clamation of joy, hastened to be the first to greet him,
when, as the child drew laughingly near, the treacherous savage raised
his rifle, and shot him through the head. This was the signal for the
assault. Sarah was standing at the time in the store door opposite,
and, seeing the murder, started for the house, her face terribly pale
with fright. So terrified was she that it seemed as if she flew
rather than ran; but the same savage swiftly pursued her, and, being
nearer the house than she, struck her down with his tomahawk. But
Robert has been left to us, and a brave, good boy has he been."

Tom was so absorbed that he had not noticed the quiet entrance of
Captain Manly and others of the command, who, seated or standing
around the room, listened intently to his mother's account of the
massacre. As she concluded, the captain said,--

"I had taken the precaution, madam, to bring the surgeon along with
me; and if you desire it, he will examine your husband's wounds, and
see what is best to be done for him."

At which the doctor stepped forward and proceeded to probe and dress
the wound.

"It is an ugly hurt," remarked the surgeon, "but by good care and
nursing he may rally."

"Just what are impossible," answered the captain, "in this place.
Would it do to remove him, doctor?"

"If a good litter was prepared," was the reply, "there would be less
risk in doing so than in leaving him in this wretched hole."

"Particularly," added the captain, "as the red-skins would be sure to
come back to finish their fiendish work. And I would propose, madam,
that, after my men have taken a little rest, we remove you and your
family at once to the fort, where you shall receive the best of
attention, and everything be done for your husband that skill and
medicine and needful comforts can do for his recovery."

Mrs. Jones glanced at the ghastly wound of her husband.

"I understand your feelings," said the captain, kindly; "but you have
shown that you are a brave woman, ever ready to do what is for the
best. Now, the Indians to-night were some three or four hundred
strong; and, panic-stricken as they were, some of them must have
discovered that I have but a handful of men. They will return in
larger force, thirsting for revenge. It is therefore indispensable
that we take Mr. Jones with us. It is all we can do under the
circumstances."

Mrs. Jones saw the propriety of this, and gratefully assented to the
captain's plan, and at the