her, and then
fell, cloven to the chin; then the tenth, and the eleventh, and the
twelfth, and the thirteenth, and the fourteenth, and the fifteenth, and
the sixteenth-sixteen bound men killed by one woman in less than fifteen
minutes. The four in that group who were left had all the while been
straining fearfully at their bonds. Now they had slipped or broken
them, and, springing to their feet, driven on by the mightiest of human
impulses, they dashed through the ring of Iroquois and into the forest.
Two were hunted down by the warriors and killed, but the other two,
Joseph Elliott and Lebbeus Hammond, escaped and lived to be old men,
feeling that life could never again hold for them anything so dreadful
as that scene at "The Bloody Rock."

A great turmoil and confusion arose as the prisoners fled and the
Indians pursued. Paul and Shif'less Sol; full of sympathy and pity for
the fugitives and having felt all the time that their turn, too, would
come under that dreadful tomahawk, struggled to their feet. They did
not see a form slip noiselessly behind them, but a sharp knife descended
once, then twice, and the bands of both fell free.

"Run! run!" exclaimed the voice of Timmendiquas, low but penetrating. "I
would save you from this!"

Amid the darkness and confusion the act of the great Wyandot was not
seen by the other Indians and the renegades. Paul flashed him one look
of gratitude, and then he and Shif'less Sol darted away, choosing a
course that led them from the crowd in pursuit of the other flying
fugitives.

At such a time they might have secured a long lead without being
noticed, had it not been for the fierce swarm of old squaws who were
first in cruelty that night. A shrill wild howl arose, and the pointing
fingers of the old women showed to the warriors the two in flight. At
the same time several of the squaws darted forward to intercept the
fugitives.

"I hate to hit a woman," breathed Shif'less Sol to Paul, "but I'm goin'
to do it now."

A hideous figure sprang before them. Sol struck her face with his open
hand, and with a shriek she went down. He leaped over her, although
she clawed at his feet as he passed, and ran on, with Paul at his side.
Shots were now fired at him, but they went wild, but Paul, casting a
look backward out of the corner of his eye, saw that a real pursuit,
silent and deadly, had begun. Five Mohawk warriors, running swiftly,
were only a few hundred yards away. They carried ri