nat, will you command the party?"

"Willingly."

"I will take the south face as it seems to be the point of danger.
Du Lhut can take the north, and five men should be enough to watch the
river side."

"Have we food and powder?"

"I have flour and smoked eels enough to see this matter through.
Poor fare, my dear sir, but I daresay you learned in Holland that a cup
of ditch water after a brush may have a better smack than the
blue-sealed Frontiniac which you helped me to finish the other night.
As to powder, we have all our trading stores to draw upon."

"We have not time to clear any of these trees?" asked the soldier.

"Impossible. They would make better shelter down than up."

"But at least I might clear that patch of brushwood round the birch
sapling which lies between the east face and the edge of the forest.
It is good cover for their skirmishers."

"Yes, that should be fired without delay."

"Nay, I think that I might do better," said Amos. "We might bait a trap
for them there. Where is this powder of which you spoke?"

"Theuriet, the major-domo, is giving out powder in the main
store-house."

"Very good." Amos vanished upstairs, and returned with a large linen bag
in his hand. This he filled with powder, and then, slinging it over his
shoulder, he carried it out to the clump of bushes and placed it at the
base of the sapling, cutting a strip out of the bark immediately above
the spot. Then with a few leafy branches and fallen leaves he covered
the powder bag very carefully over so that it looked like a little
hillock of earth. Having arranged all to his satisfaction he returned,
clambering over the stockade, and dropping down upon the other side.

"I think that we are all ready for them now," said the seigneur.
"I would that the women and children were in a safe place, but we may
send them down the river to-night if all goes well. Has anyone heard
anything of Du Lhut?"

"Jean has the best ears of any of us, your excellency," said one man
from beside the brass corner cannon. "He thought that he heard shots a
few minutes ago."

"Then he has come into touch with them. Etienne, take ten men and go to
the withered oak to cover them if they are retreating, but do not go
another yard on any pretext. I am too short-handed already. Perhaps,
De Catinat, you wish to sleep?"

"No, I could not sleep."

"We can do no more down here. What do you say to a round or two of
piquet? A little turn of