ver, my boy, and are you unhurt?"

"It is all over, mother, and they have bolted. I have not had a scratch,
for I have been lying down all the time in shelter; but I am sorry to
say, Mrs. Sampson, that your husband is badly hurt.

"No; he is not dead," he continued in answer to the agonized expression
of inquiry in her eyes. "He has been stunned by the blow of a tomahawk,
and is, as I said, badly hurt; but he will, I trust, get over it."

Mrs. Sampson ran forward and threw herself on her knees by her husband's
side, uttering a suppressed cry as she saw the terrible wound on his
head.

"Wilfrid, there is a bottle of water untouched in the basket," Mr.
Atherton said.

"I will fetch it," Mrs. Renshaw broke in, hurrying away. "No, Milly,"
she said, as the child who had been ordered to stay with the basket came
running to meet her. "You must stay here for a little while. The natives
have all run away, but your father is hurt and for a time must be kept
quite quiet. I will send Wilfrid to sit with you."

Taking a bottle of water and a cloth which covered the basket, Mrs.
Renshaw hurried back. "Wilfrid," she said, "do you go and sit with the
little one. You can do no good here, and look completely worn out. You
will be making yourself useful if you amuse Milly and keep her away from
here for the present."

Mr. Atherton poured a little of the water into the cover of his flask,
added some brandy, and poured a little of it between the wounded man's
lips. Then he saturated the cloth with water and handed it to Mrs.
Sampson, who wiped the blood from her husband's head and face, then
poured a little water from the bottle on to his forehead. Some more
brandy and water was poured between his lips and he uttered a faint
groan.

"I will examine his wound now, Mrs. Sampson. I have had some experience
that way in my journeyings about the world." Kneeling down he
carefully examined the wound.

[Illustration: MR. ATHERTON KEEPS THE MOUTH OF THE DEFILE

_Page 294_]

"It is better than I hoped, Mrs. Sampson," he said cheerfully. "I expect
the thick hat turned the tomahawk a little and it fell obliquely on the
side of the head. It has carried away a goodish slice of the hair and
scalp, and has starred the bone, but it has not crushed it in, and I
think that with care and nursing your husband will not be long before he
gets over it. You had better fold up that cloth again, pour some fresh
water over it, and then bandage it over th