at all was confusion.

The string of the armorer's bow had snapped, and the natives,
knowing nothing of guns, believed that the party were now unarmed.
As the armorer was restringing his bow, one of the natives shot an
arrow at him, and he fell, mortally wounded. One standing near now
raised his arquebus; but before he could fire, he too was pierced
by two arrows, and fell dead. The admiral himself caught up the
arquebus, and shot the man who had first fired.

The little party on the hill had been struck with amazement and
consternation at the sudden outburst, and were recalled to a sense
of their danger by the whiz of an arrow, which struck Master
Arbuckle in the heart; and at the same moment a dozen of the
savages made their appearance, from among the trees below them.
Seeing the deadliness of their aim, and that he and Tom would be
shot down at once, before they could get to close quarters, Ned
turned to fly.

"Quick, Tom, for your life!"

Fortunately, they stood on the very top of the ascent, so that a
single bound backwards took them out of sight and range of their
enemies. There was a wood a few hundred yards inland, apparently of
great extent, and towards this the lads ran at the top of their
speed. The savages had to climb the hill and, when they reached its
crest, the fugitives were out of bow-shot range.

A yell broke from them as they saw the lads, but these had made the
best use of their time, and reached the wood some two hundred yards
ahead of their pursuers. Ned dashed into the undergrowth and tore
his way through it, Tom close at his heels. Sometimes they came to
open spaces, and here each time Ned changed the direction of their
flight, choosing spots where they could take to the underwood
without showing any sign, such as broken boughs, of their entrance.

After an hour's running the yells and shouts, which had at first
seemed close behind, gradually lessened, and were now but faintly
heard. Then, utterly exhausted, the lads threw themselves on the
ground. In a few minutes, however, Ned rose again.

"Come, Tom," he said, "we must keep on. These fellows will trace us
with the sagacity of dogs; but, clever as they may be, it takes
time to follow a track. We must keep on now. When it gets dark,
which will be in another hour or so, they will be able to follow us
no longer, and then we can take it easily."

"Do as you think best, Ned. You are accustomed to this kind of
thing."

Without another w