ony of death itself and, as before,
without dying, or even losing a drop of my blood! As before, I beheld
the puff of smoke, the flash, the blaze of fire projected from the
muzzle: but ere the crack reached me, I heard the "thud" of the bullet,
as it flattened against the granite on which I stood. This time the
marker did not mount up to the platform. He had seen the splinters
shivered from the rock; and without further inquiry, for the second
time, telegraphed a miss.

A third candidate appeared upon the stand; and my fears returned--as
acute as ever. This fellow caused me to suffer nearly a dozen deaths.
Either was his gun without a flint, or his powder damp: since after
snapping nearly a dozen times, the piece still refused to go off. Had
it been designed to give me a new horror, the thing could not have been
better planned: for each time that the savage essayed to fire, I had to
undergo the agony of a fresh apprehension. The scene ended by another
gun being placed in his hands, that _did_ go off; but with no advantage
to the clumsy marksman: for his bullet, like that of the Red-Hand,
whistled past, far wide of the mark.

A fourth now took the ground. This was a tall, swarthy warrior, one of
the tallest of the tribe; and without the insignia of a chief. The cool
and deliberate manner in which he went about his work, caused me to
anticipate in him a better shot; and my apprehensions were heightened to
a degree of painful intensity. I felt my whole frame shiver as his gun
blazed forth; and for a time I believed myself hit. The cheer of his
companions upon the plain announced the belief in the success of the
shot; but he upon the summit soon undeceived them--just as I became
myself reassured. The bullet had struck the wood-work of my crucifix--
one of the crosspieces to which my arms were attached. It was the shock
of the timber that had deceived me into the belief that I had been
struck.

A fifth marksman followed; and then another and another--until more than
a dozen had tried their hands. The guns were now all emptied; but this
caused only a temporary cessation in the cruel sport. They were soon
reloaded; and new candidates stepped forward to make trial of their
skill.

I had by this time discovered that they were not practising for mere
sport. It was a _game_, and bets were laid, upon it. Apart upon the
plain, the stakes were placed, consisting of saddles, robes, weapons,
and the plunder of the