e location of the defenders.
The gloom was too deep to permit the use of any vision except that of
the owl or cat. He had probably withdrawn to repeat his attempt at some
other point.

Again, the marvelous delicacy of hearing told the girl that her enemy
was in motion, not directly in front of the boulder, but on the left, in
the direction of George Ashbridge. She peered intently at that point,
wondering how much longer she ought to remain motionless and mute, and
on the point of calling, in a suppressed voice, to her lover, when
something whisked by her elbow, too quickly or too dimly seen for her to
comprehend at once what it meant.

Then it flashed upon her.

"George!" she called, in an undertone, so full of dread and terror that
he was at her side in an instant.

"What's the matter? What has happened?"

"There's an Indian within the inclosure!"

"Impossible! You are mistaken!"

"I saw him this minute."

"Where? Tell me how it was!" he whispered, seizing her hand, and quick
to catch her excitement.

"I saw the top of his head peeping over this very rock in front of me. I
was about to call to you, when he dropped down again. The next moment he
passed over the spot where you are. He did it so quickly and silently
that I heard nothing, and caught only the most shadowy glimpses of him."

"Can it be possible? I cannot dispute you, and yet--"

A tall figure, walking erect, assumed form in the gloom, and was upon
the startled lovers before they were aware of it.

Young Ashbridge was in the act of bringing his rifle to a level, when
Weber Hastings spoke.

"Not too fast, younkers. I'm afeared I didn't do the best thing in the
world, when I placed you two so near each other."

"No matter where you placed her," replied the youth, "you did a good
thing for the rest. She has sharper eyes than any of us, for she has
seen what nobody else saw."

"What's that? What's that?"

"Within the last three minutes," said Agnes, "one of the Shawanoes
passed by this boulder behind which I have been sitting, and is now
somewhere within the inclosure. Oh, I wonder if he means any harm to
your folks, George, or mine!"

And spurred by her new terror she hurried across the brief intervening
space to where her mother and Miss Altman were sitting trembling, and
occasionally whispering in the darkness.

Thank heaven! no harm had befallen them, and since there was no call for
her to return to George Ashbridge and Weber Hastings,