ood, are they not?"

"Yes. Why?"

"They won't burn unless the fire is nursed?"

"I shouldn't think so."

"Then we'll have our red friends out without much danger to ourselves."

Henry quickly told his plan, and the Major was all approval. Pots and
kettles were filled with coals from the smouldering fires in the
houses--in every Kentucky pioneer cabin the fire was kept over night in
this manner ready for fresh wood in the morning--and then they were
carried to the wooden barrier, the bearers taking care to keep out of
range of the loopholes. A line of men stood along the ledge, and at a
whispered word from Henry twenty heaps of red hot coals were dropped
over the palisade, falling down at its foot. A series of howls, wild
with pain, arose, and a dozen figures, leaping up, darted toward the
forest. Two were shot by the riflemen in the blockhouse, but the rest
made good the wood. More coals and boiling water, also, were emptied
along the whole line of the stockade, but only three more warriors were
roused up, and these escaped in the darkness. All were gone now.

Henry laughed quietly, and Major Braithwaite joined in the laugh.

"It was a good plan," he said, "and it worked well. Now, I think, young
sir, you ought to get a little sleep. I don't think they can surprise
us, and it will not be long before day."

Henry lay down on a bed of furs in one of the houses, with the first
rifle that he had taken by his side--the other he had already given to
the defenders--and soon he slept soundly. He was troubled somewhat by
dreams, however; in these dreams he saw the faces of his four lost
comrades. He awoke once while it was yet dark, and his mind was heavy.
"I must go back for them at the very first chance," he said to himself,
and then he was asleep again.

He awoke of his own accord two hours after sunrise, and after he had
eaten a breakfast that one of the women brought him, he went forth.

A splendid sun was ascending the heavens, lending to the green
wilderness a faint but fine touch of gold. The forest, save for the
space about the fort and a tiny cutting here and there, was an enclosing
wall of limitless depth. It seemed very peaceful now. There was no sign
of a foe in its depths, and Henry could hear distantly the song of
birds.

But the boy, although sure that the warriors were yet in the forest,
looked with the most interest and attention toward the river. The
morning sunshine turned its yellow to pure gold