"Sails of what, Ready?" said William, hastily.

"Of the Indian canoes; I knew that they would come. Take the glass and
look yourself; my eye is quite dim from straining it so long."

"Yes, I have them now," replied William, with his eye to the glass. At
last he said:

"Why, there are twenty or thirty of them, Ready, at least."

"And with twenty or thirty men in each too, William."

"What must we do, Ready? How frightened my poor mother will be! I'm
afraid we can do nothing against such a number."

"Yes, William, we can do a great deal, and we must do a great deal.
That there are hundreds of savages there is no doubt; but recollect that
we have a stockade, which they cannot easily climb over, and plenty of
firearms and ammunition, so that we can make a good fight of it, and
perhaps beat them off, for they have nothing but clubs and spears."

"How fast they come down, Ready; why, they will be here in an hour."

"No, sir, nor in two hours either; those are very large canoes.
However, there is no time to be lost. While I watch them for a few
minutes till I make them more clearly out, do you run up to the house
and beckon your father to come down to me; and then, William, get all
the muskets ready, and bring the casks of powder, and of made-up
cartridges, from the old house into the stockade. Call Juno, and she
will help you. We shall have time enough to do everything. After you
have done that, you had better come down and join us."

In a very few minutes after William ran up to the house, Mr Seagrave
made his appearance.

"Ready, there is danger, I'm sure; William would not tell me, I presume,
because he was afraid of alarming his mother. What is it?"

"It is, Mr Seagrave, that the savages are now coming down upon us in
large force; perhaps five or six hundred of them; and that we shall have
to defend ourselves with might and main."

"Do you think we have any chance against such a force?"

"Yes, sir, with God's help I have no doubt but that we shall beat them
off; but we must fight hard, and for some days, I fear."

Mr Seagrave examined the fleet of canoes with the glass. "It is,
indeed, dreadful odds to contend against."

"Yes, sir, but three muskets behind a stockade are almost a match for
all their clubs and spears, provided none of us are wounded."

"Well, Ready, we must put our trust in the Lord, and do our best; I will
second you to the utmost of my power, and William, I'm sure, will do hi