"Mass' George won't go 'way an' leave his fader?"

"No," I replied, fiercely. "We must get him away too, Han, and Pomp."

"Suah, suah," said the great fellow, quietly. "Could carry de capen
down to de boat. Find Pomp and make him swim out for boat all ready."

"Yes," I cried, eagerly, "we must save them both."

The next minute we were close to where our men fought bravely, driving
back the Indians, who were close up now, avoiding the firing by crawling
right in, and then leaping up suddenly out of the darkness to seize the
barrels of the men's pieces, and strike at them with their tomahawks.

But they were always beaten back, and twice over I was able to go and
tell my father of the success on our side, Hannibal following close
behind me; but these checks were only temporary. The Indians literally
swarmed about the frail stronghold, and as fast as they were driven back
in one place, they seemed to run along the sides of our defences and
begin a fresh attack somewhere else, while our men's firing, being
necessarily very ineffective in the darkness, began to lose its effect;
the savages, finding how few of them dropped from the discharges,
beginning to look upon the guns with contempt.

Their attacks grew so bold at last, that twice over, as I saw dimly one
of our poor fellows go down, I felt that all was over, and that the time
had come for me to go and try whether I could get my father away before
the last terrible catastrophe, though how it was to be contrived, with
the place surrounded as it was by Indians, I could not tell.

Can you think out what my position was, with all this firing and
desperate fighting going on, our men striking desperately at the Indians
to keep them out as they swarmed and leaped up at us; and all the time
there were the women, children, and wounded huddled up together in the
inner shelter formed of barrels, boxes, and half-burned planks?

It was horrible.

Minute after minute crept by, and I began to blame myself for not going.
Then a lull would make me determine to wait a little longer, just
perhaps as some louder burst of firing made me believe that it was the
first keg of powder gone, till a round of cheering told me that it was
not, and I was able to go and report that our men were still holding
their own.

I was returning from one of these visits to my father, picking my way in
the darkness over broken guns snapped off at the stock through being
used as clubs, and in and