cheek grazed.

Of the free-traders it was impossible to say how many were dead or
wounded; Donald, after a moment's careful reckoning, felt sure that
more than a third of them, if not half, had felt lead.

Now however, Seguis changed his tactics. The next charge came from
three points at once, and Donald met it as best he could with three
volleys--one at seventy-five yards, another at forty, and a third
at ten--when the dark, frenzied faces and flashing eyes of the
free-traders were so close that the streaks of yellow flame seemed
to shoot out and touch them. The loss was heavy on both sides, and
for the first time inside the barricade demoralization reigned.
Had the attackers possessed the one necessary extra ounce of heroism,
and pressed on to the goal, they could have won it.

Donald himself went down with the shock of a bullet that broke his
left arm; two others of his men, who had stood up in the moment of
excitement, were dead, and two others severely wounded. Only the
unconcerned Timmins had passed through the ordeal unscathed.

"Water! Heavens, I wish I had some water!" grunted Buxton.

"Say, Tim," called one of the wounded men, "prop me up in front of
this hole, and I'll show 'em I'm good yet."

"Same here," said the other, weakly.

Timmins went back and forth between them, doing what they wished,
and loading their guns. Donald, grinning with the pain of his arm,
managed to reload his rifle with his right hand. Buxton, swearing
softly to himself, accomplished a like feat.

"For heaven's sake, Cap, let me wing Seguis this time, won't you?"
begged Timmins.

"Wing him, yes, but don't kill him. I've got a 'few things I want
to straighten out with him, if we ever get out of here alive, and
I don't want him dead when I do it, either."

"All right. Look out! Here they come! They must want this place
mighty bad to keep this up."

Only fifteen men answered Seguis's yell this time, and they did
not seem over enthusiastic. But they swept down the little hill
swiftly, scattered wide apart.

"Shoot slow and sure," warned Donald, and a moment later one and
another of the attackers began to drop or waver in their tracks.
But they came on.

Seguis threw up his arms, and stopped short. Then, he recovered
himself, and fought his way onward.

Inside the barricade, Timmins rolled over with a little sigh, and
lay still. The logs, chipped and torn by many bullets, were now
like a sieve, and one after another of th