non to be fired, to warn them of danger.

They were at the time about two miles above Lee's Place. Hearing the
signal, they took the hint, put out their torches (for it was now
night), and dropped down the river towards the garrison, as silently as
possible. It will be remembered that the unsettled state of the country
since the battle of Tippecanoe, the preceding November, had rendered
every man vigilant, and the slightest alarm was an admonition to "beware
of the Indians."

When the fishing-party reached Lee's Place, it was proposed to stop and
warn the inmates to be upon their guard, as the signal from the fort
indicated danger of some kind. All was still as death around the house.
They groped their way along, and as the corporal jumped over the small
enclosure he placed his hand upon the dead body of a man. By the sense
of touch he soon ascertained that the head was without a scalp, and
otherwise mutilated. The faithful dog of the murdered man stood guarding
the lifeless remains of his master.

The tale was now told. The men retreated to their canoes, and reached
the fort unmolested about eleven o'clock at night. The next morning a
party of the citizens and soldiers volunteered to go to Lee's Place, to
learn further the fate of its occupants. The body of Mr. White was found
pierced by two balls, and with eleven stabs in the breast. The
Frenchman, as already described, lay dead, with his dog still beside
him. Their bodies were brought to the fort and buried in its immediate
vicinity.

It was subsequently ascertained, from traders out in the Indian country,
that the perpetrators of this bloody deed were a party of Winnebagoes,
who had come into this neighborhood to "take some white scalps." Their
plan had been, to proceed down the river from Lee's Place, and kill
every white man without the walls of the fort. Hearing, however, the
report of the cannon, and not knowing what it portended, they thought it
best to remain satisfied with this one exploit, and forthwith retreated
to their homes on Rock River.

The inhabitants outside the fort, consisting of a few discharged
soldiers and some families of half-breeds, now intrenched themselves in
the Agency House. This stood west of the fort, between the pickets and
the river, and distant about twenty rods from the former.

It was an old-fashioned log building, with a hall running through the
centre, and one large room on each side. Piazzas extended the whole
length of