Show ma tia 4 the i plains of f abraham abraham py by james oliver curwood C by doubleday dornn doran co ino inc service ah CHAPTER VII continued 15 that the explosion of the gun would I 1 reach the cars of the mohawks nus in 11 jeems mind as lie he comforted ills 8 chocked companion F or a n few inn 30 f ments it was as difficult for tier her to boileve tile the combat was over and that hint e the alend who lay like a great spider jon on its back bacat wits was no longer a menace to them to tier her relief and tier her falth 11 in jeems beema was added an emotion of joy 1 when she ehe saw that odd wits allep 4 ulie the dog doff had dragged himself to tit hl feet and stood watching tile slain mail s primly grimly rh hie dead plan man stared up dt at them as they plis passed sed in their path lay the ar row which had gone cleanly through thron gli hlin film tobnette Tol nette could not keep keel bail the ia hysterical historical sob which came in tier throat but slie she looked tit at jeems with ith wonder and love loe in tier fire face that lie he heard only the throbbing in ills his heart libart and brain lie ile tin biad fought il for tier ct and won I 1 and andee lie find fought on nn that same ground where almost sl six years vears be before fore he be hall had failed to whip vaul tache I 1 tile the indians have heard tile the abo hot t and will return he said tills white man must have discovered some sign of f us and came to do murder and have is spoils alone dear god goa when I 1 aliis think ire was looking at tobnette Tol nette s tresel tres pl which had find burst free from their plaited gilted lilted lil ted bonds we ive must run tie he bald they passed the barn and went through the deserted field behind it odd following them I 1 there Is a stony ra ridge dg c less than h a mile from here ho he encouraged it if ve c can reach it I 1 know knew of twenty places ahr e b bare a re rock will lot ns is throw th enoff our trail we will reach it breathed tol nette lie ile pointed tile the way anti lot let tier her po go ahead of him film turning ills fits licad head every everi dozen steps to look behind belil nd along the hardwood knoll where if the le cussans had gathered iligir fuel tol ile nette tte sped like a graceful nymph tier her long hair streaming about tier her in the he pun full until at times teems saw noth nothing ng j but nit ats ts bea beauty uty and fn an the ifie bontem contemplo con la tion of its loveliness n shudder shuddering n 11 1 horror ran through gli him blin in the stump s field fit at home hepsibah had told old him j how liow both the english and the french lind had begun to make use of i linar and that many a gentl gentleman emad and courtly dandy wore shining curls taken by bv the scalping knife in wilderness orgies of rapine and murder in the narrowness of esen escape f the thought oppressed him with sick aning force soon her lack of endurance com belled them to slacken their pace and 3 when they rea reached clied the rocky ascent which led to the crest of the ridge breith breath was IlKe breaking akini sobbingly from tier her alps and for a while I 1 j flie elie could go no 6 fart faroli er cr she gaz bazert ed in the direction from which they my had come er rifled and almost with challenge ln in her look tier her breast wildly 1 throbbing her hand reaching put I 1 to 0 jeems aitch of the few minutes tw that passed seemed an hour to film then they climbed to the crest of the ridge here jeems picked ch hooding loosing the places where their feet would not touch scattered stones or op grass or soll soil until half an hour of slow and tedious progress lay la bet lyeen them and the point where aher e 6 hey ej had biome come from the valley if they come this far they will think we have aak taken cen the wilder wider and aster country he f can ou hold out i a letle longer it was the running that turned ernei tn me taint aint 11 said Tol tobnette nette 11 1 1 I 1 am as strong 5 you are now jeems nit but amny ajl 1 I atop op and braid my hair it Is a cum rous and warm and cut it off 1 I would cut off ny my arm fir first qt d declared e teems teem WI we will be be tm pare f X 2 arther on tind and if ain hu will unit halt aunill 4 vve have hac ha c wit put ourselves eliat at of rocks there 41 ills his words remained ned behind them hem come a cry it iva was enot not fierce nor one that hint seemed to ca rry menace and fiore bore with it a strange band r and almost musical softness jeems beems vi knew linew its meaning the mohawks op the ridge oneff one of them was calling ills scattered companion to evidence of their passing lie hall hail dlE discovered covered T beems hastened tobnette Tol nette over the rocks rock s they have found some iome sign if us he explained it may be one of odds daw claw marks on a stone othe scratch from a nail in your shoe Wh it Is they aly arnow w we have conic tills this way and will still believe we have taken to the plain Tul nette saw now desperately lie Wa stryIng to keep from ler her the real nearness of their peril 1 I have peen fen indians climb over rock s and windfalls wind falls they are like cats and I 1 am aiu so BO slow and clumsy she tie said vou rots can move faster flints any indian jans ilide hide me come where among these rocks and go on oil alone alona I 1 nm am