. We must find the place and put out the flames."

Without a word he turned and followed me, and we opened the shutters a
little here and there and looked out. We soon found what we were seeking.

As the Indians had dashed around the house from front to rear, they had
approached the side and piled their burning brands against the boards. We
looked down from the window and saw that the house had already caught
fire. In a few moments the flames would be beyond control. I was back to
the hall in an instant.

"Is there any water in the house?" I asked of Mrs. Marsh, who was seated
on the floor reloading our guns with a coolness which told me where her
son had got his gallantry.

She looked at me an instant with face whitened by a new fear.

"Do you mean that the house is on fire?" she asked.

I nodded.

"There is no water," she said very quietly. "The well is a hundred yards
from the house."

I beckoned to the negroes, who were listening in an anxious group, and
hastened back to Brightson.

"There is no water," I said to him briefly. "I am going to open the
shutter, drop down, and knock the fire away from the house. Do you be
ready to pull me back in again, when I have finished."

"But it is death to do that," he exclaimed.

"No, no," I said. "You and the boys can keep them off. There is no
other way."

He turned from me and looked about the room.

"This will save you," he cried, and ran to a heavy oak table which stood
in one corner. I looked at him for a moment without understanding.

"We will throw it through the window," he explained. "You can drop behind
it, and the Indians' bullets cannot reach you."

I saw his plan before he had finished, and we had the table at the window
in an instant.

"Now, boys, all together," I cried, and as I threw the shutter back, they
lifted the table to the sill and pushed it through. Before the Indians
understood what was happening, I had dropped beside it, pulled it around
to screen me, and was kicking the brands away from the building. Then
they understood, and made a rush for the house, but met so sharp a
reception from Brightson and his men that they fell back, and contented
themselves with keeping up a sharp fusilade upon my place of
concealment. It was the work of only a few moments to kick away the
brands and beat out the flames which were running along the side of the
house. I signaled to Brightson that I was ready to return, and he opened
a heavy fire upon the