e Insurance offices must have found
it out by that time. It's a pity there's only three of us, for that
will leave one side o' the house undefended."

"All right Dick; you don't trouble your head about that for Buttercup
fights like a black tiger. She's a'most as good as a man--only she
can't manage to aim, so it's no use givin' her a rifle. She's game
enough to fire it, but the more she tries to hit, the more she's sure to
miss. However she's got a way of her own that sarves well enough to
defend her side o' the house. She always takes charge o' the front. My
Mary can't fight, but she's a heroine at loadin'--an' that's somethin'
when you're hard pressed! Come, now, I'll show ye the shootin' irons
an' our plan of campaign."

Roaring Bull led the way back to the room, or central hall, where they
had supped, and here they found that the debris of their feast had
already been cleared away, and that arms of various kinds, with
ammunition, covered the board.

"Hospitable alike to friend and foe," said Jackson gaily. "Here, you
see, Mary has spread supper for the Reds!"

Darvall made no response to this pleasantry, for he observed that poor
Mary's pretty face was very pale, and that it wore an expression of
mingled sadness and anxiety.

"You won't be exposed to danger, I hope," said Dick, in a low earnest
tone, while Jackson was loudly discussing with Crux the merits of one of
the repeating rifles--of which there were half-a-dozen on the table.

"Oh no! It is not that," returned the girl sadly. "I am troubled to
think that, however the fight goes, some souls, perhaps many, will be
sent to their account unprepared. For myself, I shall be safe enough as
long as we are able to hold the house, and it may be that God will send
us help before long."

"You may be quite sure," returned Dick, with suppressed emotion, "that
no Redskin shall cross this threshold as long as we three men have a
spark o' life left."

A sweet though pitiful smile lighted up Mary's pale face for a moment,
as she replied that she was quite sure of that, in a tone which caused
Darvall's heart to expand, so that his ribs seemed unable to contain it,
while he experienced a sensation of being stronger than Samson and
bigger than Goliath!

"And I suppose," continued Dick, "that the troops won't be long of
coming. Is the man--what's his name, Humpy Ben--trustworthy?"

"Trustworthy!" exclaimed the maiden, with a flush of enthusiasm; "there
i