t off the field by the umpires, and the ball was
restored to its original position.

The match, well balanced, hotly contested, swayed back and forth. Now
the ball was carried toward the women's goal, and then toward the men.
Now all the two hundred players would be in a dense throng in the
center, and then they would open out as some swift hand or foot sent the
ball flying. Often the agile young squaws were knocked down in the hurly
burly, but always they sprang up laughing.

All around the field the people cheered and laughed, and many began to
bet, the wagers being mostly of skins, lead, powder or bright trinkets
bought at the British posts.

For over a half hour the ball flew back and forth, and so far as Henry
could see, neither had gained any advantage. Presently they were all
packed once more in a dense throng in the center of the field, and the
ball was invisible somewhere in the middle of the group. While the crowd
watched for its reappearance all the shouting and cheering ceased.

The ball suddenly flew from the group and shot toward the goal posts on
the side of the women and a stalwart warrior, giving it another kick,
sent it within ten yards of victory for the men.

"Ah, the warriors are too strong for them," said White Lightning.

But he spoke too soon. There was a brown streak across the grass, and
the same girl who had first seized the ball darted ahead of the warrior.
She picked up the ball while it was yet rolling and ran swiftly back
with it. A warrior planted himself in her way, but, agile as a deer, she
darted around him, escaped a second and a third in the same way, and
continued her flight toward the winning posts.

The crowd gave a single great shout, subsiding after it into a
breathless silence.

"The Dove runs well," murmured Timmendiquas in English.

Henry's sympathies were with her, but could the Dove evade all the
warriors? They could not touch the ball, but they might seize the girl
herself and shake her until the ball fell from her hands. This, in fact,
was what happened when an agile young warrior succeeded in grasping her
by the shoulder. The ball fell to the ground, but as he loosed her and
prepared to kick it she made a quick dive and seized it. The warrior's
foot swung in the empty air, and then he set out after the flying Dove.

Only one other guard was left, and it was seen that he would intercept
her, but she stopped short, her arm swung out in a curve, and she threw
the