callers, and they
were all intoxicated. Moreover, they had brought with them several jugs
of bad whisky--the raw and craze-provoking product supplied them by the
fur-dealers--and it was clear that our cabin was to be the scene of an
orgy. Fortunately, my brother James was at home on this occasion, and as
the evening grew old and the Indians, grouped together around the fire,
became more and more irresponsible, he devised a plan for our safety.
Our attic was finished, and its sole entrance was by a ladder through
a trap-door. At James's whispered command my sister Eleanor slipped up
into the attic, and from the back window let down a rope, to which he
tied all the weapons we had--his gun and several axes. These Eleanor
drew up and concealed in one of the bunks. My brother then directed that
as quietly as possible, and at long intervals, one member of the family
after another was to slip up the ladder and into the attic, going quite
casually, that the Indians might not realize what we were doing. Once
there, with the ladder drawn up after us and the trap-door closed, we
would be reasonably safe, unless our guests decided to burn the cabin.

The evening seemed endless, and was certainly nerve-racking. The Indians
ate everything in the house, and from my seat in a dim corner I watched
them while my sisters waited on them. I can still see the tableau they
made in the firelit room and hear the unfamiliar accents of their speech
as they talked together. Occasionally one of them would pull a hair from
his head, seize his scalping-knife; and cut the hair with it--a most
unpleasant sight! When either of my sisters approached them some of the
Indians would make gestures, as if capturing and scalping her. Through
it all, however, the whisky held their close attention, and it was due
to this that we succeeded in reaching the attic unobserved, James coming
last of all and drawing the ladder after him. Mother and the children
were then put to bed; but through that interminable night James and
Eleanor lay flat upon the floor, watching through the cracks between the
boards the revels of the drunken Indians, which grew wilder with every
hour that crawled toward sunrise. There was no knowing when they would
miss us or how soon their mood might change. At any moment they might
make an attack upon us or set fire to the cabin. By dawn, however, their
whisky was all gone, and they were in so deep a stupor that, one after
the other, the seven