sure they will not linam mo me it if they should happen to discover where I 1 nm am jeems old did not answer they find come to ilse aliu rocks which lie had spoken of a few moments before here if anywhere was a u place for concealment it nyna filled with dark and cavernous refuges and here tile the boulders bou met and crushed together were it hidden idell where their bodies might ile 11 unseen un spen Tol notte perceived these things with n heart that inglin ened with relief tind impe holie A dozen steps from where they stood were three boulders hould ers apart from the others one of f tile the three lind had split itself so that bluit one half of it anns its 11 still that formed a roof for the crevice between the other tw two 0 jems jams eyes a deeper CK x as lie he pointed it out ro inette we e will hide tind in therel there 1 lie cried make halfe it la Is smon smooth tb rol rock ro anti will mill no man behind us co in and keep odd gitil you 5 on lie ile began to throw loose wile nhouy the lie huge boulder heap some lie ho filing inn over ier the lie top of it so flint they fell on oil tile opposite side und and nt fit fasi lust lie sent f n few into tile lie edge it if alie nl lev i v pach kli farther than the lie other lie finished fi liy by shooting tin nn arrow which ended in an all olien space tit nt the lie foot of the lie ride tobnette Tol nette wa watched belied film in amazement and alarin until hp be commanded tier her in it i sterner boleo 01 ol tu to TWI crawl quickly under the st stones oties she united no lon lonar er hut bui pulled ile elf a few ti indies telles at nta a thil time beneath ho the boul ders jeems terii tin list at ins ing odd bhend of min him had greatel in performing tills same tent few and tin for it little while they squirmed tin and twisted until they found a lark dark reccea s in fit which they could crowd themselves tin fluid even sit ti jeems explained to Tol the mean ing of his strange behavior outside first they will find the loose stone and alp narks ila I 1 made and search for us its in every I 1 tole and cranny of tile the pile tie he said wilen vlen they discover the arrow I 1 hope they wilt bill believe e have fled into the foret forest aey waited in fit a silence wherein the beating of their hearts was like the sound of tiny drums brunis in the gloom of their filding hiding place A shudder ran through but slie she whispered 1 I am not nat norald she felt teems deenis tumbling fumbling for ills hatchet and heard him film place it quietly ti I 1 et I 1 y on oil tile naked rock at his side then the rock itself seemed to gle give fortha forth a faint sound as if some one had tapped it gently with a stick this round pound grew into others that flint wore were soft and swift and jeems knew that th ut mocca feet beet were all about them low voices added themselves to the pattering tread tobnette Tol nette fixed her eyes on the crack through which came the shaft of light and occasionally a ily it was darkened as a body passed j it t abe 1 he tread of feet came and w went allt and they heard the clatter of ro rocks acks but for a time all voices died away and it mno was tills this silence which became b I 1 almost unbearable for tobnette Tol nette tills this clu clutch tell pf af a danger which they could not see ur or cope with seized upon her until ench each moment she pile expected to 1 li ear a ghostly creature stealing into their hiding place or to io see a pair of flaming eyes op a level with her own it wits was a feeling of horror instead of fear an and d with it came a strong desire to cry out and ease tier her suspense in a scream jeems too had utmost almost found himself win in tho the grip ot of something which lie he could not control not more than sa quarter 0 of f aan n hour passed cassed in this sus nei isei but ill seemed fied tob to be a lifetime then there were voices ag again aln increased inc reil in number and excitement until above them all a yell ros rose efrom from the valley as aa one of the searchers discovered the arrow aben tobnette colne tolne Tol nette i tte raised tier her head site she heard hear no evi evidence dence of life other than their heir own on the ridge thank god they think we have gone into the valley leyle I 1 wd said jeems tobnette Tol nette touched him film w with all 1 can call dioning hand and in the same mo ment he was aware of the sound tier her ears had 1 some one was near I 1 the rock more than one there were awot adolf their voices were distinct though low lowland and they stood so close that their shut AIM out the light the crevice to lifs bis astonishment language which heisl bah adams had taught him and it was not bohuw Al obayA i these were 81 Rne cas blie als descos discos o fry p ly thrilled him he hated aho ha s mohawk Jui iati het wielders elders wl who vera we the scourge of tile the southern thern front frontier fr hut ibe theSe Se of the six great nations bol h goutily feared for while the mohawk killers woi it the wilderness tile Aerie cas were its foxes and panthers one ane was a creature of darkness und t surprise the other it lightning flash that came and went with bendl deadly swiftness jle he might trick i a but a seneca was waa the cleverest ero of ills his kind lie he felt ills blood turn cot cold as lie he listened Ilsie