od of warfare was without marked effect on either party.

By the middle of the afternoon, however, a sudden change occurred which
instantly altered the entire combat. The cause of this change was due to
the messenger who had been sent from Bryant's Station as soon as the
discovery of the Indians had been made. Upon the fleetest horse in the
settlement young Bell had succeeded in making his way to Lexington, with
news of the dire need of help at Bryant's Station.

The messenger, however, was keenly disappointed when he found only the
women and children and a few old men in the place. He was informed that
the able-bodied men had all marched to the rendezvous at Hoy's Station
as soon as the knowledge of Holder's defeat had been received.

Following the direction in which he had been informed the fighting band
had gone, it was not long before Bell overtook them and gave them his
message.

In the band were sixteen mounted men and more than twice that number of
men on foot. As they set forth in response to Bell's appeal, their
courage was strengthened by the report of the coming of a force of men
from Boone's Station, among whom were Peleg, Israel, and the great scout
himself.

CHAPTER XXV

A FIELD OF CORN

At a good pace the band was moving steadily over the rough roadway that
led to Bryant's Station. The men were silent for the most part, for they
had serious work before them. What a siege by five hundred Indians was
likely to be, led by such a man as Simon Girty, required no description.
The mounted men, however, preceding the men on foot, found little on
their way to indicate the peril of their friends.

It was late summer now, and already some of the leaves of the forest
were tinged with the colours of autumn. The song of a bird was seldom
heard, although the locusts were noisily announcing their presence in
the treetops.

As the advancing men came nearer the end of their journey their
precautions increased. The men on horseback still led, but were closer
to their comrades than in the earlier part of the journey. The
information which the courier had brought had been so meagre that the
exact location of Girty's band of warriors was not known. Bell had
reported only that Bryant's Station was besieged and that Girty was the
leader of the howling horde of savages.

Bryant's Station was less than a mile and a half distant. The advancing
men were in a bend in the road, on one side of which stretched the
p