against the dwelling, yielding suddenly to the unusual weight upon it,—trembling and sinking away at last,—cracked beneath the burden and, snapping off from its several holds, fell from under them, dragging against the building in the progress down, thus breaking their fall but cutting off all their hope from this mode of entrance and leaving their comrade awkwardly poised aloft, able neither to enter nor to depart from the window. The tree finally settled heavily upon the ground, and with it went the three savages who had so readily ascended to the assistance of their comrade—bruised and very much hurt; while he, now without any support but that which he derived from the sill and what little his feet could secure from the irregular crevices between the logs of which the house had been built, was hung in air, unable to advance except at the will of his woman opponent, and dreading a far worse fall from his eminence than that which had already happened to his allies. Desperate with his situation, he thrust his arm, as it was still held by the woman, still farther into the window, and this enabled her with both hands to secure and strengthen the grasp which she had originally taken upon it. This she did with a new courage and strength, derived from the voices below, by which she understood a promise of assistance. Excited and nerved, she drew the extended arm of the Indian, in spite of all his struggles, directly over the sill, so as to turn the elbow completely down upon it. With her whole weight thus employed, bending down to the floor to strengthen herself to the task, she pressed the arm across the window until her ears heard the distinct, clear crack of the bone—until she heard the groan and felt the awful struggles of the suffering wretch, twisting himself round with all his effort to obtain for the shattered arm a natural and relaxed position, and, with this object, leaving his hold upon everything; only sustained, in deed, by the grasp of his enemy. But the movement of the
