s
of water.

"Just caught it in time, sir," continued Morgan. "They mean mischief
now."

"Yes, I know. They fired arrows at it blazing."

"How did you know when you were asleep?"

"My father expected they would; I heard him say so."

"Ah, well, they won't do it again. We're going to soak blankets, and
lay all over the top."

"Morgan, look--look!" I exclaimed, as three fiery long-tailed stars
came swiftly sailing through the air from one direction; and as if they
had been sent as a signal, three more came from the opposite quarter,
and directly after two more threes, and all fell blazing on different
parts of the block-house, the Indians evidently aiming for the spot
where the first blaze appeared--that which was rapidly being
extinguished as I crept out of our tent.

These fiery arrows had no doubt been prepared with tufts of cotton
saturated with some resinous gum, which, after being lighted, burned
furiously in its rapid passage through the air, and seemed to resist the
efforts of those who were on the roof trying to extinguish the patches
of glowing fire. In fact their efforts soon became useless, for the
first twelve arrows were followed by dozens more, and then by hundreds,
till at one time quite a fiery shower descended on the doomed place;
while, emboldened by their success, amidst a fierce yelling, some of the
Indians ran from their cover, their progress being marked by tiny specks
of light which seemed to glide like fireflies over the fields. Then
they made a sudden dart, blazed out, and stuck in the sides of the fort.

This was repeated again and again before sharp orders were rung out, and
from that moment whenever one of these sparks was seen gliding along
toward the palisades, it was met by shot after shot, sometimes by a
regular volley. Twice over as I watched I saw one of these sparks drop
to the ground and begin to burn, showing by it the body of an Indian;
but though scores of shots were fired, these were the only two which
checked the savages, who, encouraged by their success, kept on running
in and shooting at the fort.

"Hard to hit a man running with a bullet," said Morgan, in answer to one
of my ejaculations of impatience.

"But why are you here, Morgan?" I said, suddenly, as I felt that most
of the defenders were either at work firing, or busy with buckets and
water.

"Because I was sent here, sir," said Morgan, gruffly.

And though I questioned him, he said no more, but ch