ars were strained to listen to what came next, and that would be, I
felt sure, the clicking of a flint and steel; but the sounds did not
come, and just as I was at last feeling as if I could bear all this no
longer, there was a sound of the tarpaulin falling on the earth, and
Morgan came softly round and close by again without seeing us, while I
crouched there ready to faint, and fully expecting every moment to be
swept away by a terrific explosion.

"What Mass' Morgan want?" said Pomp at last, as a sudden thought struck
me, and mastering the feeling of paralysis which had held me there, I
made a dash round to the other side to tear away the slow match which
the man must have started, and which would, I supposed, burn for a few
moments and then start a train.

To my surprise I could see no sparkling fuse nor smell smoke, but
concluding that it must be under the tarpaulin, I raised the edge with
trembling hands, when Pomp said quietly--

"Dat powder, Mass' George; Pomp know. Mass' Morgan come fess lot more;
and oh! What lot tumble all about."

His quick eyes had made out that which was invisible to mine; and, after
stooping, he held a handful before me.

I drew a breath full of relief. I knew now. He had not come to fire
the fuse, but to tear open one of the kegs and let a portion of the
powder lie loose, so that whoever came to do the terrible deed would
only have to discharge his firelock down amongst it, when a spark would
explode the whole.

"Only to be quite ready," I thought, as the desire for life thrilled
through my veins.

"Pomp 'crape it up and put in Mass' George pocket," said Pomp; and then
we both stood away, for there was a flash and the sharp report of a gun.

"Pomp did see Injum, Mass' George," said the boy; "and here dey come."

Another shot, and another, and my heart seemed to leap as I felt that
Morgan's plan might not be long before execution after all, if the
Indians made a desperate assault.

One minute before, the great enclosure was perfectly still, now it was
all excitement; orders rang out; there was the tramp of armed men, as
they hurried toward the spot from whence the firing had come.

Then came a shot from quite the opposite side, fresh orders were
shouted, and there was a tramp of feet in that direction, the enemy
evidently attacking in two places at once so as to divide our little
force.

Flash after flash now cut the darkness to right and left, and we both
stood listeni