uting
and flourishing their long spears.

I cannot say very accurately what happened during the next five minutes
or so, for one of the Indians came directly at me, and before I could at
all stop him--for I found that shooting at him with my revolver did him
no harm at all; and this struck me as odd, for I had repeatedly hit the
mark while practising in the corral--he had prodded his spear through
the fleshy part of my left arm. It hurt severely. He had aimed his
thrust, doubtless, at my heart, and he certainly would have penetrated
that vital organ had I not at that moment slipped, and so disarranged
his aim. He pulled the spear out of my arm, which action also gave me
great pain, and his manner indicated that he was about to thrust it into
some other part of me; which he surely could have done, for I was wholly
at a loss as to what measures should be taken to assure my own safety.
Indeed, I was very well convinced that my life was as good as ended, and
a curious flash of thought went through me that I cannot coherently
remember, but that was in the nature of a query as to whether or not in
a future state the many scientific truths which as yet are but
imperfectly understood will be wholly revealed to us.

However, the opportunity that I confidently expected would be given to
me in a moment to obtain an answer to this interesting question did not
then occur. Just as the Indian was lunging at me--I can see his ugly
face now, as I close my eyes and let my thoughts turn backward to that
critical moment--there was a flash of some bright object before me, and
then the Indian's entire head seemed to shut up suddenly, something like
an opera-glass, and he went down to the ground like a stone. As I
turned, I saw that my deliverance had come from Pablo, and even in that
very exciting moment I observed with astonishment that the weapon with
which he had slain the Indian was a great jagged sword--if the
_maccuahuitl_ can be called a sword--such as the Aztecs used in ancient
times. I could not then conveniently stop to question him whence he had
obtained that very interesting weapon, for there was another Indian
already close upon me; and I am pleased to say--for I do not wish the
belief to go abroad that scientific men are worse than useless in
practical emergencies--that, without assistance from Pablo or from
anybody else, I managed to pick up my rifle, and with the heavy iron
barrel of that weapon, used clubwise, I mashed the