tly
exasperated by recent outrages inflicted upon them, this intelligence
created some anxiety. The gate was carefully closed. A guard was set
through the night, and some slight preparations were made to repel an
assault, should one be made.

Thus several days were passed, and there was no attack, and no signs of
Indians being near. The general impression was that the timid negro boy
was the victim of his own fears. Many jokes were perpetrated at his
expense. With wonted carelessness, all precautions were forgotten, and
the men sallied thoughtlessly forth to disperse through the fields in
their labors.

But after several days, the boy was again sent out into the woods upon
the same errand as before. He was a timid little fellow, and had a
great dread of the Indian. Tremblingly and cautiously he threaded the
paths of the forest for several miles, keeping a vigilant lookout for
any signs of the savage foe, when his eye fell upon a sight which
appalled him. At but a short distance, as he stood concealed by the
thickets through which he was moving, he saw several hundred Indian
warriors, plumed and painted, and armed to the teeth. They had probably
just broken up from a council, and were moving about among the trees.
His fears magnified their numbers to thousands.

Terror-stricken, he turned for the fort, and with almost the fleetness
of a deer entered the gate with his tidings. Even his black face was
pallid with fright, as he breathlessly told his story. "The Indians,"
said he, "were as many, and as close together as the trees. There were
thousands." The alarm was sounded in the garrison. All the outsiders
were called in. The sun shone serenely, the gentle breeze swept over
the fertile prairie; not a sight was to be seen but what was peaceful,
not a sound came from the forest but the songs of birds.

It was generally believed that the silly, cowardly boy had given a
false alarm. They cross-examined him. He was so frightened that he
could not tell a straight story. The men, indignant at being thus a
second time duped, as they supposed, actually tied the poor boy to the
whipping-post and commenced whipping him. But a few lashes had left
their bloody marks upon his back when the uplifted arm of the
executioner was arrested.

The awful Indian war-whoop, the precursor of blood and flame and
torture, which even the boldest heart could seldom hear without terror,
burst as it were simultaneously from a hundred warrior lips.