e posts supporting the
piazza, that the quivering handle snapped close off at its head. At
that moment, a single shot, fired from the guard-house, was drowned in
the yell of approbation which burst from the lips of the dark crowd.
The turban of the warrior was, however, seen flying through the air,
carried away by the force of the bullet which had torn it from his
head. He himself was unharmed.

"A narrow escape for us both, Colonel de Haldimar," he observed, as
soon as the yell had subsided, and with an air of the most perfect
unconcern. "Had my tomahawk obeyed the first impulse of my heart, I
should have cursed myself and died: as it is, I have reason to avoid
all useless exposure of my own life, at present. A second bullet may be
better directed; and to die, robbed of my revenge, would ill answer the
purpose of a life devoted to its attainment. Remember my pledge!"

At the hasty command of the governor, a hundred muskets were raised to
the shoulders of his men; but, before a single eye could glance along
the barrel, the formidable and active warrior had bounded over the
heads of the nearest Indians into a small space that was left
unoccupied; when, stooping suddenly to the earth, he disappeared
altogether from the view of his enemies. A slight movement in the
centre of the numerous band crowding the gateway, and extending even
beyond the bridge, was now discernible: it was like the waving of a
field of standing corn, through which some animal rapidly winds its
tortuous course, bending aside as the object advances, and closing
again when it has passed. After the lapse of a minute, the terrible
warrior was seen to spring again to his feet, far in the rear of the
band; and then, uttering a fierce shout of exultation, to make good his
retreat towards the forest.

Meanwhile, Ponteac and the other chiefs of the council continued rooted
to the piazza on which they had rushed at the unexpected display of the
armed men behind the scarlet curtain. The loud "Waugh" that burst from
the lips of all, on finding themselves thus foiled in their schemes of
massacre, had been succeeded, the instant afterwards, by feelings of
personal apprehension, which each, however, had collectedness enough to
disguise. Once the Ottawa made a movement as if he would have cleared
the space that kept him from his warriors; but the emphatical pointing
of the finger of Colonel de Haldimar to the levelled muskets of the men
in the block-houses prevent