s necessary article.

Only eight rounds were left, for the guns, and twenty for the pistols,
but as they were now safe from further attack this was not such a
calamity as they expected.

[Illustration: _Fig. 3. Scene of the fight at the River._]

Their captive was mute during the entire skirmish, and it was a
remarkable exhibition of a savage trait for the pursuers to disregard
the condition of one of their chiefs, by firing on him while in that
condition. How many were killed or disabled they had no means of
knowing, but many must have fallen, for when they lined up across the
tongue of land behind them the number had considerably diminished.

"It seems as though they intend to make a siege of it," was Harry's
comment, as he noticed them preparing a fire.

The wagon was drawn up so that its broadside was toward the enemy, and
the boards which had been carried, let down so as to form a screen for
the part below the body. This afforded a safe place for the yaks, if
perchance during the night the attacking party should get near enough by
stealth to use their arrows.

As night approached there was an evident movement on the part of the
besiegers, which could not be understood, until it was noticed that they
had taken a much closer position. This was considered most annoying, and
with a view to giving them another lesson, a few shots were fired into
the thickest groups. This was answered by howls of anger, as they rushed
back beyond the line of their former camp fire.

"They will learn a good lesson if they keep after us much longer. They
have a wholesome fear of us now, and if our ammunition holds out, we can
wipe out the whole lot," was George's grim comment after the last
incident.

"Fear is certainly a wonderful thing in this world," commented the
Professor; "without it the entire history of the world would have to be
changed and rewritten."

"Why do you think so?"

"If you stop to consider the element of fear you will see that it is at
the bottom of almost every human aspiration. Why does a man work to lay
up a store for a rainy day? Why does he toil day after day, and often
lose his life in the effort? What prompts the mother to guard her
infant in the face of every danger? You may say it is love, but behind
that love is fear which prompts the action."

During the night, when John and Harry were on guard, John quietly stole
from the wagon, and as stealthily as a savage moved out over the ground
toward th