"You great cowards up there!" she cried out in sudden anger. "Do you know you're shooting at a girl?"
There was a sudden silence. Then the shouts began again with a new note. "A gal, be ye? Boys, hit's a female down thar. Come on up, gal! Let's see what ye look like."
But the shots ceased, and the shouts came no nearer.
"Just as I thought—they 're too drunk to follow us," she said triumphantly. "Better get out of this neighborhood, though. Hurry on, Mr. Channing!"
"I'm afraid I can't," he said faintly. "You go without me."
She turned the light of the lantern full upon him, and saw that he was holding to a tree, swaying where he stood. There was a dark stain on his breeches, just above the knee, which spread even as she looked.
Without a word, she turned and began to run up the hillside again.
"Where are you going?" he cried.
"To get help. You are hurt."
"Those drunken brutes? Never!"