lysee
fired, bringing down one of the Indians. Both men took a few steps
backward as powder smoke enveloped their attackers. The Indians darted
forward, and Guichard raised his rifle. The Indians hesitated. Elysee
stepped behind Guichard and tucked his stick under one arm to reload his
pistol. At a word from Elysee, Guichard fired, and a red man with a
rifle crumpled. Guichard, reaching for his powder horn, stepped backward
behind Elysee, who now kept the Indians covered.

Nicole felt her legs tremble and a lump form in her throat as she
watched the fearless precision with which her father and his lifelong
servant carried out their retreat. Those two old men shouldn't have to
fight at all, but today every man was needed.

She saw Frank and her two oldest sons, Tom and Ben, running across the
yard to the front door. They vanished under the overhang of the
blockhouse's second story, made of logs. Thank God they'd made it to
safety! She felt faint and took a deep breath.

She handed her rifle to Bernadette. "Here, you shoot. I've got to see my
husband and sons."

"Merci, madame. I thought you'd never give me a turn."

By the time Nicole got downstairs, Frank and the other men had crowded
into the hall. The heavy front door of the blockhouse was shut and
barred, throwing the stone-walled lower floor into near-darkness. Two
men were shooting through the rifle ports on either side of the door.
Women were lighting oil lamps and candles and setting them on shelves
around the edges of the room.

Women whose men were here were holding them tight. Nicole threw her arms
around Frank, then opened them wider to take in Tom and Ben as they ran
to join their mother and father.

She eyed the boys. Their faces were rosy and their eyes bright with
excitement. They'd be men in another year or two. And after today, she
thought, Frank would have a hard time keeping them away from rifles.

_If we live through this day._

As she felt Frank strong and alive against her, a sudden intense desire
to make love to him came over her. She was shocked at herself.

But she'd seen one man struck down already and knew that before sundown
she or Frank might be dead. The realization of how precious Frank was to
her had brought her body to passionate life.

She heard the shrieks and yips of the Indians in the yard of the trading
post.

Hard-eyed David Cooper said, "We can't hold 'em off just shooting from
the ground floor. We need shooters at