The Rising of the Red Man | Page 9

ticked ominously; the girl stood with one hand upon
her father's shoulder, motionless and impassive, like some beautiful
statue. There was no trace of fear of any impending tragedy to mar the
proud serenity of her face. At length the sound of voices came to them
from outside. It grew in volume and rose like the angry murmur of the
sea. Pasmore was looking through a crack when the noise of the
chopping began again. In another minute there was a crash of falling
timber.

The sergeant turned to the girl.
"Miss Douglas," he said, "will you kindly go into the other room for a
minute! They have cut down one of the large posts in the shed and are
going to make a battering-ram of it so as to smash in the door. Come
this way, all of you. Two on either side. That is right. Fire into them as
they charge!"

CHAPTER IV
HARD PRESSED
The half-breeds and Indians, keen and determined as they were to
effect an entrance to the house at any costs, were not without
considerable foresight and strategy. But their feint failed, and when
they did make a rush with their ram two or three of them were picked
off. The survivors dropped the ram, and made a dash across the open
for the stable.
Pasmore telling the others to remain at their loopholes, went to a room
at the end of the long passage, Dorothy following him.
The rebels must have applied a match to some of the inflammable
matter, for in another instant the growing, hissing roar of fire was
audible.
"It will spread to the house in a few minutes more," remarked the
sergeant, quietly, "and I'm afraid that will be the end of it."
But he had already seized an axe and was opening the door.
"Shut the door after me and go to your father," he exclaimed. "I'll cut
down the slabs that connect it with the house. Child-of-Light may come
up yet. Good-bye--in case of accidents."
She caught him by the arm and looked into his face.

"You can't do that--you must not do that! You are sure to be shot
down."
"And I may be shot if I don't." Forcibly, but with what gentleness the
action permitted, he disengaged her firm white hand.
"You can't use an axe with that arm," she pleaded, all her old reserve
vanishing.
"I can at a pinch," he replied. "It is good of you to trouble about me."
He slipped out and pulled the door behind him. The look he had seen in
her eyes had come as a revelation and given him courage.
She stood for a moment speechless and motionless, with a strained, set
expression on her face. It was old Rory who aroused her to the gravity
of the situation. He came running along the passage.
"Come hyar, honey, and into the cellar wid ye," he cried. "There's more
of the inimy comin' along the trail, but there's still a chanct. Nivir say
die, sez I."
As if roused from some horrible dream her feverish energy and
readiness of resource returned to her.
"Come into the next room," she cried to Rory; "we can see the
oil-house from the window. He is out there pulling down the stockade
and we can keep them back from him. Quick, Rory!"
Like one possessed she made for the first door on the left of the
passage.
Along the trail came the new lot of half-breeds and Indians to the
assistance of their fellows, or, perhaps it would be more correct to say,
to see to it that they did not miss their full share of the plunder. Roused
to fresh efforts by the sight of the others, those on the spot fairly
riddled the doors and windows of the house. The bullets were whizzing
into the kitchen in every direction, splintering the furniture and sending

the plaster flying from the walls until the room was filled with a fine,
blinding, choking dust. It was impossible to hold out much longer. The
final rush was sure to come in a very few minutes--and all would be
over.
Pasmore had cut off the house from the burning shed by hewing down
the connecting wall, while Dorothy Douglas and Rory, by firing from a
side window, had kept the enemy from approaching; After what
seemed an age, Pasmore rejoined them.
There was a pause in the firing, then a hoarse murmur of excited voices
came from the sheds. It rose like a sudden storm on the Lake of the
Winds. There was a wild volley and a rush of feet. A dark body
smashed in the casement and tried to follow it, but Rory's long knife
gleamed in the air, and the intruder fell back in