found that nothing could be accomplished in the way of
burning out the fugitives, so they ceased the attempt only to devise
some other expedient. What this was to be, the besieged party for a
long time were unable to determine. The first warning they had was a
bullet, which grazed the face of Oonamoo, coming in at the _top_ of the
fort.

"Ugh! Shawnee climb tree--Oonamoo fetch him out dere," said the latter,
sheltering himself as quick as lightning, and peering out in the hope
of gaining a glimpse of the miscreant who had come so near shooting
him. He was disappointed, however, the savage descending the tree with
such skill and caution that his person was never once exposed to the
eagle eye of the Huron.

For an hour succeeding this last attempt nothing further was done by
the besieging savages. They carefully kept their bodies concealed, so
that the utmost watchfulness on the part of Oonamoo and Dernor failed
to get a shot at them. They saw enough, however, to make them certain
they were surrounded by their enemies, and that for the present, at
least, under Heaven, they had nothing but their own bravery and good
rifles to rely upon.

There were several means by which the fugitives could be compelled to
succumb in the end, if these means were only employed by the savages.
The first and obviously safest was to keep up the siege until they were
compelled to come to terms. Dernor had not a drop of water nor a
particle of food, and consequently this plan on the part of the
besiegers would have been only a question of time. Again, a rapid and
determined assault could scarcely fail to take the Rifleman and the
Huron. There were ten Indians to make the attempt, but those ten knew
well enough that two of their number would never live to reach the fort
in case the rush was made and that there would be desperate work before
the two men could be overcome.

During the hour of silence these plans occurred to Dernor, and he
mentioned the first to Oonamoo. The cunning savage shook his head.

"Won't do that--_afeard_."

"Afraid of what?"

"Settlement two--t'ree--fifteen mile off--_afeard_ other Long Knives
come afore we got starve."

"I hope the boys are somewhere in the woods. Why don't the cowardly
dogs rush in upon us? They could batter these logs down in five
minutes."

"_Afeard_ we batter _'em_ down," replied the Huron, with a sparkle of
his black eyes.

"We would surely knock some of them over, but I don't suppose w