companion, and the gate was
closed against their assailants, who at once, to wreak their vengeance,
began to throw back the blazing faggots against it.

A few shots were fired at the enemy, and then not a single report was
heard. Every grain of powder in the fort had been expended.

The Blackfeet had in the mean time been collecting a fresh supply of
faggots, and now, finding themselves unmolested, brought them up to the
stockades. At length the stout gate, having caught fire, showed signs
of giving way, while the forked flames appeared in all directions
between the palisades. In vain the bold hunters sprang here and there
with buckets of water--for the fort was well supplied--and dashed it
against the burning timbers. It was too evident that ere long the whole
front of the fort would be one mass of fire.

"Never fear, lads," cried old Sandy Macpherson, as he saw to a certainty
what would happen. "Even when the walls come down, the Redskins won't
be in a hurry to make their way over them. We may still keep the
`varmints' at bay for a good time longer, and then just take shelter in
the big house, and they'll no get into that in a hurry, while we make
good play with our pikes and bayonets."

If Sandy did not forget that the savages, as soon as they got into the
inner part of the fort, would set fire to the buildings, he thought it
prudent not to say so.

In the mean time, Loraine began to fear that notwithstanding the heroic
efforts he and his companions were making, the helpless ones, whom they
were ready to sacrifice their lives to protect, would fall into the
power of the savages. Language, indeed, cannot describe his feelings.
Rather would he have seen his beautiful Sybil dead than carried off by
the Indian. "Would it not be possible to get through the back of the
fort, and to place the ladies in the boat, then either to carry them
down the river, or enable them to make their escape to the northward?"
he asked of Captain Mackintosh. "Surely it would be safer than
defending them in the house."

"I much fear that the savages, though we do not see them, are watching
the banks, and that the attempt would be unsuccessful; yet, as a last
resource, we must try it," answered Captain Mackintosh. "I will commit
them to your charge."

Loraine's feelings prompted him eagerly to accept the office, and yet,
influenced by a high motive, he replied--

"I would propose that your sons should escort them. They are we