of
dismissal, yet as she ended she vanished into the black night beyond, I
knew not how. A moment before, two figures had been standing there, De
Croix's and hers; and although my eyes never once wavered, suddenly
there remained but one, that of De Croix, peering forward with bent
body as if he also knew not how or when the girl had vanished from his
side. I was staring yet, half believing it was but a trick of my eyes,
when suddenly, like phantoms from the mist, a half-dozen naked figures
topped the high bank before me. It was the work almost of a second. I
caught Burns's low cry of warning from where he sat watching within the
boat.

"Run!" I shouted to De Croix. "To the boat, quick! The savages are
upon us!"

He made no motion, and I grasped him. Rarely have I laid so heavy a
hand on one in friendship; but I lifted him from off his feet and flung
him bodily into the boat's bottom, scarce waiting till he struck before
I had my shoulder against the stern to send the craft free from shore.
I know not what mischance caused it, whether I slipped upon a stone or
tripped over a hidden root; but as I shoved the boat far out into the
dark current of the river, instead of springing after it, as I had
meant to do, I toppled and plunged headlong down at the edge of the
stream.

CHAPTER XXXV

THE BATTLE ON THE SHORE

What followed was long a famous story on the border, and I have even
read it written out most carefully in books purporting to tell the
history of those troublous times. None of them have it as I recall the
details of the incident, although it all occurred so rapidly that I
myself can hardly tell just how 't was done.

I know that I scrambled again to my knees, resting half in the water,
my purpose being to fling myself into the river in an effort to regain
the boat. But it was already out of sight in the dense gloom, while
not the slightest sound reached me for guidance. Beyond this, I had no
time for much save action. Above me, upon the high bank not three
yards away, I saw several Indian forms peering over; and then others,
three or four, I am uncertain which, sprang lightly down within a yard
of where I crouched in waiting.

My father gave me a frontier maxim once, which ran, "If you must fight,
strike first, and strike hard." The words flashed in my memory, and I
put them to the test straightway. These prowling savages were
apparently unaware of my predicament; their sole thought wa