"You may well imagine, my dear fellow, that it was no question of bursting bonds or binding up wounds—all we had to do was to rush to the rescue of her whom our imprudence and fool-hardiness were exposing to such terrible danger. "The escort, as soon as we were seen advancing, opened fire upon us. From out ten muzzles fired the messengers of death, and Périères and Delange rolled over at my feet. CHAPTER XL. "When I saw my two friends fall I cast an anxious glance in the direction of Madame de Guéran and Miss Poles, but I saw at once that they were in no immediate danger, the escort having left them for a moment, in order to unite all their force against us and put an end to us as quickly as possible. Reassured on that point, I dismounted to assist my friends. They, however, were already struggling to rise, and I found to my great joy that they were not hurt. Their horses had been hit, one in the head and the other in the chest, and had fallen, dragging their riders down with them into the sand. "But just as Delange and Périères were getting on their legs I put my two hands on their shoulders and held them down. "'What are you doing?' asked Périères. "'Hush!' I said, in a whisper as I knelt beside them, 'I am saving you, and re-establishing the balance of the struggle. These wretches have us within range of their guns, as the two poor horses fully prove, but they are themselves out of pistol-shot. Let them believe that we are wounded; they will come on then to put an end to us, and we can at all events defend ourselves.' "'But Madame de Guéran—' murmured Périères. "'At this moment,' replied I, 'she does not run the slightest risk, and if she should be again menaced we shall know what to do with our lives.' "Anybody seeing me lying alongside my friends would have believed that I had been wounded by the same volley which had brought them down. The two horses, one of which was dead and the other in his last agony, served as a rampart for us, and enabled us to follow all the movements of the enemy. "They advanced towards us, exulting in, as they fondly believed, their complete success, but as soon as they were within range of our pistols we, without raising our bodies, let fly. "Three men fell, and the remainder recoiled, but the old chief rallied the latter, pointing out to them that they were still numerically stronger, and they advanced once more. "We were just going to fire again when we heard loud shouts on our right.