The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1904-10-15

narrowing or the stream at this
point brought us within twenty
yards of our foes.
Uttering a howl of rage, they
made a wild rush for the waters
edge, threw themselves into their
canoes and came after us in full
pursuit. And foremost among them
we recognized the tall form of Wah-
kama.
With swift wave of our paddles
we turned the nose of our antique
craft toward the bank, reaching
which we leaped ashore. l seized
the gun, and in two seconds we were
tearing through the thick brush
wood toward the forest beyond.
That afternoon and evening ]
tramped many miles At nightfall,
being utterly tagged out, | threw
myself upon the turf beside a small
stream and was soon sound asleep.
| awoke a little after dawn, cold
and stiff and desperately hungry.
| was about to move along when ]
was startled to hear a cracking
among the brushwood. | set my
teeth and brought my rifle to my
shoulder, ready to fire as soon as the
thing should break cover.
Presently who should stagger into
view but Jed, the poor fellow ready
to drop with fatigue and hunger
We started off, but soon Jed, who
was carrying the gun, while clam
boring over the rocks made a mis-
step and fell. The weapon flew
from his hand, and, the trigger
striking hard against a stump, a
loud report followed among the sur
rounding hills.
But that was not the worst. Jed's
ankle received a very bad twist in
his fall, and for some minutes the
poor fellow was agonized with pain
Now we noticed a column OF
smoke rising nearly opposite our po-
sition from the other bank of the
river.
"a signalY' cried Jed. "They
must have heard the report. What
clumsy idiot l wasp
"And see," said l, "there's an an
swering signal to the right and an
other to the left. But we've got a
good start of them, and before they
strike our trail we must be miles
away"
All that afternoon we toiled on
ward over our rugged course. Mean.
time, however, Jed's wounded ankle
grew worse, until at sunset it was
swollen to twice it's natural size, and
he could proceed no farther.
Twilight slowly darkened into
night. The moon rose and cast hel
fading light upon the scene. A more
welcome light, think, l shall never
behold.
Presently signal fires on the hills
near by told us that the rest of oul
enemies were close at hand. Again
| looked to the printing of my gun
and otherwise prepared for action.
For fully twenty minutes We
heard nothing of our foes, though
we knew well the cowardly fellows
were debating how best to reach us
Then from their ambush in the wilG
oats we heard voices, as though they
were encouraging each other tt
charge, and we realized that the
crisis was at hand.
Suddenly 1 was startled by an ex
clamation from Jed.
cts all up, Joe" he cried. "Nc
use firing. The villains have got Vi
in the rearp
"Hist, boys, histw whispered &
voice from the bow of the canoe.
"Good heavens, it's Wattie!"
"Aye, boys, and just in the nick
of time. Catch hold of this hyal
line and haul us in right smart"
This was done, and all so quietly
and quickly that the Indians knew
nothing of our re-enforcements. A
minute later they broke cover, rush
ed into the open and, with a blood
curdling yell, charged pellmell down
upon us.
Fire." shouted Waite IN voice
that rang loud above the uproar
and instantly five spouts of flame
flashed in the faces Of our foes.
Surprised, thunderstruck, utterly
discounted, the advancing boIy
reeled back from the volley they had
so little expected.
S'After 'em, boysw yelled. Waite.
leaping UP over the bank and Civ
ing chase. We sent them flying in
all directions, each Indian intent
only on securing his personal safety
Then, returning to the bank, we
sought our two fallen foes. The
first we came up to was lying face
Ioryn-orJ bov.no v,;fobo1 forvpo rd