were overjoyed to see the big settler calmly
sitting by the brook binding up a wound in his shoulder.

"It's nothin' much. Jest a scratch, but it tumbled me over," he
said. "I was comin' to help you. That was the wust Injun scrap I
ever saw. Why didn't you keep on lettin' 'em come in? The red
varmints would'a kept on comin' and Wetzel was good fer the whole
tribe. All you'd had to do was to drag the dead Injuns aside and
give him elbow room."

Wetzel joined them at this moment, and they hurried back to the
block-house. The firing had ceased on the bluff. They met Sullivan
at the steps of the Fort. He was evidently coming in search of them.

"Zane, the Indians and the Britishers are getting ready for more
determined and persistent effort than any that has yet been made,"
said Sullivan.

"How so?" asked Silas.

"They have got hammers from the blacksmith's shop, and they boarded
my boat and found a keg of nails. Now they are making a number of
ladders. If they make a rush all at once and place ladders against
the fence we'll have the Fort full of Indians in ten minutes. They
can't stand in the face of a cannon charge. We _must_ use the
cannon."

"Clarke, go into Capt. Boggs' cabin and fetch out two kegs of
powder," said Silas.

The young man turned in the direction of the cabin, while Silas and
the others ascended the stairs.

"The firing seems to be all on the south side," said Silas, "and is
not so heavy as it was."

"Yes, as I said, the Indians on the river front are busy with their
new plans," answered Sullivan.

"Why does not Clarke return?" said Silas, after waiting a few
moments at the door of the long room. "We have no time to lose. I
want to divide one keg of that powder among the men."

Clarke appeared at the moment. He was breathing heavily as though he
had run up the stairs, or was laboring under a powerful emotion. His
face was gray.

"I could not find any powder!" he exclaimed. "I searched every nook
and corner in Capt. Boggs' house. There is no powder there."

A brief silence ensued. Everyone in the block-house heard the young
man's voice. No one moved. They all seemed waiting for someone to
speak. Finally Silas Zane burst out:

"Not find it? You surely could not have looked well. Capt. Boggs
himself told me there were three kegs of powder in the storeroom. I
will go and find it myself."

Alfred did not answer, but sat down on a bench with an odd numb
feeling round his heart. He knew w