enerally used on such occasions, would have been
an idle expedient. The extinguishing of the fire proved to be the most
prudent measure; for no sooner was the officer's back turned than one of
the warriors in fact proposed to fire the blockhouse. Arrowhead had also
withdrawn from the group of drunkards as soon as he found that they were
losing their senses, and had taken possession of a hut, where he had
thrown himself on the straw, and sought the rest that two wakeful and
watchful nights had rendered necessary. It followed that no one was
left among the Indians to care for Mabel, if, indeed, any knew of her
existence at all; and the proposal of the drunkard was received with
yells of delight by eight or ten more as much intoxicated and habitually
as brutal as himself.

This was the fearful moment for Mabel. The Indians, in their present
condition, were reckless of any rifles that the blockhouse might hold,
though they did retain dim recollections of its containing living
beings, an additional incentive to their enterprise; and they approached
its base whooping and leaping like demons. As yet they were excited, not
overcome by the liquor they had drunk. The first attempt was made at the
door, against which they ran in a body; but the solid structure, which
was built entirely of logs, defied their efforts. The rush of a hundred
men with the same object would have been useless. This Mabel, however,
did not know; and her heart seemed to leap into her mouth as she heard
the heavy shock at each renewed effort. At length, when she found
that the door resisted these assaults as if it were of stone, neither
trembling nor yielding, and only betraying its not being a part of the
wall by rattling a little on its heavy hinges, her courage revived,
and she seized the first moment of a cessation to look down through
the loop, in order, if possible, to learn the extent of her danger. A
silence, for which it was not easy to account, stimulated her curiosity;
for nothing is so alarming to those who are conscious of the presence of
imminent danger, as to be unable to trace its approach.

Mabel found that two or three of the Iroquois had been raking the
embers, where they had found a few small coals, and with these they were
endeavoring to light a fire. The interest with which they labored,
the hope of destroying, and the force of habit, enabled them to act
intelligently and in unison, so long as their fell object was kept in
view. A whi