.

"'Tis only a bite," he pleaded, "'twouldn't only make me hungry,
and"--he looked hard at me--"and it might be the savin' of you. Ye'll
not eat it for Polly Ann's sake?" he asked coaxingly.

"'Twould not be serving her," I answered indignantly.

"Ye're an obstinate little deevil!" he cried, and, dropping the morsel
on the freshly cut stump, he stalked away. I ran after him, crying out,
but he leaped on the raft that was already in the stream and began to
pole across. I slipped the piece into my own hunting shirt.

All day the men who were too weak to swing axes sat listless on the
bank, watching in vain for some sight of the Willing. They saw a canoe
rounding the bend instead, with a single occupant paddling madly. And
who should this be but Captain Willing's own brother, escaped from
the fort, where he had been a prisoner. He told us that a man named
Maisonville, with a party of Indians, was in pursuit of him, and the
next piece of news he had was in the way of raising our despair a
little. Governor Hamilton's astonishment at seeing this force here and
now would be as great as his own. Governor Hamilton had said, indeed,
that only a navy could take Vincennes this year. Unfortunately, Mr.
Willing brought no food. Next in order came five Frenchmen, trapped by
our scouts, nor had they any provisions. But as long as I live I shall
never forget how Tom McChesney returned at nightfall, the hero of the
hour. He had shot a deer; and never did wolves pick an animal cleaner.
They pressed on me a choice piece of it, these great-hearted men who
were willing to go hungry for the sake of a child, and when I refused it
they would have forced it down my throat. Swein Poulsson, he that once
hid under the bed, deserves a special tablet to his memory. He was for
giving me all he had, though his little eyes were unnaturally bright and
the red had left his cheeks now.

"He haf no belly, only a leedle on his backbone!" he cried.

"Begob, thin, he has the backbone," said Terence.

"I have a piece," said I, and drew forth that which Tom had given me.

They brought a quarter of a saddle to Colonel Clark, but he smiled at
them kindly and told them to divide it amongst the weak. He looked at me
as I sat with my feet crossed on the stump.

"I will follow Davy's example," said he.

At length the canoes were finished and we crossed the river, swimming
over the few miserable skeletons of the French ponies we had brought
along. We came t