ling came and went with his breath.

"They, too, are unafraid, being great fighters," he wheezed, pawing
aimlessly with his hands. "And behold! Bill-Man comes now!"

Tyee glanced up. Four Mandells and one of the Hungry Folk had rushed
upon the fallen man and were spearing him from his knees back to the
earth. In the twinkling of an eye, Tyee saw four of them cut down by
the bullets of the Sunlanders. The fifth, as yet unhurt, seized the
two rifles, but as he stood up to make off he was whirled almost
completely around by the impact of a bullet in the arm, steadied by
a second, and overthrown by the shock of a third. A moment later and
Bill-Man was on the spot, cutting the pack-straps and picking up the
guns.

This Tyee saw, and his own people falling as they straggled forward,
and he was aware of a quick doubt, and resolved to lie where he was
and see more. For some unaccountable reason, Mesahchie was running
back to Bill-Man; but before she could reach him, Tyee saw Peelo run
out and throw arms about her. He essayed to sling her across his
shoulder, but she grappled with him, tearing and scratching at his
face. Then she tripped him, and the pair fell heavily. When they
regained their feet, Peelo had shifted his grip so that one arm
was passed under her chin, the wrist pressing into her throat and
strangling her. He buried his face in her breast, taking the blows of
her hands on his thick mat of hair, and began slowly to force her off
the field. Then it was, retreating with the weapons of his fallen
comrades, that Bill-Man came upon them. As Mesahchie saw him, she
twirled the victim around and held him steady. Bill-Man swung the
rifle in his right hand, and hardly easing his stride, delivered the
blow. Tyee saw Peelo drive to the earth as smote by a falling star,
and the Sunlander and Neegah's daughter fleeing side by side.

A bunch of Mandells, led by one of the Hungry Folk, made a futile rush
which melted away into the earth before the scorching fire.

Tyee caught his breath and murmured, "Like the young frost in the
morning sun."

"As I say, they are great fighters," the old hunter whispered weakly,
far gone in hemorrhage. "I know. I have heard. They be sea-robbers and
hunters of seals; and they shoot quick and true, for it is their way
of life and the work of their hands."

"Like the young frost in the morning sun," Tyee repeated, crouching
for shelter behind the dying man and peering at intervals about him.