of folly to stay and meet danger which you may by prudence
avoid.'"

In a few days our friends waked up to the conviction that something must
be done at once The first step was to forbid any Winnebago coming within
the garrison, lest they should find out what they had known as well as
ourselves for three months past--namely, the feebleness of the means of
resistance. The next was to send fatigue-parties into the woods, under
the protection of a guard, to cut pickets for inclosing the garrison.

There was every reason to believe that the enemy were not very far
distant, and that their object in coming north was to break a way into
the Chippewa country, where they would find a place of security among
their friends and allies. The story that our Indian runners brought in
most frequently was, that the Sauks were determined to fall upon the
whites at the Portage and Fort, and massacre all, except the families of
the Agent and Interpreter.

Plante and Pillon with their families had departed at the first word of
danger. There only remained with us Manaigre, whose wife was a
half-Winnebago, Isidore Morrin, and the blacksmiths from Sugar
Creek--Mata and Turcotte.

At night we were all regularly armed and our posts assigned us. After
every means had been taken to make the house secure, the orders were
given. Sister Margaret and I, in case of attack, were to mount with the
children to the rooms above, while my husband and his men were to make
good their defence as long as possible against the enemy. Since I had
shown my sportsmanship by bringing down accidentally a blackbird on the
wing, I felt as if I could do some execution with my little pistols,
which were regularly placed beside my pillow at night; and I was fully
resolved to use them, if necessity required. I do not remember to have
felt the slightest compunction at the idea of taking the lives of two
Sauks, as I had no doubt I should do; and this explains to me what I had
before often wondered at, the indifference, namely, of the soldier on
the field of battle to the destruction of human life Had I been called
upon, however, to use my weapons effectually, I should no doubt have
looked back upon it with horror.

Surrounded as we were by Indian lodges, which seldom became perfectly
quiet, and excited as our nerves had become by all that we were daily in
the habit of hearing, we rarely slept very soundly. One night, after we
had as much as possible composed ourselves, we