once more master of the scalping knife. Half choked by
the hand that unflinchingly grappled with him, the savage
animal quitted his hold and struggled violently to free
himself. This was the critical moment. The officer drew
the heavy sharp blade, from the handle to the point,
across the throat of the infuriated beast, with a force
that divided the principal artery. He made a desperate
leap upwards, spouting his blood over his destroyer, and
then fell gasping across the body of his master. A low
growl, intermingled with faint attempts to bark, which
the rapidly oozing life rendered more and more indistinct,
succeeded; and at length nothing but a gurgling sound
was distinguishable.

Meanwhile the anxious and harassed officers had regained
their place of concealment under the bridge, where they
listened with suppressed breathing for the slightest
sound to indicate the approach of the canoe. At intervals
they fancied they could hear a noise resembling the
rippling of water against the prow of a light vessel,
but the swelling cries of the rushing band, becoming at
every instant more distinct, were too unceasingly kept
up to admit of their judging with accuracy.

They now began to give themselves up for lost, and many
and bitter were the curses they inwardly bestowed on the
Canadian, when the outline of a human form was seen
advancing along the sands, and a dark object upon the
water. It was their conductor, dragging the canoe along,
with all the strength and activity of which he was capable.