And as he stood there, his rifle leveled, there came to him a faint, sobbing cry, a cry that reached out and caught him like a strong hand and brought him in a single desperate leap to the door itself.
Inside the cabin was Minnetaki, alone! She was crouched upon the floor, her beautiful hair tumbling in disheveled masses over her shoulders and into her lap, her face, as white as death, staring wildly at the youth who had appeared like an apparition before her.
In an instant Rod was at her side, upon his knees.

For that brief moment he had lost his caution, and only a terrible cry from the girl turned him back again, half upon his feet, to the door.

Standing there, about to spring upon him, was one of the most terrifying figures he had ever seen.

In a flash he saw the huge form of an Indian, a terrible face, the gleam of an uplifted knife.

In such a crisis one's actions are involuntary, machine-like, as if life itself, hovering by a thread, protects itself in its own manner without thought or reasoning on the part of the human creature it animates.
Rod neither thought nor reasoned; without any motive on his own part, he flung himself face downward upon the cabin floor.