est
of your son John Porter, now in your house and passing, recently, under
the name of Jonas Pearson, on the charge of resisting and killing the
officers of the law on the 5th of December, 1851. I counsel you to hand
over these men to me without resistance. You know what happened when
your sons defied the law before, and what will happen now if you refuse
compliance."

"Yah!" the old man shouted. "Do you suppose we are going to give in to
five men? Not if we know it. Now, I warn you, move yourself off while I
let you; else you will get a bullet in you before I count three."

"Very well, then. You must take the consequences," the sheriff replied,
and at once called the party to fall back.

"We must dismount," he said in answer to Vincent's look of surprise.
"They would riddle us here on horseback in the open. Besides, we must
dismount to break in the door."

They rode back a quarter of a mile, and then dismounted. The sheriff
took two heavy axes that hung from his saddle, and handed them to two of
the men.

"I reckon we shall have trouble," he said. "However, I hope we shan't
have to use these. My idea is to crawl up through the cornfield until we
are within shooting distance, and then to open fire at the loopholes.
They have never taken the trouble to grub up the stumps, and each man
must look out for shelter. I want to make it so hot for them that they
will try to bolt to the swamp, and in that case they will be covered by
the men there. I told them not to fire until they got quite close; so
they ought to dispose of three of them, and as they have got pistols
they will be able to master the others; besides, when we hear firing
behind, we shall jump up and make a rush round. Do you, sir, and James
Wilkins here, stop in front. Two of them might make a rush out behind,
and the others, when they have drawn us off, bolt in front."

Several shots were fired at the party as they made their way across to
the end of the field, where the tall stalks of maize were still
standing, though the corn had been gathered weeks before. As soon as
they reached the shelter they separated, each crawling through the maize
until they arrived within fifty yards of the house. There were, as the
sheriff had said, many stumps still standing, and each ensconced himself
behind one of these, and began to reply to the fire that the defenders
kept up whenever they saw a movement among the cornstalks.

At such a distance the shutters were but o