"Quick, quick to our cover!" exclaimed the younger officer,
as a loud shout was now heard from the forest in reply
to the yell of the fallen warrior. "If Francois come not,
we are lost; the howl of that wolf-dog alone will betray
us, even if his master should be beyond all chance of
recovery."

"Desperate diseases require desperate remedies," was the
reply; "there is little glory in destroying a helpless
enemy, but the necessity is urgent, and we must leave
nothing to chance." As he spoke, he knelt upon the huge
form of the senseless warrior, whose scalping knife he
drew from its sheath, and striking a firm and steady
blow, quitted not the weapon until he felt his hand
reposing on the chest of his enemy.

The howl of the wolf-dog, whose eyes glared like two
burning coals through the surrounding gloom, was now
exchanged to a fierce and snappish bark. He made a leap
at the officer while in the act of rising from the body;
but his fangs fastened only in the chest of the shaggy
coat, which he wrung with the strength and fury
characteristic of his peculiar species. This new and
ferocious attack was fraught with danger little inferior
to that which they had just escaped, and required the
utmost promptitude of action. The young man seized the
brute behind the neck in a firm and vigorous grasp, while
he stooped upon the motionless form over which this novel
struggle was maintained, and succeeded in making himself