ver stirred.

The warriors signaled once more to one another and now they were much
nearer. Henry retreated a little farther into the thicket, and then his
plan came to him. The Indians were bound to approach him from the east
and he would meet them with a weapon they little expected. The forest
was still in dense green, but the wood was dry from summer heats, the
effect of the great rain having passed quickly, and the ground was
littered as usual with the dead boughs and trunks fallen through
arboreal ages.

He drew softly away toward the mouth of the hollow, and then passed
behind it, where, stooping in the thicket, he produced his flint and
steel, which he put upon the turf beside him. Then, he gathered together
a little pile of dry brushwood, and again took notice of the wind, which
was still blowing directly toward the east and down the ravine, the only
point from which the Indian attack could come. It had been repulsed
there once before, but then Henry's comrades were with him, and five
good rifles and the tremendous voice of Long Jim had prevailed. Now he
was alone, and he did not intend to rely upon bullets. The moonlight
held, clear and amazingly bright, and he distinctly saw the troubled
owl and the vexed eagle, apparently still staring at each other and
wondering what was the matter with the night and the place. The Indian
calls to one another sounded once more, their own natural voices now and
not the imitation of bird or animal, and their nearness indicated that
the circle was closing in fast.

Henry had built up his heap of tinder wood, somewhat behind the mouth of
the hollow, and, kneeling down, he used flint and steel with amazing
rapidity and power. The sparks leaped forth in a shower, the dry wood
ignited, and up came little flames which swiftly grew into bigger ones.
Then he fanned his bonfire with all his might, and the flames sprang
high in the air, roaring as they set a fresh blaze to every dry thing
they touched. In less than two minutes a forest fire was in full and
great progress, sweeping eastward and down the ravine directly into the
faces of Braxton Wyatt and his advancing warriors. A great sheet of fire
in varying reds, pinks and yellows, and sometimes with a blue tint, rose
above the tops of the trees, and, as it rushed forward, it sent forth
showers of ashes and sparks in myriads from its crimson throat.

Henry sprang up behind the fire and uttered terrific shouts, leaping and
dancing