ned to the liwo wo one was arguing that the arr arrow ow was a ruse and that tile the fugitives were somewhere not fir far away 1 the other whose mind was still an on the huge pile of stones di cred ted tile the thought that it had find I 1 been een thorough ty IY sep searched relied and set s et on off to find some proof of his suspicions the first 0 of t the two speakers r remained and nelt neither h er tobnette Tol nette nor jeems could hear him hill moye move it seemed an infinity of alm time before movement came outside the rock metal met al ta it t eq s I 1 the tie seneca mafte maae a resting livice ot or it fr for his gun footsteps went away returned and halted monc to the n na row aperture lire through tt w which they had ad squeezed their bodies adles under the stones the savage artig was looking R nt t the n trance to their heir hitting hiding place jeems pictured the warrior ills his doubt and nd hesitation ind and wait wn us ua ure sure in his visioning ns as though no barrier baier lay iny between them lie he heard a grunt the alie seneca was waa on his fits stomach eto mach peering in band tile grunt was an expression of the foolishness which had bad made him film grovel like ahn in a moment lie he would rise anti go awny hut but the lie mo mient passed one two three a dozen dorrn Tol netto tiette was like one bend odd sensing a mighty danger knowing flint it was coming crouched like a sphinx at last the lie silence was broken so i softly flint the disturbance might have been that oi of a tress of hair falling from tier her shoulder across jv jaenis arm jhc abe thc indian had thrust in lla 3 head lie ile was listening smelling then advancing slyly and cautiously kllc a ferret on the trail grall of prey there could no longer be it a doubt lie ile knew there was something under the rocks and with true seneca courage foreseeing glory for himself even if derth death flat paid for it lie he was coming coining alone every instinct reached its highest tell tension sion in n jeems ns as it danger approached prom pro ached tied which lie would bo be able to touch with avith tits his hands in another moment or two live lie removed himself gently from embrace find prepared its arms tin and body for action their eyes had grown more accustomed to the gloom and tobnette Tol nette tiette could see ailin as lie crouched forward anti and gathered himself for the struggle which would mean life or deuth death for them Sud suddenly deilly she understood that it would to 11 not t ile be a struggle when ilie V n the lift Sene senecar Se ens head appeared jeams hatchet would smash it tit in slie she could see tile the hatchet it was to strike there would ile be no cry no moan only flint terrible hidden sound she listened to the lie doomed man mail slowly coming the feathers of ills tuft t ift appeared first then the long black lock the lie liala plucked hend head ft pair of shoulders jecies put all ills his strength behind the upraised lia ile he knew there tl ere must be jut but one blow well placed in the middle of the skull that would end it ile he almost closed his 1119 eyes and tile the hat hatchet eliet descended it little art an overwhelming sense of the horror of the tiling filing holding back ills his stroke it wits was not simply killing it was murder tile seneca turned tits ills head slid and looked up tip ills his eyes were trained for use L at night anti and lie saw more clearly t thain n jeems lie ile saw tile the white face the lint hatchet eliet tile he death behind it and lie waited transformed to t stone no voice canne came to ills his tills lips and no movement to ills his cramped body in tills of shock and stupefaction when he must have realized that nil all tile the power of ills forest gods could not twill help him the pupils of ills his ey eyes e 3 glowed darky darkly lie he did not breathe breall e conscious of his its impending end he his was amazed but not terrified hla fine countenance did not fro from ll 11 tile the steel about to sink into tits ills brain into jeems face as lie paused for a moment to study the ground abo about ut them I 1 for a second more the blade of did not fall and in fit that second jeems eyes and those of the savage met steadily then the hatchet clattered to the rock floor and with a protest of revulsion at what lie he had almost almo st done jeems clutched at the seneca Se throat the indian was at a disadvantage and though lils his liow powerful erful body strained ned and fought to loosen the choking grip tits his position was so hopeless flint in a short time lie he was limp and un unconscious conscious the Se adventure and the com combat hat if it could be distinguished by that name lind had not terminated a mom moment ent too soon for those concealed under the rocks tile the trail hunters were now flow aware that the placing of the arrow had been a ruse to delay them and began swarming back to the ridge half a dozen warriors gathered in a fierce and animated debate close about the rocks if nerves were on the point of breaking breakie then odds were in no better condition when the returned to the ridge ils ilia libart was breaking in its subjection to inactivity and stillness now he looked again on victory ills his roaster master was triumphant esthe indians returned and crowded about tile |