ed Dick, who came up while he was speaking. "Had
it not been for your arrival, I suspect that one and all of us would
have gone down, for those rascals pressed us hard."

We had been proceeding towards a height which commanded a view in the
direction our late opponents were supposed to have taken, and we were
thankful to see them moving off, forming a more numerous body than we
had at first supposed. We accounted for this by concluding that, while
one portion of the savages attacked the train, the others had remained
concealed to act as a reserve should the first not succeed. What had
become of the female I had seen carried off, we could not ascertain. We
could nowhere distinguish her, but she might easily have been concealed
from our sight if she were among the leading Indians.

Our party, however, was too small to pursue the fugitives, with any
chance of recovering her. On reaching the camp formed by the train, we
at once repaired to Mr Praeger's waggon. We found him and his family
almost overcome with grief and anxiety. Two of his sons were severely
wounded, and Miss Hargrave had disappeared. My worst fears were
realised. She must have been the person I had seen carried off by the
Indian chief.

No one was certain as to the direction her captor had taken, for his
followers immediately surrounded him, and they had retreated together.
Three men of the emigrant party had been killed, and half a dozen more
or less wounded. They were full of gratitude to us for coming to their
assistance; for they acknowledged, surprised as they had been, that
every one of them might have been massacred had we not attacked the
savages. We on our part had to thank the trapper for his assistance.
When, however, we looked round for him, he had disappeared, and some of
the people said they had seen him galloping back in the direction from
which he had come. We guessed therefore that he had returned to take
care of our friend Charley. Poor Armitage had been placed in one of the
waggons, and a surgeon who had accompanied the train was attending to
his wounds. He had not been told of what had happened to Miss Hargrave.

We had now to consider what was next to be done. Of course we all
agreed that the first thing was to endeavour to recover the young lady.
The leaders of the train, in consequence of having so many wounded among
them, resolved to remain encamped where they were, as the neighbourhood
afforded wood and water, with