ully, he discovered a crouching
Indian, waiting with drawn knife until he should come within his
reach.

The trapper was no coward, and had been in many a hand to-hand tussle
before; but there was something in the character of the danger which
would have made it more pleasant for him to hesitate awhile until he
could learn its precise dimensions; but time was too precious, and the
next moment, he had dropped directly by the side of the red-skin.

The latter intended to make the attack, but without waiting for him,
Baldy sprung like a panther upon him and bore him to the earth. There
was a silent but terrific struggle for a few moments, but the
prodigious activity and rower of the trapper prevailed, and when he
withdrew from the grasp of the Indian, the latter was as dead as a
door nail. The struggle had been so short that neither Mickey nor
Ethan knew anything of it, until Baldy dropped down among them, and
announced what had taken place.

'Jerusalem! have they come as close as that?' asked the Yankee in
considerable terror.

'Skulp me, if they ain't all around us!' was the reply of the hunter.

'How we ar' to git out o' hyar, ar' a hard thing to tell j'ist now.'

'It's meself that thinks the rid gentlemin have a love fur us, as me
mither obsarved, when she cracked the head of me father,' remarked
Mickey, who had seated himself upon the ground with all the
indifference of an unconcerned spectator.

It was so dark in their cave-like home that they could not see each
other's faces, and could only catch a sort of twilight glimpse of
their forms when they passed close to each other.

It would have made their quarters more pleasant had they struck a
light, but it was too dangerous a proceeding, and no one thought of
it. They could only keep on the alert, and watch for the movement of
their enemies.

The latter, beyond all doubt, were in the immediate vicinity, and
inspired as they were by hate of the most vindictive kind, would not
allow an opportunity to pass of doing all the harm in their power.

The remains of their food was silently eaten in the darkness, when
Baldy said:

'Do yer stay hyar whar ye be till I come back'

'Where might ye be going naow?' inquired Hopkins.

'I'm goin' outside to see what the reds are doin', and to see whether
thar's a chance fur 'em to gobble us up hull.'

'Do yees mind and take care of y'urself, as me mither cautioned me
when I went a shparkin',' said Mickey, who naturally