e clump of cottonwoods where the Indian dead were
lashed, and was fast covering the miles that lay between the burial
boughs and Fort Brannon.

* * * * *

When the ten minutes he had allotted were past, Matthews made a great
show of putting away his watch and took a last pull at the whisky flask.
The bottle disposed of, he walked down the drift to the warped door and
rapped a staccato. No answer was returned. Again, he rapped, and more
imperatively than before. Again, no answer. He pushed back his hat and
applied an ear to the hole through which had hung the lifting-string of
the latch. Then he heard long, unfrequent sobs, like those of a child
who, though almost asleep, is yet sorrowing. Between the sobs,
punctuating them fiercely, sounded the prolonged sucking-in of breath.

"Might as well stop y' bawlin' an' squallin'," he called through the
latch-hole. "Time's up!"

Getting no reply, as before, he altered his tactics. First, shading his
face with his slim fingers, he looked in. He could not see the girls.
Dallas was close to the door and beyond the limit of his vision. So was
Marylyn, who, helpless with fright, half knelt, half lay, against her
sister. What he could see was--from the south window--the gaudy Navajo
blankets forming two partitions of Lancaster's bedroom, and, nearer, two
partly filled sacks, some harnesses and the seat of a wagon. The other
window afforded a better view. "Looks mighty comfortable," he said as he
contemplated it. There was a hearth with its dying fire; in front of it
were circling benches and a thick buffalo-skin rug; above was a mantel,
piled with calico-covered books; a freshly scrubbed table stood in the
farther corner beneath a dish-cupboard, which was made of a dry goods
box; to the left of this--high up on the log wall--were a couple of
pegs.

It was these that finally riveted Matthews' attention and brought him to
a temporary halt. "Got th' gun down!" he exclaimed. On finding that
Lancaster was gone, he had decided not to produce a weapon. Now,
however, he quickly felt for one and dropped on all fours. "That biggest
gal 'd no more mind pumpin' lead into me than nothin'," he declared,
wagging his head wisely. "I could tell that by the shine in her eyes."
He crawled around the corner.

Behind the lean-to, he came to several conclusions: It would be useless
to try to get in by either window; both were high and small; the best
spot for an attack