' house, but not a gun was
lifted nor a voice was raised. So far the expedient of
sending a woman had proved unexpectedly successful. The
savages gazed at her in blank amazement, wondering at her
purpose.

She entered the house. An anxious minute or two passed. The
Indians still had not stirred. The eyes of the garrison were
fixed with feverish anxiety on the door of that small hut.
Then they were relieved by the reappearance of the devoted
girl, now clasping the precious keg of powder in her arms.

It was no time now to walk. As rapidly as she could run,
with the weight in her arms, she sped over the open space.
Speed was needed. The Indians had suddenly come to a
realizing sense of the woman's purpose, and a volley of
bullets swept the space over which she fled.

Not one touched her. In a minute she had reached the fort. A
shout of enthusiastic welcome went up. As the gate closed
behind her, and she let fall the valuable prize from her
unnerved arms, every hand was stretched to grasp hers, and a
chorus of praise and congratulation filled the air.

"We have a heroine among us; we will all be heroes, and
conquer or die," was the universal thought.

It was a true one; Elizabeth Zane's was one of those rare
souls which seem sent on earth to make man proud of his
race.

At half-past two the assailants returned to the attack,
availing themselves, as before, of the cover of the huts.
After a period spent in musketry, they made an assault in
force on the gate of the fort. They were met by the
concentrated fire of the garrison. Six of them fell. The
others fled back to their shelter.

Until dark the fusillade continued. After darkness had
fallen the assailants tried a new device. Lacking artillery,
they attempted to convert a hollow maple log into a cannon.
They bound this as firmly as possible with chains, then,
with a ludicrous ignorance of what they were about, they
loaded it to its muzzle with stones, pieces of iron, and
other missiles. This done, they conveyed the impromptu
cannon to a point within sixty yards of the fort, and
attempted to discharge it against the gates.

The result was what might have been anticipated. The log
burst into a thousand pieces, and sent splinters and
projectiles hurtling among the curious crowd of dusky
warriors. Several of them were killed, others were wounded,
but the gates remained unharmed. This was more than the
savages had counted on, and they ceased the assault for the