necks of more than a score of ducks
and chickens.

The Sioux gathered to the westward of the barn and ate like so many wild
animals until all were satisfied. The meal finished, they gave their
attention to the serious business before them. Had the incidents I am
relating taken place half a century ago, the red men would have been
obliged to resort to the old-fashioned flint and steel with which our
forefathers used to start a fire; but they were abreast of these modern
times to that extent that nearly every one carried more or less
lucifer-matches.

The favoring wind led to the barn being fired, under the belief that the
flames would quickly communicate with the house but a short distance
off; but, as you have learned, Providence favored the threatened ones to
that extent that the breeze changed its course, and for a time Dot and
Melville were saved.

[Illustration: "His attention was drawn to the sentinel on the
hill."--Page 86]

Tall Bear and the Sioux waited till, to their disappointment and
surprise, they saw the barn sink into blazing ruins and leave the house
intact.

The next proceeding was to gather what embers they could and pile them
against the dwelling, where they speedily burst into flames. It now
looked certain that the structure was doomed; but the heavy logs,
although dry on the outside, were damp within. It takes such timber a
long time to part with its natural moisture, and, fortunately for our
friends, a driving rain-storm less than a week previous had so soaked
the wood that only an intense and long-continued heat could set it
aflame. The logs were charred and scorched, and more than once appeared
to be on the point of breaking into a roaring blaze; but the brands
piled against the end of the house finally sank down to embers and
ashes, and though considerable smoke arose, the house stood really as
firm and as strong as at the first.

This was a keener disappointment than Tall Bear had yet met, for it
looked as though the most potent if not the only means at his command
was powerless to bring the boy to terms.

The chieftain himself examined the logs which had been subjected to the
fire. He dug his hunting-knife into them, and soon discovered why they
resisted the fire so effectually. Then he tested other parts of the
house in the same manner and with the same result.

For the first time since his arrival on the spot he was forced to see
the probability of another failure. His career from