nd that, and bare swords in their hands. They had
discovered the direction of the flying garrison, and they were in full
chase, coming like a pack of hounds who hold the scent and see victory
before them.

"Lead!" said Dick, shortly, as they swung into the forest. "I have my
wind now, and can keep up at any pace."

It was well for him that he could do so, for the track was not an easy
one. Still there is no stimulus so strong as that which promises a
swift and terrible fate to the one who lags behind. Dick knew what to
expect if he were captured, and he went on without flagging. Briars and
vines slashed him across both face and hands, lacerating the skin.
Thorns plucked him by his clothing and tore it to shreds. He struck his
knees against fallen tree-trunks, and his feet against rotting boughs.
He plunged through narrow swamps and rivers, and dragged his legs
through mire which threatened to hold him. And all the time the shouts
of the hunters came in his wake. Talk of the music of the hounds! Dick
learned during that wild dash through the heart of this dense forest to
appreciate the bitterness of that statement from the point of view of
the quarry fleeing for his very life. He knew now how the call of the
pursuers made the blood run cold, how the yelp of Ashanti warriors made
the hair rise, and the limbs stand almost still with sheer fright. Yes,
he was the hare this time, and had there been a man at his heels,
flogging him with a whip of knotted steel wire, or goading him with
spikes, he could not have run harder. The perspiration poured from him.
Blood dripped from many a cut and laceration, while his breath came in
short gasps.

"Hurrah! Him massa. Wait now, you young debil. Yo wait till I say go.
Hold de fire till I tell yo. Hear? Can't yo hear dem fellers comin'?"

Once again did Dick learn to bless the sound of that voice. He dashed
along beside the creek, saw the launch lying some feet away, and flung
himself into the water. The chief followed suit without hesitation, and
in a minute they were pushing out into the stream, the two fugitives
lying flat upon the deck, breathless and exhausted with their exertions.

And close on their heels came the enemy, maddened with rage, bent on
securing the whole party. As the launch slipped into the stream and
rounded the corner, first one and then some thirty of the warriors came
tearing along the path, their dark figures hardly distinguishable in
s