah-iter. When I realized this it caused a violent 
start that resiered me, like an electric shock in a case of 
stupor, to the full possession of all my faculties, sharpened, 
indeed, into a greater than the natural coolness. The dis- 
tance we had to pass was short, to be sure, but then the old 
man was p:ralytic, and I was still somewhat lame. 
I saw in one quick glance our great danger—that the 
savages were urging their utmost speed to intercept us. A 
sudden strength—almost supernatural—possessed me at once. 
My eye tcok in every thing. The very undulations of the 
moss enabled me to track their course, when they quickly 
passed out of view behind it. I could now even hear the 
twigs crush beneath their feet—when feeling that our hope 
