ature, the care of little Evert aroused all the mother
within her, and something like a frown that betokened resolution was,
for a novelty, seen on her usually placid face.

A moment sufficed to let Joyce and his companions into the state of
affairs. There now being four armed men on the stage, one took each of
the three exposed sides of the buildings to watch, leaving the master
of the house to move from post to post, to listen to suggestions, hear
reports, and communicate orders.

The dark object that lay at the foot of the palisades was pointed out
to the serjeant the instant he was on the stage, and one of his offices
was to observe it, in order to ascertain if it moved, or whether any
attempts were made to carry off the body. The American Indians attach
all the glory or shame of a battle to the acquisition or loss of
scalps, and one of their practices was to remove those who had fallen,
at every hazard, in order to escape the customary mutilation. Some
tribes even believed it disgrace to suffer a dead body to be struck by
the enemy, and many a warrior has lost his life in the effort to save
the senseless corpse of a comrade from this fancied degradation.

As soon as the little stir created in the Hut by the mustering of the
men was over, a stillness as profound as that which had preceded the
alarm reigned around the place. No noise came from the direction of the
mill; no cry, or call, or signal of battle was heard; everything lay in
the quiet of midnight. Half an hour thus passed, when the streak of
light that appeared in the east announced the approach of day.

The twenty minutes that succeeded were filled with intense anxiety. The
slow approach of light gradually brought out object after object in the
little panorama, awakening and removing alike, conjectures and
apprehensions. At first the grey of the palisades became visible; then
the chapel, in its sombre outlines; the skirts of the woods; the
different cabins that lined them; the cattle in the fields, and the
scattering trees. As for Joyce, he kept his gaze fastened on the object
at the foot of the stockade, expecting every instant there would be an
attempt to carry it off.

At length, the light became so strong as to allow the eye to take in
the entire surface of the natural _glacis_ without the defences,
bringing the assurance that no enemy was near. As the ground was
perfectly clear, a few fruit-trees and shrubs on the lawn excepted, and
by changing p