done," said Wyatt. "Come, all of you that are
left!"

The scanty survivors gathered around him, all but the wounded Seneca,
who sat unmoved against the wall and continued to chant his death chant.
Wyatt glanced at him, but said nothing. Then he and the others rushed
down the stairs.

The lower room was filled with smoke, and outside the flames were
roaring. They unbarred the door and sprang into the open air. A shower
of bullets met them. The Tory, Coleman, uttered a choking cry, threw up
his arms, and fell back in the doorway. Braxton Wyatt seized one of the
smaller men, and, holding him a moment or two before him to receive the
fire of his foe, dashed for the corner of the blazing building. The man
whom he held was slain, and his own shoulder was grazed twice, but he
made the corner. In an instant he put the burning building between him
and his pursuers, and ran as he had never run before in all his life,
deadly fear putting wings on his heels. As he ran he heard the dull boom
of a cannon, and he knew that the American army was entering the Seneca
Castle. Ahead of him he saw the last of the Indians fleeing for the
woods, and behind him the burning house crashed and fell in amid leaping
flames and sparks in myriads. He alone had escaped from the house.

CHAPTER XXIV. DOWN THE OHIO

"We didn't get Wyatt," said Henry, "but we did pretty well,
nevertheless."

"That's so," said Shif'less Sol. "Thar's nothin' left o' his band but
hisself, an' I ain't feelin' any sorrow 'cause I helped to do it. I
guess we've saved the lives of a good many innocent people with this
morning's work."

"Never a doubt of it," said Henry, "and here's the army now finishing up
the task."

The soldiers were setting fire to the town in many places, and in two
hours the great Seneca Castle was wholly destroyed. The five took no
part in this, but rested after their battles and labors. One or two had
been grazed by bullets, but the wounds were too trifling to be noticed.
As they rested, they watched the fire, which was an immense one, fed by
so much material. The blaze could be seen for many miles, and the ashes
drifted over all the forest beyond the fields.

All the while the Iroquois were fleeing through the wilderness to the
British posts and the country beyond the lakes, whence their allies had
already preceded them. The coals of Little Beard's Town smoldered for
two or three days, and then the army turned back, retracing its ste