Rollo, the Boy Ranger, smiled again, as he carefully noted his course and moved the tiller accordingly.
A silence, broken only by the swash of the water around the boat, ensued.
Old Tumult was thinking of the past; Town. of Madge, while the ranger, apparently plunged in mental oblivion, began whistling softly.
Suddenly, as if moved by a single and intuitive impulse, the old scout and Town. glanced at Rollo. The eyes of the ranger were fixed upon the forward part of the boat with a strange expression shining from their dark depths.
Again, as if moved by some unknown impulse, the eyes of Old Tumult and Town. sought the object of the ranger’s attention, and to their horror and surprise they beheld the slab over the hatchway pushed aside, and a giant savage leap from the hold of the boat onto the deck, followed by another until four of the painted demons stood before them, their faces aglow with diabolical triumph!
CHAPTER X.
A DESPERATE CONFLICT.
Old Tumult and Town. recoiled before the visionary blow that the sudden and undreamed-of appearance of the four savages produced upon them. But, it was only for a moment that their presence of mind seemed to desert them.
Each of the savages clutched a tomahawk in his hand, and our friends at once saw the advantage of the foe in weapons as well as number.
Rollo did not relinquish his post at the tiller, but, for some reason, headed the boat, at once, directly down the stream.
Town., as he mechanically glanced from one to the other of his friends, noticed the saber dangling at the ranger’s side, and foreseeing its superiority in a hand-to-hand conflict, reached forward and snatched it from the scabbard.