f our friends. In the meantime we
did our best to dress the hurts of the men who had been wounded. In
many cases they could help each other, in their own rough fashion, for
they were generally in so healthy a state that injuries which might have
proved fatal to people living what is called a civilised life, compelled
them scarcely to lay up for more than a day or two.

Three of our guests had been wounded, but they made light of the matter,
and declared that they should at once be able to proceed on their
journey.

Martin and I amused ourselves by collecting all the arrows which had
been shot into the fort, and a fine number we had of them. We agreed to
ornament the walls of one of the rooms with the arrows, and to send
others to our friends. We could not find the bullets which had been
fired, and concluded that they had all been shot over the fort, and
often into the ground on the opposite side, perhaps killing our foes
instead of us.

Considering the vast number of the enemy, and the desperate courage they
had displayed in attacking the fort, we had great reason to be thankful
that we had been preserved. I believe, indeed, that we ought to be
thankful every day of our existence, for we know not how many unseen
dangers we escape in our walk through life. I know that I did not think
so seriously of such matters as I do now; but I am sure that the earlier
we begin to think of God's protecting providence, the more anxious we
shall be to serve Him, and to refrain from offending One so kind and
merciful.

Another day broke, but still neither Sandy's party nor his Indian allies
had reappeared, and Alick began to fear that they had followed the enemy
further than was prudent. Should the Sioux have turned upon them with
the same bravery they had displayed when attacking the fort, our friends
would have run a fearful risk of being cut off, while we should probably
be again attacked with less prospect than before of success.

Though pretty well tired with our long watching and our desperate
exertions in defence of the fort, we were in good spirits. Alick
however who was prudent, had the arms reloaded, and made as much
preparation for defence as he considered necessary.

The Sioux, I should have said, when retreating, had carried off their
dead and wounded, to save them from the ignominy of being scalped, which
would to a certainty have been their fate had our Indian allies found
them on the ground. We were thus s