lady out of danger," exclaimed Dick. "But, as it is, I must fight
alone. Only let them come near enough; I'll plant my fist in the faces
of some of them, and make their noses flatter than they have ever been
before."

In a couple of minutes the fugitives had got to the bottom of the hill,
and were making their way along the high road by which they had come,
when Dick, turning round, discovered a number of men rushing out of the
building, who had evidently caught sight of them. On they came, yelling
like fiends; but they did not fire, apparently for fear of wounding the
ranee. It seemed but too likely that the whole party would be taken
prisoners, for what could two men do against the vastly superior number
pursuing them!

"On, sir! On, sir!" cried Dick; "we will tackle the fellows, and Sambro
will soon get hold of a musket or cutlass for himself. You meanwhile
push ahead to the nearest village with the young lady, and Mr Buxsoo
will tell the people who she is."

Dick, however, was calculating too much on his own powers, though he
truly felt ready to do battle with the infuriated rebels coming up to
him. They were not many paces off, when at that instant a tigress was
seen bounding along towards them. Nuna, who caught sight of the
savage-looking animal, uttered a scream. "There it comes! Oh, it will
kill us!" she exclaimed. Reginald immediately called out, "Faithful!
Faithful!" and the seemingly savage tigress came fawning up to him.
Then turning round, he pointed at the pursuing foes, and a pat on
Faithful's head made her leap on towards them. The moment they caught
sight of her, as she flew at them snarling fiercely, they turned round
and scampered up the hill faster than they had descended. Reginald
hereupon--fearing that some of them, regaining their courage, might fire
at her--called her off; upon which she came trotting back and took up a
position immediately behind the party.

Once more they moved on; Dick and the tigress every now and then looking
back to ascertain whether or not the enemy were following. The fright
given them by the sudden appearance of the tigress prevented the rebels
from again issuing out of their fortification, and Reginald and his
friends were able to get some distance before daylight.

Nuna had repeatedly asked Reginald to set her down, but to this he would
not consent, as she was not accustomed to walk over a rough road, and
her delicate feet, shod only with embroidered