n in the gray shadows of the
forest, running eagerly to a point below to cut off Combs and his
party from the fort.

"He attempted to dart by them, when a volley of bullets wounded Paxton
and Johnson--the latter mortally. The fire was returned with effect,
then the Shawnee turned the prow to the opposite shore, and the
voyagers left the canoe and fled toward Defiance. They tried to take
Johnson and Paxton with them, but found it impossible, so were
compelled to leave them to become captives.

"At the end of two days and two nights Combs and Black Fish reached
Defiance, where they found Clay and his troops just arrived. The
Walkers were there also, having fled more swiftly than Combs and the
Indian had been able to because of their efforts to aid the flight of
the two wounded men. They had suffered terribly in their flight, and
for a time Combs was unable to take command of his company, but he
went down the river with the re-enforcements and took an active part
in the fight at Fort Meigs.

"But, ah, here come others of our party, and I must leave the rest of
my story to be told later in the day," added the captain, turning to
greet Violet and his younger children, who at that moment appeared
upon the deck.

CHAPTER XI.

Shortly after breakfast, when the whole of their little company had
gathered beneath the awning upon the deck, the captain resumed his
story, as all had expressed a desire to hear it.

"On the morning of the 30th of April, 1813," he said, "the British had
completed two batteries nearly opposite Fort Meigs and mounted their
ordnance. On one there were two twenty-four pounders, on the other
three howitzers. Well-directed round-shot from the fort had struck
some of their men while at work, but neither that nor the drenching
rain stopped them.

"Harrison had been busy too. He addressed his soldiers eloquently in a
general order.

"'Can the citizens of a free country, who have taken arms to defend
its rights,' he said, 'think of submitting to an army composed of
mercenary soldiers, reluctant Canadians goaded to the field by the
bayonet, and of wretched, naked savages? Can the breast of an American
soldier, when he casts his eye to the opposite shore, the scene of his
country's triumphs over the same foe, be influenced by any other
feeling than the hope of glory? Is not this army composed of the same
materials as that which fought and conquered under the immortal