d he
despatched it at one of his foes. He pulled another from the quiver
without looking to see whether the first had struck a mark or not,
darted up, and with a shout bounded ahead to encounter the enemy. A shot
grazed his right hand, scratching the wrist and causing him to drop his
arrow. For a time the arm was numb, but Tyope heeded it not. Where the
man who had stood beside him had fallen, a number of warriors from both
sides were wrangling. A Queres lay dead on the dead body of a Tehua
whose scalp he had intended to secure. Two of his brethren were
defending his corpse against half a dozen Tehuas. Tyope's right wrist
had been paralyzed by the arrow-shot, but he raised his arm and flung
the war-club that dangled from it against the head of the nearest foe.
The blow was too feeble, and Tyope grabbed the man's hair. Arrows
whizzed and shrieked past the fighting group; shrill yells and wild
howling sounded from every quarter. The contending parties exchanged
insulting cries and abusive words in both languages.

The Tehua whom Tyope had grabbed by the hair made desperate lunges at
him from below with a sharply pointed arrow. He succeeded in slightly
wounding him in several places. Tyope kicked him in the abdomen, causing
him to double up at once. Regardless of the pain in the right hand Tyope
succeeded in grasping the war-club at last. With it he directed several
blows at the head of the enemy, but they were so weak that only at the
third stroke did the Tehua fall. At this juncture an arrow grazed
Tyope's temple. He looked up, and saw that he had been very imprudent
in yielding so far to ardour and excitement as to mingle with his men in
a strife for the possession of a single scalp, and thus expose unduly
his own person. He began to think of withdrawal into the neighbourhood
of the Hishtanyi Chayan, but it was not easy to extricate himself.
Warding off a blow aimed at his skull, with his shield he pushed it into
the face of the new assailant with sufficient force to cause the man to
stagger. Then he shouted a few words to his own men, turned around, and
rushed back to his tree, where he fell down at full length, exhausted
and bleeding. The other Queres, two in number, followed his example, and
the Tehuas did not pursue. The result was so far favourable to the
Queres that they lost but one man and the Tehuas two; but the scalp of
the dead man from the Rito remained with the enemy.

When Tyope had recovered his breath,