n! Now, my good man, prove both breed and
character!"

A distant shout was heard in the direction of the approaching party
of the squatter, assuring the female garrison that succour was not far
distant. Esther answered to the grateful sounds by a cracked cry of her
own, lifting her form, in the first burst of exultation, above the rock
in a manner to be visible to all below. Not content with this dangerous
exposure of her person, she was in the act of tossing her arms in
triumph, when the dark figure of Mahtoree shot into the light and
pinioned them to her side. The forms of three other warriors glided
across the top of the rock, looking like naked demons flitting among the
clouds. The air was filled with the brands of the beacon, and a heavy
darkness succeeded, not unlike that of the appalling instant, when the
last rays of the sun are excluded by the intervening mass of the moon.
A yell of triumph burst from the savages in their turn, and was rather
accompanied than followed by a long, loud whine from Hector.

In an instant the old man was between the horses of Middleton and Paul,
extending a hand to the bridle of each, in order to check the impatience
of their riders.

"Softly, softly," he whispered, "their eyes are as marvellously shut for
the minute, as if the Lord had stricken them blind; but their ears are
open. Softly, softly; for fifty rods, at least, we must move no faster
than a walk."

The five minutes of doubt that succeeded appeared like an age to all but
the trapper. As their sight was gradually restored, it seemed to each
that the momentary gloom, which followed the extinction of the beacon,
was to be replaced by as broad a light as that of noon-day. Gradually
the old man, however, suffered the animals to quicken their steps, until
they had gained the centre of one of the prairie bottoms. Then laughing
in his quiet manner he released the reins and said--

"Now, let them give play to their legs; but keep on the old fog to
deaden the sounds."

It is needless to say how cheerfully he was obeyed. In a few more
minutes they ascended and crossed a swell of the land, after which the
flight was continued at the top of their horses' speed, keeping the
indicated star in view, as the labouring bark steers for the light which
points the way to a haven and security.

CHAPTER XXII

The clouds and sunbeams o'er his eye,
That once their shades and glories threw,