Yet the brides knew too well that their men folks, fathers and
brothers, uncles and cousins, would soon come back to attempt their
recapture.
And this was just what happened. When a runner brought, to the valley
men now far away, the news of the rape of their daughters, the hunters
at once ceased chasing the deer and marched quickly back to get the
girls and make them come home.
The hill men saw the band of hunters coming after their daughters.
They at once took their new wives into a natural rocky fortress, on
the top of a precipice, which overlooked the lake.
This stronghold had only one entrance, a sort of gateway of rocks, in
front of which was a long steep, narrow path. Here the hill men stood,
to resist the attack and hold their prizes.
It was a case of a very few defenders, assaulted by a multitude, and
the battle was long and bloody. The hill men scorned to surrender and
shot their arrows and hurled their javelins with desperate valor. They
battled all day from sunrise until the late afternoon, when shadows
began to lengthen. The stars, one by one came out and both parties,
after setting sentinels, lay down to rest.
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