ver the side, but
they were soon driven back by the heat and smoke; all but one, whom I
saw--after working desperately, the leader evidently of the
shadowy-looking, blackened band--topple forward and fall into the flames
at the foot, just as a herculean black approached, bearing two buckets
of water.

Then there was a rush, a deal of confusion and shouting; and as I neared
I saw the black coming through the crowd bearing some one on his
shoulder.

I needed no telling that the slave, whoever he was, had dashed in and
dragged the fallen man away, and, roused to enthusiasm by the daring
act, I was approaching the group, when I heard murmurs running from one
to the other of the line of men we had approached, men whose duty it had
been to pass water from the well to those whose task it was to scatter
the fluid on the flames.

"What--what did they say, Morgan?" I whispered.

"Water's give out, sir."

"What! Just as it is needed most?"

"Ay, my lad, that's just when it would be sure to go. They've been too
generous with it t'other side."

"But look!" I said; "the fire's getting firmer hold. Can nothing be
done?"

"Not that we can do, sir," said Morgan, sadly. "It's got it tight now."

It was too true. Started by the Indians' fiercely-blazing arrows, the
pine-logs were beginning to blaze well now, dispiriting those who had
worked so bravely before; and, seeing that their attack hail been
successful, the Indians ceased now to send in their fiery flights, for
moment by moment the flames increased, completely enveloping one corner
of the block-house, and displaying such fierce energy that we knew the
place was doomed.

And now, not to solve a puzzle that had troubled me, but of course to
strike fresh terror into their enemies, the Indians made it plain how
they had managed to keep up their supply of fiery shafts. For, all at
once, a house standing back in the plantation, on each of the three
sides of the fort away from the river front, began to stand out clear in
the darkness of the night. One of them was the place from behind which
I had seen the two groups of sparks glide out, and in these they had
cunningly had parties preparing the fiery arrows ready to start alight
for others to discharge.

Yell after yell now arose from a distance as the three houses rapidly
began to blaze and add to the lurid glare that was illumining the whole
interior of the enclosure, while groups of smoke-blackened men were
watc