As he uttered the last word his hand shot from beneath the stone, and threw a cloud of dust into the watchers’ eyes.
They started back; the outlaw sprung forward! He caught Huldah Armstrong from the ground, and darted toward a precipice, dimly revealed by the torch.
“Fiend!” rung from Mark Harmon’s lips, as he leaped after the outlaw, his eyes half-blinded by the cunning trick.
He saw the Night-Hawk on the edge of the cave-cliff, and his hand shot forward to save the woman he loved.
His fingers closed on her arm, and with all his strength he jerked her toward him. Half over the precipice, the outlaw could not struggle, and the young frontiersman tore Huldah from his grip and started back.
Then a despairing shriek welled from Roy Funk’s pale lips, and clutching wildly at air he fell headlong into the darkness below!
* * * * * * *
“We’ll look down on the old fort from yonder hill,” said Wolf-Cap, on the evening following the scenes just related. “Then, Huldah, you’ll find a father; then—” he turned suddenly from the girl, and finished the sentence under his breath—“then, I’ll take vengeance for the wrongs of the past. Levi Armstrong—no, Ralph Morton rather, you shall tell me what became of Bessie.”
A few steps brought them to the summit of the hill designated by the trapper; but alas! Fort Strong did not greet their vision. A confused heap of embers proclaimed where it had once stood!
The spectators stared blankly into each other’s faces, unable to speak.