ng his little sister to her fate and running for his life. But Sam
Hardwicke was not the sort of boy to do anything so cowardly as that.
Abandoning the thought of getting to the fort, he called to Tom to
follow him, and with Judie in his arms, he ran into a neighboring
thicket, where the three, with Joe, a black boy of twelve or thirteen
years who had followed them, concealed themselves in the bushes. Whether
they had been seen by the Indians or not, they had no way of knowing,
but their only hope of safety now lay in absolute stillness. They
crouched down together and kept silence.

"What's we gwine to do here, I wonder," whispered the black boy. "Whar
mus' we go, Mas Sam?"

Sam did not answer. He was too much absorbed in studying the situation
to talk or even to listen. The Indians were coming down upon the white
people from every side, and the only wonder was that Sam's little party
had managed to find a gap in their line big enough to escape through.

"Be patient, Joe," said little Judie, in the calmest voice possible.
"Brother Sam will take care of us. Give him time. He always does know
what to do."

"Be still, Joe," said Sam. "If you talk that Indian'll see us," pointing
to one not thirty steps distant, though Joe had not yet seen him.

A terrified "ugh!" was all the reply Joe could make.

Meantime the situation of the fort people was terrible. Cut off from the
gates and unarmed, there seemed to be nothing for them to do except to
meet death as bravely and calmly as they could. A young man named Isaac
Harden happened to be near the gates, however, on horseback, and
accompanied by a pack of about sixty hounds. And this young man, whose
name has barely crept into a corner of history, was both a hero and a
military genius, and he did right then and there, a deed as brilliant
and as heroic as any other in history. Seeing the perilous position of
the fort people, he raised himself in his stirrups and waving his hat,
charged the savages _with his pack of dogs_, whooping and yelling after
the manner of a huntsman, and leading the fierce bloodhounds right into
the ranks of the infuriated Indians. The dogs being trained to chase and
seize any living thing upon which their master might set them, attacked
the Indians furiously, Harden encouraging them and riding down group
after group of the bewildered savages. Charging right and left with his
dogs, he succeeded in putting the Indians for a time upon the defensive,
thu