s giving the white people time to escape into the fort. When all were
in except Sam's party and a Mrs. Phillips who was killed, Harden began
looking about him for a chance to secure his own safety. His impetuosity
had carried him clear through the Indian ranks, and the savages, having
beaten the dogs off, turned their attention to the young cavalier who
had balked them in the very moment of their victory. They were between
him and the gates, hundreds against one. His dogs were killed or
scattered, and he saw at a glance that there was little hope for him.
The woods behind him were full of Indians, and so retreat was
impossible. Turning his horse's head towards the gates, he plunged spurs
into his side, and with a pistol in each hand, dashed through the savage
ranks, firing as he went. Blowing a blast upon his horn to recall those
of his dogs which were still alive, he escaped on foot into the fort,
just in time to let the gate shut in the face of the foremost Indian.
His horse, history tells us, was killed under him, and he had five
bullet holes through his clothes, but his skin was unbroken.

[Illustration: SAM'S PARTY.]

Francis and his followers were balked but not beaten. Retiring for a few
minutes behind the hill, they rallied and came again to the assault,
more furiously than ever. Their savage instincts were thoroughly aroused
by the unexpected defeat they had sustained in the very moment of their
victory, and they were determined now to take the fort at any cost.
Their plan of attack showed the skill of their leader, who was really a
man of considerable ability in spite of his fanatical belief in his own
prophetic gifts. He avoided both the errors usually committed by Indian
leaders in storming fortified places. He refused, on the one hand, to
let his men waste their powder and their time in desultory firing, and,
on the other, he decided not to risk everything on the hazard of a
single assault. His plan was to take the fort by storm, but the storming
was to be done systematically. Dividing his force into two parts, he
sent one to the attack, and held the other back in the hope that the
first would gain a position so near the stockade as to make the assault
of the second, led by himself, doubly sure of success. The plan was a
good one, without doubt, and no man was better qualified than Francis to
carry it out.

When the storming party came, the people in the fort were ready for it.
Counting out the women and