"This is not a fair deal! Give me a fair show, and I'll fight you all!"
"Where did it come from?" asked Gage, in dismay.
The two canoes were beyond the circle of firelight, so they could not be seen from the shore.
Gage's two companions were overcome with terror.
"This swamp is full of Indians!" one of them cried. "We've been attacked by a band of savages!"
Gage spoke a few words in a low tone, and then sprang over the prostrate form of the man who had been stricken down by the arrow, grasped the girl, and retreated into the darkness. His companions also scudded swiftly beyond the firelight, leaving Captain Bellwood still bound to the tree, while one man lay dead on the ground, and another had an arrow in his shoulder.
Close to Frank's ear the voice of Socato the Seminole sounded:
"Light bother them. They git in the dark and see us from the shore. Then they shoot this way some."
"Jupiter and Mars!" gasped Professor Scotch, "I don't care to stay here, and have them shoot at me!"
"White boys want to save girl?" asked Socato, swiftly. "They pay to get her free? What say?"