As the sky grew pale toward the early sun there was no sign of discovery
from its silent pickets. When within a hundred yards, in response to
the commanding war-cry of the Fire Eater, they rose like ghosts from
the sage and charged fast on the stockade. The gray logs stood stiffly
unresponsive and gave no answering shots or yells as the Indians swept
upon them. The gate was high, but the attacking force crept up on
each other's bent backs as they strove for the interior. A tremendous
commotion arose; rifles blazed inside and out. Two or three Indians
sprang over but were shot down. Hatchets hacked at the timbers;
gun-muzzles and drawn arrows sought the crevices in the logs; piercing
yells rose above the hoarse shouts of the besieged for the stockade was
full of white men.

The savages had not noticed a great number of Mackinaw boats drawn up on
the river bank and concealed by low bushes. These belonged to a brigade
of freighters who were temporarily housed in the post. As the surprised
whites and creoles swarmed to the defense the Indians found themselves
outnumbered three to one. The Fire Eater, seeing several braves fall
before the ever-increasing fire from the palisades and knowing he could
not scale the barrier, ordered a withdrawal. The beaten band drew slowly
away carrying the stricken brothers.

The medicine was bad--the war-prophet had not had free communication
with the mystery of the Good Gods. Some one had allowed himself to walk
in a beaten path or had violated the sacred rights of the warpath, and
the spirit of secrecy had left their moccasins. The skin of the little
brown bat did not comfort the Fire Eater in his fallen state. He cast
many burning glances back at the logs, now becoming mellowed by the
morning light. The sun had apparently thrown his protection over them
and the omen struck home to the wondering, savage mind. He remembered
that the old men had always said that the medicine of the Yellow-Eyes
was very strong and that they always fought insensibly like the gray
bears. The flashing rifles which had blown their bodies back from the
fort had astonished these Indians less by their execution than by the
indication they gave that the powers of darkness were not with them.
They looked askance at the Fire Eater for their ill-success. He was
enraged--a sudden madness had overpowered and destroyed his sense of the
situation. One of those moods had come upon the savage child-mind when
the surging bloo