There was nothing for it but to withdraw into such shelter as he could reach--little enough; for the fresh man, more energetic even than his disabled fellow, kept on firing furiously, but without effect; while terribly unnerved by this enforced inactivity, the horrors of thirst now attacked afresh the occupants of the ledge, the wounded savage's sufferings seeming to be intense, as he turned his dull eyes from one to the other, as if asking the help they could not give. The sun rose higher and higher; and, save the occasional shout of directions to the man on the rock, the convicts preserved an almost unbroken silence. But, suddenly, Murray saw three or four begin to dart from stone to stone, as if in retreat, and descend the gully; but too unguarded an exposure of himself brought a bullet whizzing by his ear, and he felt, with justice, that those who had gone had probably departed on a foraging expedition, while they were to lie there and die. "Would no help come? Had there not now been ample time?" he asked himself, as he gazed at poor Katie's parched white lips. Their thirst was terrible, while their sufferings were like those of Tantalus; for, in full view, they could see the cold water trickle from stone to stone, and drop plashing into the rocky basin beneath their feet. What should he do? Should he leave her to fall alive into the hands of the convicts, or should he-- He covered his face with his hands and groaned, as the bright scene of the happy home--the rifled nest--came flashing through his memory. "Don't heed me, Katie," he whispered, as he felt his hands drawn away from his face, to be kissed and pressed to a tender throbbing heart. "Don't heed me. I'm weak and childish with my wounds, and it unmans me to see you in such peril." "Hush, hush," whispered the poor girl; "do not grieve. It cannot be very hard to die--not very. See there, how poor Wahika, who has fought so nobly, seems to bear his fate; for he is going, Ned," she continued; and she pointed to the glazing eyes and motionless form at their side. "If that poor savage can die so peacefully, cannot we, who have received so much greater light, pass away even as gently as he?" The young man sighed heavily, as he pressed her again and again to his breast, but he could not speak. "Will they kill us quickly, Ned?" she went on. "I hope so now; for things seem strange, darling, and I want you to hold me tightly--O, so tightly; for it is as though I were being dragged away; and I can see dear father beckoning to me, and--Yes, yes; I'm coming!" Looking up suddenly in Murray's face, she kissed him tenderly. "Good-night, father dear!" she murmured; "it was a dream, a troubled dream; and my head, my head--"