The emissaries had
done their work ably and well, and the devastation was complete; while
the women and children, driven from their various sheltering-places, ran
shrieking in every direction. Nor did Munro, at this time, forget his
division of the labor: the opportunity was in his grasp, and it was not
suffered to escape him. As the glance of Dexter was turned in the
direction of the flames, he forgot his precaution, and the moment was
not lost. Availing himself of the occasion, Munro dashed his flag of
truce into the face of the man with whom he had parleyed, and, in the
confusion which followed, seizing him around the body with a strength
equal to his own, he dragged him, along with himself, over the low table
of rock on which they had both stood, upon the soft earth below. Here
they grappled with each other, neither having arms, and relying solely
upon skill and muscle.
The movement was too sudden, the surprise too complete, not to give an
ascendency to the invaders, of which they readily availed themselves.
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