He was aiming, when a faint voice at his side said:
"No, hurt him not; I shall get well!"
Letting the rifle fall from his grasp, he wheeled around as if he had been shot himself.
What did he see?
The brave Ariel had drawn the arrow from her arm, and was sitting erect. In her right hand, was a small earthen bottle such as was in common use among the Murhapas.
"Great heaven! what does this mean?" demanded her lover, uncertain whether he was awake or dreaming.
She smiled faintly, and said:
"I feel a little faint, but the danger is past."
"But,—but,"—he added, "the arrow was poisoned!"
"Yes, but the poison has a remedy; it is in that," she added, holding up the bottle; "my parent always carried it; I brought it with me when I left home."