wning with
concentration, he was slowly reloading his rifle.

"Look at Frank up there," Nicole said to Pamela Russell, who stood
beside her. "Oh, God, I hate to see him out in the open. Frank," she
said, though she knew he couldn't hear her, "get into one of the
towers!"

"Burke too," Pamela said. "Why do they do it?" She pointed to the east
side of the palisade where her husband, a stocky man wearing spectacles,
stood on the catwalk. With the Indians attacking the front gate, he was
left alone to guard the east parapet. The rest of the men, ten of them,
were at the front part of the palisades, banging away.

_Twelve men. Twelve men who know how to use rifles. That's all we've
got._

And four were Nicole's husband, two of her sons and her father.

She gasped.

She saw a loop of rope fly through the air above the eastern wall and
catch on one of the sharpened logs. A moment later a dark head crowned
with feathers appeared above the palisade. And Burke Russell was looking
the other way.

"Burke, look out!" Pamela screamed.

Burke heard that. He swung around, raising his rifle to his shoulder.

"Please, God!" Nicole cried.

The Indian leaped over the parapet. He seemed twice as tall as Burke,
with bulging muscles that gleamed with oil. He wore only a loincloth,
and his walnut-brown body was painted with red, yellow and black
stripes. His scalplock flew out behind him as he rushed Burke, swinging
a war club with a glittering metal spike protruding from its thick end.

Burke's rifle went off with an orange flash, a boom, a cloud of smoke.

The Indian wasn't stopped. The war club came down on Burke's head.
Nicole heard the hollow thud and heard herself cry out.

Pamela screamed. "Oh, no, oh God, no! Burke! Burke!"

Burke's glasses flew from his face, hit the catwalk and caromed off to
the ground. With his free hand the Indian giant seized the rifle as
Burke crumpled. He raised both arms over his head, rifle in one hand,
bloodstained club in the other, and shouted his triumph.

Nicole's stomach heaved.

Pamela fell against her, fainting. She threw an arm around Pamela and
eased her to the ground, and she saw half a dozen more Indians waving
rifles and tomahawks leap over the eastern parapet and land on the
catwalk near Burke Russell's body.

"Frank! Behind you!" she screamed.

Frank turned, took aim and fired at the Indians. He ran for the nearest
corner tower.

Nicole didn't see whether he hit any of