Cowan and Ray were among these, and I trotted after
them with the drum banging against my thighs.

Was ever stronghold taken thus?

They went right into the town, the fourteen of them, into the main
street that led directly to the fort. The simple citizens gave back,
stupefied, at sight of the tall, striding forms. Muffled Indians stood
like statues as we passed, but these raised not a hand against us. Where
were Hamilton, Hamilton's soldiers and savages? It was as if we had come
a-trading.

The street rose and fell in waves, like the prairie over which it ran.
As we climbed a ridge, here was a little log church, the rude cross
on the belfry showing dark against the sky. And there, in front of us,
flanked by blockhouses with conical caps, was the frowning mass of Fort
Sackville.

"Take cover," said Williams, hoarsely. It seemed incredible.

The men spread hither and thither, some at the corners of the church,
some behind the fences of the little gardens. Tom chose a great forest
tree that had been left standing, and I went with him. He powdered his
pan, and I laid down my drum beside the tree, and then, with an impulse
that was rare, Tom seized me by the collar and drew me to him.

"Davy," he whispered, and I pinched him. "Davy, I reckon Polly Ann'd be
kinder surprised if she knew where we was. Eh?"

I nodded. It seemed strange, indeed, to be talking thus at such a place.
Life has taught me since that it was not so strange, for however a
man may strive and suffer for an object, he usually sits quiet at the
consummation. Here we were in the door-yard of a peaceful cabin, the
ground frozen in lumps under our feet, and it seemed to me that the wind
had something to do with the lightness of the night.

"Davy," whispered Tom again, "how'd ye like to see the little feller to
home?"

I pinched him again, and harder this time, for I was at a loss for
adequate words. The muscles of his legs were as hard as the strands of
a rope, and his buckskin breeches frozen so that they cracked under my
fingers.

Suddenly a flickering light arose ahead of us, and another, and we saw
that they were candles beginning to twinkle through the palings of the
fort. These were badly set, the width of a man's hand apart. Presently
here comes a soldier with a torch, and as he walked we could see from
crack to crack his bluff face all reddened by the light, and so near
were we that we heard the words of his song:--

"O, there came