der,
knowing it was only throwing men's lives away, let it stand for a few
nights unoccupied.

At length, a rifleman of the Virginian corps, volunteered his services for
this dangerous duty; he laughed at the fears of his companions, and told
them he meant to return safe and drink his commander's health in the
morning. The guard marched up soon after, and he shouldered his rifle and
fell. He arrived at the place which had been so fatal to his comrades, and
bidding his fellow soldiers "good night," assumed the duties of his post.
The night was dark, thick clouds overspread the firmament, and hardly a
star could be seen by the sentinel as he paced his lonely walk. All was
silent except the gradually retreating footsteps of the guard; he marched
onwards, then stopped and listened till he thought he heard the joyful
sound of "All's well"--then all was still, and he sat down on a fallen
tree and began to muse. Presently a low rustling among the bushes caught
his ear; he gazed intently towards the spot whence the sound seemed to
proceed, but he could see nothing save the impenetrable gloom of the
forest. The sound grew nearer, and a well-known grunt informed him of the
approach of a bear. The animal passed the soldier slowly, and then quietly
sought the thicket to the left. At this moment the moon shone out bright
through the parting clouds, and the wary soldier perceived the ornamented
moccasin of a savage on what an instant before he believed to be a bear!
He could have shot him in a moment, but he knew not how many other animals
might be at hand; he therefore refrained, and having perfect knowledge of
Indian subtilty, he quickly took off his hat and coat, hung them on a
branch of a fallen tree, grasped his rifle, and silently crept towards the
thicket. He had barely reached it, when an arrow, whizzing past his head,
told him of the danger he had so narrowly escaped.

He looked carefully round him, and on a little spot of cleared land he
counted twelve Indians, some sitting, some lying full length on the
thickly strewn leaves of the forest. Believing that they had already shot
the sentinel, and little thinking there was any one within hearing, they
were quite off their guard, and conversed aloud about their plans for the
morrow.

It appeared that a council of twelve chiefs was now held, in which they
gravely deliberated on the most effectual means of annoying the enemy. It
was decided that the next evening forty of their