coals on
the fireplace, and just as soon as I put the feathers on them a blaze
sprang up and such smoke as I never saw began to pour up the chimney. In
less than one minute two of the redskins fell into the fireplace, and
with the same axe with which I had defended the door I quickly put an
end to both varmints."

"That made six of the seven, then," suggested Peleg.

"Yes. But the seventh wasn't ready to leave yet. He ran around to the
door and tried to crawl through while I was busy at the chimney. It was
fortunate that I chanced to see him. He got a gash in the cheek, and you
ought to have heard him yell when he ran away from the door. Talk to me
about the Indians never making any fuss! This man was yelling so that
you might have heard him at the fort. He called me the 'Long Knife
Squaw,' but I didn't care so long as he cleared out for good and all!
And I don't believe any of them will come again very soon."

"What are you going to do now?" inquired Peleg.

"I haven't any plans."

"You must come with me to the fort."

"But I must not leave my clearing," said the heroic woman. "Now that my
husband is dead, I shall have everything to do."

"Come with me, and I will find some one to do what ought to be done
here."

Yielding to the persuasion of the young scout, Mrs. Merrill accompanied
him to the fort, where at once some of the women offered her the solace
of their sympathy.

Peleg at once assembled a little company of men, and led by Daniel Boone
himself they returned to the scene of the brave woman's struggles. The
dead Indians were buried and the two cows were driven within the
stockade.

"It will not be safe," said Daniel Boone to Peleg, "for Mrs. Merrill to
come back here alone. If she does insist upon coming, either you or
Israel must be with her. She should be persuaded, however, not to expose
herself to such dangers as she will meet here."

"She seems to be able to protect herself," said Peleg dryly.

"Indeed she does. I question if there is another woman in our settlement
who would have been able to do what she did. Single-handed, to keep off
seven Shawnees! I believe that the story of her bravery will be told to
your grandchildren, Peleg."

Mrs. Merrill, however, was found to be more reasonable than the great
scout's fear had warranted. She was quite willing to make her home for
the present where the peril and the loneliness were not so great as in
her cabin.

The attacks of the Indians cont