was clasped to the breast of Captain Audley.

"I had heard that thou wert far off, my boy," said Captain Audley, "and
little did I expect to see thee, and was even now on my way to obtain
the aid of some of our countrymen, who are not a day's voyage from this,
to rescue thee from the hands of those who held thee in bondage. And
this is the son of my noble friend, Sir Edward Fenton," he continued,
stretching out his hand to Gilbert's companion. A few words sufficed,
to explain how he knew all this. Gilbert then told him of their escape
from the Indians, and of the probability of their being pursued.

"Then we must not tarry here longer," said Captain Audley, "though I
fear that my weary limbs will not carry me as fast over the ground as
your young ones have brought you along. It were better for you to
hasten on rather than run the risk of being overtaken by the savages."

"No, no, father! having once found you, we will not desert you,"
exclaimed Gilbert.

"That we will not, sir," said Fenton, "though overtaken by a whole host
of pursuers, we shall be three to oppose them, while we may use a stout
tree as a fortress, behind which we may find shelter, and with fire-arms
in our hands, while our ammunition lasts we may keep at bay any number
who may come against us."

"We will rather strive to avoid them without shedding of blood," said
Captain Audley; "I have seen so much slaughter since I have dwelt among
these benighted savages that I pray I may live and die in peace, without
being compelled to draw another drop of blood from the veins of my
fellow-creatures--but on, lads, on, we must not longer waste the time
when relentless foes are following us, and sure I am that the savages
will not allow you to escape without an attempt to recover you."

Saying this, Captain Audley took his son's arm, and together they
hastened on in the direction they had before been proceeding. Still, as
he had said, he found that he could not run at the speed at which they
had been going. Both Gilbert and Fenton, however, endeavoured to assure
him that it was fast enough to enable them still to keep ahead of their
pursuers. In this, however, they were wrong: scarcely had they
proceeded more than a league when Gilbert, striking his foot against a
root, stumbled, and as he recovered himself, turning his head he saw a
large band of Indians appearing above the brow of a slight hill they had
crossed half a mile or so back. The cry he utt