e've cut their line," said Boone, "an' we must keep it cut. I've sent
a messenger to tell Colonel Clark that we've taken the place, an' since
we've broke their front they'll be mighty good men, Indians and
renegades, if they're ever able to join it together again."

The warriors returned in great force to the attack. They appreciated the
value of the position, but the sharpshooters fired from the shelter of
the logs.

The five, following their long custom, kept close together, and when
they threw themselves down behind the logs they took a rapid accounting.
Paul was the only one who had escaped unhurt. A tomahawk, thrown at
short range, had struck Henry on the side of the head, but only with the
flat of the blade. His fur cap and thick hair saved him, but the force
of the blow had made him reel for a minute, and a whole constellation of
stars had danced before his eyes. Now his head still rung a little, but
the pain was passing, and all his faculties were perfectly clear and
keen. A bullet had nicked Tom Ross's wrist, but, cutting a piece of
buckskin from his shirt, he tied it up well and gave it no further
attention. Jim Hart and Shif'less Sol had received new scratches, but
they were not advertising them.

They lay panting for a few minutes among the fallen trees, and all
around them they heard the low words of the gallant hundred; though
there were not really a hundred now. Boone was so near that Henry could
see the outline of the great forest-fighter's figure.

"Well, we succeeded, did we not, Colonel Boone?" he said, giving him a
title that had been conferred upon him a year or two before.

"We have so far," replied Boone, guardedly, "and this is a strong
position. We couldn't have taken it if we hadn't been helped by
surprise. I believe they'll make an effort to drive us out of this
place. Timmendiquas and Girty know the need of it. Come with me, Mr.
Ware, and see that all our men are ready."

Henry, very proud to serve as the lieutenant of such a man, rose from
his log and the two went among the men. Everyone was ready with loaded
weapons. Many had wounds, but they had tied them up, and, rejoicing now
in their log fortifications, they waited with impatience the Indian
onset. Henry returned to his place. A red flare of lightning showed his
eager comrades all about him, their tanned faces, set and lean, every
man watching the forest. But after the lightning, the night, heavy with
clouds, swept down again, and