"Not yet," Tranquil said, as he dealt a blow at him with his axe.
The Scalper avoided the blow by leaping on one side, and replied with his machete; Tranquil fell on his knee with a pierced thigh.
"Oh!" he said in despair; "She is lost! My God, lost!"
Carmela understood that no hope was left her; she therefore placed the dagger against her bosom, and said to the Scalper—"One step further, and I fall dead at your feet!"
In spite of himself, this savage man, terrified by the resolution he saw flashing in the maiden's eye, hesitated for a second, but, reassuming almost immediately his old ferocity, he shouted—"What do I care, so long as you belong to no one else!"
And he rushed toward her, uttering a fearful yell. Terrified at the immense danger to which his daughter was exposed, the hunter collected all his strength, and by a superhuman effort, once more stood menacingly before his enemy. The two men exchanged a terrible glance, and rushed on each other.
Carmela, almost dead with terror, lay stretched out between the two foes, forming with her person a barrier they did not dare to pass, but over which they crossed their machetes, whose blades met with an ill-omened clang. Unfortunately, Tranquil, weakened by his wound, could not, despite his indomitable courage, sustain this obstinate contest for any length of time, and consequently he only delayed for a few moments the fearful catastrophe he wished to prevent. He understood this; for, while wielding his machete with far from common dexterity, and not allowing his enemy time to breathe, he looked anxiously around him: Quoniam was fighting like a lion by his side.
"Friend!" he said in a heart-rending voice; "in the name of what you hold the dearest, save her—save Carmela!"
"But yourself?"
"Well," the hunter said nobly, "it is no matter what becomes of me, providing that she escapes this monster, and is happy."