knowing with what speed he could
reload, came running.

His weapon flashed a second time, and with the same deadly aim. The
leading warrior in the second party fell also, dead, when his body
touched the ice, and his comrades gave back in fear. They had not known
such terrible sharpshooting before, and the man whom they had thought so
securely in the trap must have two rifles at least. Both parties,
carrying their dead with them, retreated swiftly to shore, and gathered
about the fires again.

Henry reloaded a second time, patted affectionately the rifle that had
served him so well, put it once more in front of him, and sheltered his
hands as before under the blankets. The bands had received a dreadful
lesson. The loss of two good warriors was not to be passed over lightly,
and he knew they would delay some time before taking further action.
Meanwhile, the night was coming fast and the cold was increasing so
greatly that it alarmed him, despite the blankets and the painted robe.
The wind sweeping over the frozen surface of the lagoon had an edge that
cut like steel. The very blood in his veins seemed to grow chill, and he
felt alarm lest his hands grow too stiff with cold to handle the rifle.
The bushes, although they hid him from a distant enemy, did not afford
much protection. Instead, they were like so many icicles.

The two bands built their fires higher, until the flames threw a glow
far out on the ice, and Henry saw their hovering figures outlined in
black against the red. They filled him with anger, because they could
maintain the siege in comfort, while he had to fight not only a human
foe, but the paralyzing cold as well. He stood up now, stretched his
arms, stamped his feet and exercised himself in every manner of which he
could think, until a certain amount of warmth came to his body. But he
knew it would not last long. Presently the cold would settle back
fiercer and more intense than ever.

The night advanced, the dusk deepened and the siege of Henry by the
warriors and the cold grew more formidable. He was anxious for the
Indians to make another attack, but he knew now they would not do it.
They would wait patiently for the fugitive in the trap to fall inert
into their hands. After all he was in the trap! And it was a trap worse
than any other he had ever met. Then he said fiercely to himself that he
might be in the trap, but he would break out of it.

For the second time, he took violent physical exe