t stay long with Marjie, however, for there was much for me
to do, and I seemed to have stepped from a world of horror and darkness
into a heaven of light. How I wished O'mie would come in! I had not
found him in all that hour, ages long to us, in which we had done this
much of our work for the town. But I was sure of O'mie.

"He's doing good business somewhere," I said. "Bless his red head. He'll
never quit so long as there's a thing to do."

There was no rest for anybody in Springvale that night. As Cam Gentry
had predicted, not a torch blazed; and the attacking party, thrown into
confusion by the sudden blocking of their secret plan of assault, did
not rally. Our next task was to make sure against the Indians, the
rumor of whose coming grew everywhere, and the fear of a daybreak
massacre kept us all keyed to the pitch of terrible expectancy.

The town had four strongholds, the tavern, the Whately store, the
Presbyterian Church, and my father's house. All these buildings were of
stone, with walls of unusual thickness. Into these the women and
children were gathered as soon as we felt sure the enemy in our midst
was outdone. Dr. Hemingway took command of the church. Cam Gentry at his
own door was a host.

"I can see who goes in and out of the Cambridge House; I reckon, if I
can't tell a Reb from a Bluecoat out in a battle," he declared, as he
opened his doors to the first little group of mothers and children who
came to him for protection. "I can see safety for every one of you
here," he added with that cheery laugh that made us all love him. Aunt
Candace was the strong guardian in our home up on Cliff Street. We
looked for O'mie to take care of the store, but he was nowhere to be
seen and that duty was given to Grandpa Mead, whose fiery Union spirit
did not accord with his halting step and snowy hair.

A patrol guard was quickly formed, and sentinels were stationed on the
south and west. On the north and east the flooded Neosho was a perfect
wall of water round about us.

Since that Maytime, I have lived through many days of peril and
suffering, and I have more than once walked bravely as I might along the
path at whose end I knew was an open grave, but never to me has come
another such night of terror. In all the town there were not a dozen
men, loyal supporters of the Union cause, who had a fighting strength.
On the eight stalwart boys, and the quickness and shrewdness of little
O'mie, the salvation of Springv