stay until the relief came. Gradually
downcast heads were lifted and sunken spirits rose.

The gantlet began in the usual fashion an hour later, and throughout all
that long, dismal morning it was a continual skirmish. The savages pressed
closer than ever, and all the vigilance and accuracy of the riflemen were
needed to drive them off. One man was killed and several were wounded, but
the borderers merely shut their teeth down the harder and marched on.

Toward noon they saw a flat-topped hill, with a stony surface, a little
stream running down its side, and Henry uttered a cheerful shout.

"The Table Rock!" he said. "Here we can hold off all the savages in the
West!"

The train increased its slow gait, and all hearts grew lighter. The
savages, as if determined that the wagons should not gain the shelter,
pressed forward, but after a short but fierce combat were driven off, and
the train circled triumphantly up the slope.

It was indeed all that Henry had claimed for it--an ideal place for a
protected camp, easy to defend, difficult to take. Not all the surface was
stone, and there was abundant grazing ground for the horses. The spring
that gushed from the side of the hill was inside the lines, and neither
horse nor man lacked for pure water.

Now they fortified more strongly than ever, throwing up earthworks higher
than before and doubling the sentinels. Fallen wood was plentiful, and at
Henry's direction the fires were built high and large in order that they
might drive away discouragement. Then a semblance of cheerfulness made its
appearance, and the women and children began to talk once more.

"Long Jim will go through if any mortal man can," said Henry Ware to
Daniel Poe.

"Pray God that he succeeds," said Daniel Poe. "Surely, no wagon train ever
before ran the deadly gantlet that ours has run."

Shif'less Sol strolled into the circle of fires, and sat down with Paul.

"Now, this is what I call true comfort fur a tired man," he said. "Here we
are with nuthin' to do but set here an' rest, until somebody comes an'
takes us to Wareville. Them savages out thar might save theirselves a heap
o' trouble by goin' peacefully away. Makes me think o' that siege o' Troy
you wuz talkin' about, Paul, only we won't let any wooden horse in."

"Maybe there is some likeness," said Paul.

"Maybe thar is," continued Shif'less Sol, in his cheerful tones; "but Tom
Ross wuz right when he said the way them Greeks an' Trojans f