ce, and that Stackpole's present
assistance was anything but advantageous to his cause. It seemed, indeed,
as if the savages had been driven to increased rage by the discovery of
his presence; and that the hope of capturing _him_, the most daring and
inveterate of all the hungerers after Indian horseflesh, and requiting
his manifold transgressions on the spot, had infused into them new spirit
and fiercer determination. Their fire became more vigorous, their shouts
more wild and ferocious: those who had effected a lodgment among the
ruins crept higher, while others appeared dealing their shots from other
quarters close at hand; and in fine, the situation of his little party
became so precarious, that Roland, apprehending every moment a general
assault, and despairing of being again able to repel it, drew them
secretly off from the ruin, which he abandoned entirely, and took refuge
among the rocks at the head of the ravine.

It was then,--while unconscious of the sudden evacuation of the hovel,
but not doubting they had driven the defenders into its interior, tho
enemy poured in half a dozen or more volleys, as preliminaries to the
assault which the soldier apprehended,--that he turned to the unlucky
Ralph; and arresting him as he was about to fire upon the foe from his
new cover, demanded, with much agitation, if it were not possible to
transport the hapless females in the little canoe, which his mind had
often reverted to as a probable means of escape, to a place of safety.

"'Tarnal death to me," said Ralph, "thar's a boiling-pot above and a
boiling pot below; but ar'n't I the crittur to shake old Salt by the
fo'-paw? Can take anngelliferous down 'ar a shoot that war ever seed!"

"And why, in Heaven's name," cried the Virginian, "did you not say so
before, and relieve her from this horrible situation?"

"'Tarnal death to me, ar'nt I to do her fighting first?" demanded the
honest Ralph. "Jist let's have another crack at the villians, jist for
madam's satisfaction; and then, sodger, if you're for taking the shoot,
I'm jist the salmon to show you the way. But I say, sodger, I won't lie,"
he continued, finding Roland was bent upon instant escape, while the
savages were yet unaware of their flight from the hovel,--"I wont lie,
sodger;--thar's rather a small trough to hold madam and the gal, and me
and you and the nigger and the white man" (for Stackpole was already
acquainted with the number of the party); "and as for the