avage nearest him,
feeling the movement, as it were, lifted his head from the earth, of
which it was so soon to become a part; but if he saw the knife, he saw
it too late. The blade, driven down with all the strength of a desperate
man, struck home; when it was drawn from its sheath of flesh, there
remained to us but a foe apiece.

In the instant of its descent I had thrown myself upon the Indian
nearest me. It was not a time for overniceness. If I could have done so,
I would have struck him in the back while he thought no harm; as it was,
some subtle instinct warning him, he whirled himself over in time to
strike up my hand and to clench with me. He was very strong, and his
naked body, wet with rain, slipped like a snake from my hold. Over and
over we rolled on the rain-soaked moss and rotted leaves and cold black
earth, the hail blinding us, and the wind shrieking like a thousand
watching demons. He strove to reach the knife within his belt; I, to
prevent him, and to strike deep with the knife I yet held.

At last I did so. Blood gushed over my hand and wrist, the clutch upon
my arm relaxed, the head fell back. The dying eyes glared into mine;
then the lids shut forever upon that unquenchable hatred. I staggered to
my feet and turned, to find that Diccon had given account of the third
Indian.

We stood up in the hail and the wind, and looked at the dead men at
our feet. Then, without speaking, we went our way through the tossing
forest, with the hailstones coming thick against us, and the wind a
strong hand to push us back. When we came to a little trickling spring,
we knelt and washed our hands.

The hail ceased, but the rain fell and the wind blew throughout the
morning. We made what speed we could over the boggy earth against the
storm, but we knew that we were measuring miles where we should have
measured leagues. There was no breath to waste in words, and thought
was a burden quite intolerable; it was enough to stumble on through
the partial light, with a mind as gray and blank as the rain-blurred
distance.

At noon the clouds broke, and an hour later the sunshine was streaming
down from a cloudless heaven, beneath which the forest lay clear before
us, naught stirring save shy sylvan creatures to whom it mattered not if
red man or white held the land.

Side by side Diccon and I hurried on, not speaking, keeping eye and ear
open, proposing with all our will to reach the goal we had set, and
to reach it in