ut of all
that you have thrown away, sufficient serviceable powder may be
found to enable us to defend the fort for ten days longer, when
something will assuredly turn up to better our condition."

"Would that it could be so," returned Captain Headley, with a
solemnity rendered more profound from the very smallness of the
contingency on which the safety of so much depended, "but there is
no hope. Anticipating that the Indians would attempt the very course
you now suggest--that of saving what powder might be uninjured by
the slimy bed into which it was thrown, all has been so mixed up
with rum and other liquids as to be rendered utterly useless.
Everything seems to be against us."

"Then, since all hope is over," returned the stranger with marked
disappointment, "we will not indulge in vain regrets for the past,
but make the best preparation for to-morrow. It is only to die in
harness after all. But, alas! I pity the poor women. How is my dear
Ellen--how does she support this severe affliction?"

"Bravely--nobly, like herself," returned the commanding officer
with emotion. "She will be delighted, yet grieved to behold
you--delighted at the generous devotion that has brought you so
far, and at the head of so small a force to our assistance; grieved
because she will know that you have only come in time to share our
fate. But dispose of your party and come in. Serjeant Nixon," he
called to that official, whom he saw passing from the rampart to
the guard-house.

The non-commissioned officer was soon at his side, and the captain
having given him directions to quarter the Indians for the night
in the officers' mess-room, liberally supplying them and their
horses with whatever they might require, and the stranger having
himself addressed some remarks to his people in the Miami tongue,
they both repaired with heavy hearts to the quarters of the former.

The meeting between Captain Wells and Mrs. Headley--the uncle and
niece, both of whom entertained a strong natural affection, founded
as much on similarity of character as on mere blood connexion--was
a very affecting one. They had long been separated, and year after
year a visit of a few weeks had been promised by the former to
Chicago; but the multiplicity of his public duties, for he was an
active agent in the Indian Department, had always prevented him
from carrying his intention into execution. But now when he heard
of the danger to which the garrison was exposed, and