raid now that I made
a mistake in settling down so far from the rest. Ah! Listen! A shot.
Yes; there it is again."

"No, sir," said Morgan, "that wasn't a shot: it was--there it goes
again!--and another."

Two distant sounds, exactly like shots, fell again upon our ears.

"Yes," cried my father, excitedly, "the fight has begun."

"Nay, sir, that was only a big 'gator threshing the water up in some
corner to kill the fish," cried Morgan; and he passed up through the
ceiling into the roof.

As Morgan went out of sight, and took his place in the narrow loft
between the sloping rafters, my father busied himself loading guns, and
placing them ready by the openings in the shutters which I had always
supposed were for nothing else but to admit the light. And as he
worked, Sarah stood ready to hand him powder or bullets, or a fresh
weapon, behaving with such calm seriousness, and taking so much interest
in the work, that my father said, gravely--

"Hardly a woman's task this, Sarah."

"Ah, sir," she replied, quietly; "it's a woman's work to help where she
is wanted."

"Quite right," said my father. Then, turning to me, he went on, "I am a
soldier, George, and all this is still very horrible to me, but I am
making all these preparations in what I think is the right and wisest
spirit; for if an enemy sees that you are well prepared, he is much less
likely to attack you and cause bloodshed. We are safe all together
indoors now, and with plenty of protection, so that if our Indian
visitors come again, we are more upon equal terms."

"Do you really think they will come again, father?" I said.

"I'm afraid so. We have been living in too much fancied security, and
ready to think there was no danger to apprehend from Indians. Now we
have been rudely awakened from our dream."

"And if they come shall you shoot, father?"

"Not unless it is absolutely necessary to save our lives. I cannot help
feeling that we ought to be up at the settlement, but I should have been
unwilling to leave our pleasant home to the mercy of these savages; and,
of course, now it is impossible to go, so we must make the best defence
we can, if the enemy returns."

All this was very startling, and from time to time little shudders of
dread ran through me, but at the same time there was so much novelty and
excitement, that I don't think I felt very much alarmed. In fact, I
found myself hoping once that the Indians would come back, so that