Year: 1873

| son Sprang upon him, knocked him down
| with hs fist and then Immediately dis
armed and bound him where he lay
| After few minutes of furious rawlings
and futile efforts to free himself, the
savage rolled over and sunk into drunk
| en- slumber.


He did not awake until morning, but
| before he did 50 the settler quietly
removed the bonds and restored his
weapons, which he laid by the side of
| the sleeper.


! The savage, on awakening, rose slow
| ly to his feet, felt his wrists as though
| the thongs had left a feeling there, took
his weapons, and without speaking a
word, left and disappeared in the timber
near by.


What do you think of that? asked
1 his wife, turning to her husband with a
scared look. ........... ......
Pshaw. Don't trouble yourself with
that drunken brute, answered the set
tier, lightly, but as he turned away and
stepped into the yard, he muttered,
Like it ! Well, not much. The fellow
must be watched. | was in hopes that
| he would not have remembered but that
/ lump where my fist landed, was enough,
if nothing else, to recall the circum-
| stance


The summer passed and they saw no
more of the drunken guest. He failed
/ to make his appearance. But as the
| leaves began to fail, the settler one day,
while returning from hunting on the hills
/ and passing through a dense piece of
woods, caught sight of a figure lurking
/ in the bushes but which quickly disap-
| peared. The figure was that of an In
| dian warrior and BransOn would have
/ sworn that it was the Indian that he had
! knocked down and bound the previous
/ summer. The knowledge was not any
/ way comforting and he did not tell his
wife of the discovery.


1t would alarm her, without perhaps,
any good result He simply told her he
/ had discovered bear tracks near by, and
/ that she and the child must stay within
/ or close to the house when be was absent.


Several days afterward, Rufus Bran
son heard his dogs in the timber down
by the river. and knowing that they
/ never opened without good cause, caught
up his rifle and FASTENED to where they
were barking. The chase led him sew
eral miles, and when, at last, he got his
shot, that finished Bruins career, he
| found that it was three or four O'clock
in the afternoon.


Swinging his game to tree; out of
reach Of cat or wolf, he started for
home to get the old gray mare and return
to fetch it that night.


! Taking near cut, he approached the
/ cabin from the western side, where the
/ timber grew heavy up to within a few
/ rods of the building, and consequently
he could not see the clearing, or what
might be transpiring there, until he had
/ passed through the wood.
Thus it was that when, within but a
very short distance of his home, he
heard a wild piercing shrek, he could
guess that something terrible must be
taking place beyond the screen of bushes
and leaves.
Uttering a loud shout. that his pres
t5sce might be sooner known, Branson
( sprang forward with the leaps of a
wounded buck, a great fear at his heart,
for he had only too clearly recognized
/ in that scream the agonized voice of his
/ wife


/ 1t took but moment for him to clear
I the intervening timber and underground
/ As he dashed out into the clearing
I holding his rifle ready for instant use,
he comprehended at one swift glance all
that had taken place, and what was fur
/ thertO fear


Near the end of the cabin, facing the
cliffs, of which l have spoken, stood the
mother, her face pallid as the dead, her
arms outstretChed, and her staring eyes
fixed upon the precipitous heights, up
| which the figure of an Indian warrior
was struggling.


by child my child was all the TO-
/ 1ni nd D,,f,
/ that the bundle borne in the Indians
arms was the form of their only child,
Maggie.


Firm of heart and with nerves as
steady as the rocks around, the father
for moment actually quailed and cow
/ cred under what his quick sense told
him, the deadly peril of the little one.


But he was quick to recover.


The Indian was drawing away; step
! by step he was increasing the distance,
anil as he occasionally glanced backward
and downward, the parent saw in his
| hideously painted cOuntenance the fell
/ purpose which actuated the abductOr.


God aid me Branson muttered, as he
raised his rifle, glanced through the
sight and touched the trigger.


The Indian started violently at the
shot. He was hit but not badly, and
with a yell of devilish triumph, he
started upward.


| Too low by a couple of inches, said
low, calm voice at the settlers elbow.


Branson started up as though he had
| himself been shot.


Where has this man come from Who
! is he?


Neither had seen him approach.


But this was no time for explanations.
The stranger, man rather below than
above his ordinary height, whose fine
athletic form was fully displayed by his
closely fitting buck-skin garments, step
ped quickly forward a few PAGES, and
firmly planting his foot in advance,
threw up an unusually long rifle, as
though preparing to fire. For Gods
sake stranger, be careful of my child !?
cried Branson, while the agonized mo-
ther uttered an inaudible prayer.


It's our only chance. | know that
Indian, was the quick reply, and the
sharp click of the hammer as it was
drawn back told that the critical mo-
ment had come.


BY this time the Indian had nearly
reached the summit of the steep.


That he was wounded now became
evident as upon a broad ledge Of the
rocks he rested a moment.


The opportunity was seized by the
unknown.


Although the savage had taken the
precaution to hold the child up in front
of him as shield, covering nearly the
whole of his brawney chest, but leaving
his head bare, the stranger did not hest
tate in making the shot. For one sec
ond, as it gained its position, the rifle
wavered and then instantly became as
immovable as if held in wise.


With clasped hands and straining eyes
the parents watched the statue-like form
upon whose skill so much depended.


Suddenly sharp report rang out, the
white smoke drifted away and as the
vision became clear, they saw the In
dian loose his hold upon the child and
reel wildly for an instant, and then pitch
forward upon the rocks.


1t may be imagined that the father
was not long in reaching the place
where the child lay, and in few moe