o go on," said the old woman, as she lay back again in her
lair, rolled herself up into a bundle, and went to sleep.

Maximus and his wife resumed their paddles, and the light craft glided
swiftly on its way to the far north.

As the sun rose they neared the land, and soon after they were seated
not far from a high cliff, eating their breakfast beside a small fire,
which sent so thin a column of smoke into the air that it was almost
dissipated ere it reached the tree-tops. It was hoped that the Indians
had been now so far overshot that there was no danger of even a
straggler being near them. But they took the precaution to load their
two guns with ball, and lean them against a tree within reach of their
hands. When the meal was over, Maximus retired from the fire a few
paces, and throwing himself at full length on the green moss beneath a
tree, he fell into a sound sleep.

He had not lain thus more than quarter of an hour when he was startled
by the report of a gun, which was followed by a wild scream and a chorus
of unearthly yells. At the same instant, and ere he could attempt to
rise, his legs and arms were pinioned to the ground by four powerful
Indians. For an instant Maximus was paralysed. Then the terrible
reality of his position, the scream of Aneetka, and the sight of the
thong with which his captors were about to bind him, caused his spirit
to rebound with a degree of violence that lent him for the moment the
strength of a giant. With a shout, in which even a tone of contempt
seemed to mingle the Esquimau hurled his captors right and left, and
sprang to his feet. The Indians fled; but one, who was a moment later
in rising than the others, received a blow that felled him instantly.
Maximus glanced quickly round in search of his wife, and observed her
being hurried away by two Indians. As the arrow leaps from the bow the
Esquimau sprang forward in pursuit. The Indians saw him coming. In
bitter anger they prepared to let her go and fly, for having dropped
their guns in the scuffle they were unable to fire upon their
approaching foe. But there were other Indians in the bush whose weapons
were levelled at the breast of Maximus, and the next moment would have
been his last, but for a stone thrown from the cliffs above, which
struck him on the forehead and stretched him bleeding and insensible
upon the ground.

When Maximus recovered from the effects of the blow, he found himself
lying on the cold ear