hich a sufficiency had
been provided by Joel's forethought, were to be applied between the
hinge edge and the wall, to cast the whole over to the other side.

Unluckily, Mike had been left at the gate as the sentinel. A more
upfortunate selection could not have been made; the true-hearted fellow
having so much self-confidence, and so little forethought, as to
believe the gates impregnable. He had lighted a pipe, and was smoking
as tranquilly as he had ever done before, in his daily indulgences of
this character, when the unhung leaf came tumbling in upon the side
where he sat; nothing saving his head but the upper edge's lodging
against the wall. At the same moment, a dozen Indians leaped through
the opening, and sprang into the court, raising the yells already
described. Mike followed, armed with his shillelah, for his musket was
abandoned in the surprise, and he began to lay about him with an
earnestness that in nowise lessened the clamour. This was the moment
when Joyce, nobly sustained by Blodget and Jamie Allen, poured a volley
into the court, from the roofs; when the fray became general. To this
point had the combat reached, when Willoughby rushed into the open air
followed, a few instants later, by Nick.

The scene that succeeded is not easily described. It was a _melee_
in the dark, illuminated, at instants, by the flashes of guns, and
rendered horrible by shrieks, curses, groans and whoops. Mike actually
cleared the centre of the court, where he was soon joined by
Willoughby, when, together, they made a rush at a door, and actually
succeeded in gaining their own party on the roof. It was not in nature
for the young soldier to remain here, however, while his mother,
Beulah, and, so far as he knew, Maud, lay exposed to the savages below.
Arnid a shower of bullets he collected his whole force, and was on the
point of charging into the court, when the roll of a drum without,
brought everything to a stand. Young Blodget, who had displayed the
ardour of a hero, and the coolness of a veteran throughout the short
fray, sprang down the stairs unarmed, at this sound, passed through the
astonished crowd in the court, unnoticed, and rushed to the outer gate.
He had barely time to unbar it, when a body of troops marched through,
led by a tall, manly-looking chief, who was accompanied by one that
the young man instantly recognised, in spite of the darkness, for Mr.
Woods, in his surplice. At the next moment, the strangers h