dimly visible, showed what had to be done.

"It does not require much faith to trust and obey such a leader,"
thought the preacher, as he got upon the ladder, and quickly disappeared
in the hole. Softswan lightly followed. As her head was about to
disappear, she raised her hand, seized hold of a rough projection on the
under surface of the mass of rock, and drew it gently down so as to
effectually close the hole, leaving no trace whatever of its existence.

While this was going on the Blackfeet were advancing up the narrow
pathway with superlative though needless caution, and no small amount of
timidity. Each man took advantage of every scrap of cover he could find
on the way up, but as the owner of the hut had taken care to remove all
cover that was removable, they did not find much, and if the defenders
had been there, that little would have been found to be painfully
insufficient, for it consisted only of rugged masses and projections of
rock, none of which could altogether conceal the figure of a full-grown
man. Indeed, it seemed inexplicable that these Indians should have made
this assault in broad day, considering that Indians in general are noted
for their care of "number one," are particularly unwilling to meet their
foes in fair open fight, and seldom if ever venture to storm a place of
strength except by surprise and under the cover of night.

The explanation lay partly in the fact that they were aware of the
advance of friends towards the place, but much more in this, that the
party was led by the great chief Rushing River, a man possessed of that
daring bulldog courage and reckless contempt of death which is usually
more characteristic of white than of red men.

When the band had by galvanic darts and rushes gained the last scrap of
cover that lay between them and the little fortress, Rushing River gave
vent to a whoop which was meant to thrill the defenders with
consternation to the very centre of their being, and made a gallant
rush, worthy of his name, for the breastwork. Reaching it in gasping
haste, he and his braves crouched for one moment at the foot of it,
presumably to recover wind and allow the first fire of the defenders to
pass over their heads.

But no first fire came, and Rushing River rolled his great black eyes
upward in astonishment, perhaps thinking that his whoop had thrilled the
defenders off the face of the earth altogether!

Suspense, they say, is less endurable than actual c