useless out here when such a splendid fight is going on. Ah! they
have their eyes on us!" he exclaimed as a puff of smoke burst out
from some bushes near the shore and a ball came skipping along on the
surface of the water, sinking, however, before it reached it.

"Those Indian muskets are no good," Harold said contemptuously, "and
the trade powder the Indians get is very poor stuff; but I think that
they are well within range of my rifle."

The weapon which Harold carried was an English rifle of very perfect
make and finish, which his father had given him on parting.

"Now," he said, "do you paddle the canoe a few strokes nearer the
shore, Nelly. We shall still be beyond the range of that fellow. He
will fire again and I shall see exactly where he is lying."

Nelly, who was efficient in the management of a canoe, took the
paddle, and dipping it in the water the boat moved slowly toward the
shore. Harold sat with his rifle across his knees, looking intently
over the bows of the boat toward the bush from which the shot had
come.

"That's near enough, Nelly," he said.

The girl stopped paddling, and the hidden foe, seeing that they did
not mean to come nearer the shore, again fired. Harold's rifle was in
an instant against his shoulder; he sat immovable for a moment and
then fired.

Instantly a dark figure sprang from the bush, staggered