ore, and a third time and the tumult rose to its height.
Then it ceased so suddenly and so absolutely that the silence was
appalling. The wind blew the smoke away, a few dark objects lay close to
the ground among the trees before them, but not a sound came from the
forest, and no flitting form was there.

CHAPTER IX

THE ESCAPE

Henry and Paul, with their eyes at the crevices, stared and stared, but
they saw only those dark, horrible forms lying close to the earth, and
heard again the peaceful wind blowing among the peaceful trees. The
savage army had melted away as if it had never been, and the dark
objects might have been taken for stones or pieces of wood.

"We beat 'em off, an' nobody on our side has more'n a scratch,"
exclaimed Shif'less Sol jubilantly.

"That's so," said Ross, casting a critical eye down the line, "it's
because we had a good position an' made ready. There's nothin' like
takin' a thing in time. How're you, boys?"

"All right, but I've been pretty badly scared I can tell you," replied
Paul frankly. "But we are not hurt, are we, Henry?"

"Thank God," murmured the schoolmaster under his breath, and then he
said aloud to Ross: "I suppose they'll leave us alone now."

Ross shook his head.

"I wish I could say it," he replied, "but I can't. We've laid out four
of 'em, good and cold, an' the Shawnees, like all the other redskins,
haven't much stomach for a straightaway attack on people behind
breastworks; I don't think they'll try that again, but they'll be up to
new mischief soon. We must watch out now for tricks. Them's sly devils."

Ross was a wise leader and he gave food to his men, but he cautioned
them to lie close at all times. Two or three bullets were fired from the
forest but they whistled over their heads and did no damage. They seemed
safe for the present, but Ross was troubled about the future, and
particularly the coming of night, when they could not protect themselves
so well, and the invaders, under cover of darkness, might slip forward
at many points. Henry himself was man enough and experienced enough to
understand the danger, and for the moment, he wondered with a kind of
impersonal curiosity how Ross was going to meet it. Ross himself was
staring at the heavens, and Henry, following his intent eyes, noticed a
change in color and also that the atmosphere began to have a different
feeling to his lungs. So much had he been engrossed by the battle, and
so great had been