Hands and feet were seized suddenly and pinned to the earth so tightly that he could not move, and he gazed up at two hideous, painted faces, very near to his own, and full of menace.

The boy's heart turned for a moment to water.

He saw at once, through his vivid and powerful imagination, all the terrors of his position, and in the same instant he leaped forward also to the future, and to the agony it had in store for him.

But in a moment his courage came back, the strong will once more took command of the body and the spirit, and he looked up with stoical eyes at his captors.

He knew that resistance now would be in vain, and, relaxing his muscles, he saved his strength.
The warriors laughed a little, a soundless laugh that was full of menace, and bound him securely with strips of buckskin cut from his own garments.
Then they stood up, and Paul, too, rose to a sitting position, gazing intently at his captors.