hour of thy death has come. As
thou hast done unto others, so shall it be done unto thee."

Then the sharp report of the rifle sounded, and the chief bounded
into the air and fell back helpless. He was not dead--his yells of
rage and fear told that--but he was helpless. His thigh was
shattered. He lay upon the roof of the blazing cabin unable to move
hand or foot, and Charles stood by like a grim sentinel till the
frail building collapsed into a burning mass; then with a fierce
gesture he stirred the ashes with the butt of his rifle, saying
beneath his breath:

"That is one of them!"

Victory for the white man was complete, notwithstanding that bands
of Indians from the other side of the river came rushing to the
succour of their allies. They came too late, and were scattered and
dispersed by the resolute fire of the English. The whole village
was destroyed. Colonel Armstrong took as many arms and as much
ammunition as his men could carry, and devoted the rest to
destruction.

More satisfactory still, they released from captivity eleven
prisoners, white men with women and children, who had been carried
off at different times when others had been massacred. From these
persons they learned that the Indians of Kittanning had often
boasted that they had in the place a stock of ammunition sufficient
to keep up a ten years' war with the English along the borders. To
have taken and destroyed all these stores was no small matter, and
the Colonel and his men rejoiced not a little over the blow thus
struck at the foe almost in his own land.

But there was no chance of following up the victory. Armstrong was
not strong enough to carry the war into the enemy's country;
moreover, the winter was already upon them, although up till the
present the season had been especially mild and open. He must march
his men back to quarters, and provide for the safety of his
wounded, and for the restoration of the rescued prisoners to their
friends.

He would gladly have kept Stark and his little valiant band with
him, but the Rangers had different aims in view.

"We must be up and doing; we must find fighting somewhere. On Lake
George we shall surely find work for men to do. Rangers of wood and
forest care nothing for winter ice and snow. We will go northward
and eastward, asking news of Rogers and his Rangers. It may be that
we shall fall in with them, and that we can make common cause with
them against the common foe."

So said Sta