ssibility of getting a
purchase from the roof, made only a slight resistance necessary from
beneath. A dozen bolts and bars could not have rendered it stronger.

"It 'pears to be all right," mused Dinah, "but folks can't be too
keerful at sich times--sh! what dat?"

Her ears, which were as keen as those of her friends, heard a suspicious
noise overhead. It was faint, but unmistakable. The startling truth
could not be doubted: one of the Comanches, if not more, was on the
roof!

"If dat isn't shameful," she muttered, failing to apprise her mistress
of the alarming discovery; "I wander what he can be after up dar--de
Lor' a massy!"

The last shock was caused by a scratching which showed that the intruder
was trying to lift up the scuttle.

Evidently the Indians had made themselves as familiar with Captain
Shirril's domicile as they could without entering it. They had noticed
the scuttle, and the possibility that it might be unfastened led one of
them to climb undetected to the roof to make sure about it.

"Dat onmannerly warmint knows dat dat door am right over _my_ room,"
muttered the indignant Dinah; "and instead ob comin' in by de reg'lar
way, as a gemman orter do, he's gwine to try to steal in frough de roof.
When I get done wid him," she added, with rising wrath, "he'll know
better nor dat."

Still Mrs. Shirril kept her place in her own apartment, where she was
striving so hard to learn something, by peering through and listening at
one of her windows, that she noticed nothing else, though, as yet, the
noise was so slight that it would have escaped the ears of Dinah
herself, had she not been quite near it.

The colored woman groped around in the dark until her hand rested upon
the only chair in the apartment. This she noiselessly placed under the
scuttle, and stepped upon it with the same extreme care.

Her position was now such that had the door been open and she standing
upright, her head, shoulders, and a part of her waist would have been
above the roof. She had leaned her gun against the side of the chair,
so that, if needed, it was within quick reach. Then she assumed a
stooping posture, with her head gently touching the underside of the
door, and, steadying herself by grasping the iron hook, she stood
motionless and listening.

"Yes, _he's dar_!" was her instant conclusion, "and de wiper is tryin'
to onfasten de skylight ob my obpartment."

Dinah's many years spent in this wild region had given he