day, so disagreeable altogether, that I
have remained indoors."

"You missed something," said Lydia, knowingly.

"What do you mean? What did I miss?"

"Oh, perhaps, after all, it will not interest you."

"How provoking! Of course it will. Anything or anybody would
interest me to-night. Do tell me, please."

"It isn't much. Only a young soldier came over with Major
McColloch."

"A soldier? From Fort Pitt? Do I know him? I have met most of the
officers."

"No, you have never seen him. He is a stranger to all of us."

"There does not seem to be so much in your news," said Betty, in a
disappointed tone. "To be sure, strangers are a rarity in our little
village, but, judging from the strangers who have visited us in the
past, I imagine this one cannot be much different."

"Wait until you see him," said Lydia, with a serious little nod of
her head.

"Come, tell me all about him," said Betty, now much interested.

"Major McColloch brought him in to see papa, and he was introduced
to me. He is a southerner and from one of those old families. I
could tell by his cool, easy, almost reckless air. He is handsome,
tall and fair, and his face is frank and open. He has such beautiful
manners. He bowed low to me and really I felt so embarrassed that I
hardly spoke. You know I am used to these big hunters seizing your
hand and giving it a squeeze which makes you want to scream. Well,
this young man is different. He is a cavalier. All the girls are in
love with him already. So will you be."

"I? Indeed not. But how refreshing. You must have been strongly
impressed to see and remember all you have told me."

"Betty Zane, I remember so well because he is just the man you
described one day when we were building castles and telling each
other what kind of a hero we wanted."

"Girls, do not talk such nonsense," interrupted the Colonel's wife
who was perturbed by the colloquy in the other room. She had seen
those ominous signs before. "Can you find nothing better to talk
about?"

Meanwhile Colonel Zane and his companions were earnestly discussing
certain information which had arrived that day. A friendly Indian
runner had brought news to Short Creek, a settlement on the river
between Fort Henry and Fort Pitt of an intended raid by the Indians
all along the Ohio valley. Major McColloch, who had been warned by
Wetzel of the fever of unrest among the Indians--a fever which broke
out every spring--had gone to Fort Pitt with th