Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-05-03

i began to fear that the Car1DeroeS Old not
take quite the same view of the matter.
Their proceedings, when they had done
putting their heads together, were ominous
In the extreme. They went down TO the
waters edge, gesticulating fiercely and
talking necessarily. They pointed to our
footmarks in the mud, then to the bluff
and toward the forest, as If they had a
very strong suspicion that we were not
very far off. Perhaps they had seen the
fiutter of a gown among the trees.
Were they going to follow US up, after
all' 1t looked like it; for after another
putting together of heads, they unstrung
their bows, and fastened the strings round
their heads. Then the tallest of the lot,
after reckoning to the others to follow,
stepped into the stream, and cautiously
feeling his way with his long spear, made
straight toward the bush behind which
was lying perdu.
al am in pretty tight fix, now, and no
mistaken thought Seven bloOd-thirsty
savages within hundred yards Of me. and
no getting away! The mere raising Of my
head would be my deathwarrant."
CONFESS it candidly, | was dreadfully
frightened: but only for a moment. The
very extremity of my peril seemed to steel
my nerves and clear my brain, and almost
on the instant / made my plan of cam
paign. Though had little hope Of saving
my life the attempt was worth making,
and / might. at any rate, stop the pursuit
and give the two girls chance of making
good their escape.
Again the note of the bell-bird.
Slowly, and taking infinite pains to avoid
stirring the bush or exposing my body.
brought my rife to bear, and waited until
the Cariberoes were in mid-stream, up to
the arm-pits in water. Then, taking de
liberate aim, | shot the tall fellow who
had first stepped into the water through
the head. Down he went, and was swept
away with the tide; but the others, after
moment Of hesitation, gave a loud yell and
charged in body toward the bush. Wad-
ing in deep water is. however, slow work.
/ reloaded my rifle, fired again, and
brought a second man down.
Surely" l thought, that will stop
themp,
But no; they came on if possible more
resOlutely than before: and one rascal
threw his spear with aim so true that had
/ not managed to ward off the stroke with
my rife, should have been pinned to the
ground.
The four surviving savages, now effect
ually COwed, pulled up short, and, turning
round make back as fast as they can. /
had already reloaded my rifle, and could
easily have picked one Of them off, but for
PHYS sake | forebOre; the danger was past,
and felt that there had been slaughter
enough. Nab, however, gave them apart
ing shot, which, though it hit one of the
fellows did not seem to hurt him much;
for, after a howl and a stumble, he con-
tinued his flight, and kept up with the
others.
AS they disappeared among the reeds !
sprung up the bluff, where, as | expected,
| met the queen.
"Thank Heaven you are safe" she ex-
claimed, fervently. 81 feared those wretches
had killed you. | am again your debtor
for my life"
at is the other way about-yOu have
saved mine"
"ObIige me by not talking nonsense Mr..
Erie" she answered in her imperious way.
Had you not stayed down there at the
risk of your life, what would have become
of Marian and me2'
"IIud you not left the shelter of the for
est, ut the risk of your life, and shot that
Caribrroe in the very nick of time what
would have become of me?"
You would have shot him yourself and
escaped all the same"
II am sure | shouldn't They would
have been on me before | could reload my
rife, and though might have killed two
or three more of them, they would GER
tainIy have killed me Shall we settle the
u If
the others life Then we shall be quits"
Say what you like; we shall not be
quits"-smiling 81 am still your debtor,
now. Why did those Cariberoes attempt
to follow us across the creek?"
"rhe very question have been asking
myself"
Don't you think they wanted, at all
hazards, to prevent us from giving the
alarm?"
EITHER that, or there are many more of
them down there than we have any idea
of. and they are going to invade Fair Is
land Mt once"
at is possible" said Nab, anxiously.
Let us 90 on. Oh that we had fleet
horses; or, still better, some of those won
derful speaking wires you have told me
about"
CHAPTER XXvI.-FRIENDS IN NEED.
1t was very easy to say, Let us go on"
But as Nab had only the vaguest idea of
the way to Westons, and | had none,
whatever, the carrying out of the proposal
was attended with some little difficulty.
She thought that if we went east by north
we should not be far out; and east by north
straight in that part of the island was
quite out of the question. We were forced
to make long dctours, and in order to adj
vance one mile in n straight line we had
generally to walk about three miles. And
yet we seemed to get no further; we were
always toiling over the same sort of ground,
always surrounded by the same bushes and
trees, and our view was always limited to
a circle of a few yards
At length, late in the afternoon, when
the deepening gloom of the forest was re-
minding us that if we did not soon get out
of it we should have to stay there all night,
we came to knoll bare of underwood,
where the trees were tall and far apart.
Suppose you climb one of them9" said
Nab.
1t was happy thought, and proceeded
to act on it forthwith, selecting for the
purpose the tree that seemed the easiest to
mount for was fearfully tired.
The first look when | got to the top was
bitterly disappointing. The prospect was
magnificent, but nowhere a sign of life,
and | was just about to descend with my
bad news, when | caught sight of faint
blue line rising slowly out of mass of
grcenery, about two miles to the eastward.
"Smokel" | shouted, us | slithered rapid
" down the tree. 81 have seen smoke" |
repeated, rs | reached terra frmu, 'and
where that smoke is we shall find fire
and house. and somebody to show us the
way"
We resumed our journey in high spirits.
and after Il further tramp OF hall an hour
or so we struck beaten track which led
us to a clearing, field OF maize, An or
chard, and finally to a farmhouse.
This was Weston's, and we found Yves
ton at home, and, despite our disreputable
appearance, received n warm welcome.
But Nab looked so very unlike n queen,
that when told him who she was he evil
IDENTIFY thought we were poking fun at
him. But when he heard our story his
doubts disappeared. The possibility of an
incurSlon of Cariberoes alarmed him great
ly; he offered to accompany us part OF the
way to FaIrhaven, and to do everything IN
HIS power To facilitate our journey thither.
We were too much fatigued to go on with
out rest. but we gathered that if we took
about six hours sleep, started at midnight,
apj troynln1 NV li.vht ~ ,,,nnr WA MIGHT