continuous ominous rattle; little puffs of white smoke arose,
whistling bullets buried themselves with a sighing sound in the bags of
salt, and high above all rang the fierce yell, the war whoop of the
Shawnees, the last sound that many a Kentucky pioneer ever heard.

The terrible tumult, and above all, the fierce cry of the warriors sent
a thrill of terror through Paul and Henry, but their disciplined minds
held their bodies firm, and they remained crouched by the primitive
breastwork, ready to do their part.

"Steady, everybody! Steady!" exclaimed Ross in a loud sharp voice, every
syllable of which cut through the tumult. "Don't shoot until you see
something to shoot at, an' then make your aim true!"

Henry now began to see through the smoke dusky figures leaping from tree
to tree, but always coming toward them. It was his impulse to fire, the
moment a flitting figure appeared, gone the next instant like a shadow,
but remembering Ross's caution and their terrible need he restrained
himself although his finger already lay caressingly on the trigger.
Around him the rifles had begun to crack. Ross and Sol were firing with
slow deliberate aim, and then reloading with incredible swiftness, and
down the line the others were doing likewise. Bullets were spattering
into trunks and boughs, or burying themselves with a soft sigh in the
salt, but Henry could not see that anybody was yet hurt.

He saw presently a dark figure passing from one tree to another and the
passage was long enough for him to take a good aim at a hideously
painted breast. He pulled the trigger and then involuntarily he shut his
eyes--he was a hunter, but he had never hunted men before. When he
looked again he saw a blur upon the ground, and despite himself and the
fight for life, he shuddered. Paul beside him was now in a state of wild
excitement. The smaller boy's nerves were not so steady and he was
loading and firing almost at random. Finally he lifted himself almost
unconsciously to his full height, but he was dragged down the next
instant, as if he had been seized from below by a bear.

"Paul!" fiercely exclaimed the schoolmaster, all the instincts of a
pedagogue rising within him, "if you jump up that way again exposing
yourself to their bullets, I'll turn you over my knee right here, big as
you are, and give you a licking that you'll remember all your life!"

The master was savagely in earnest and Paul did not jump up again. Henry
fired once m