mself and the chiefs were afraid of her.

Henry, despite himself, despite all his experience and powers of
self-control, shuddered from head to foot at the cries that came from
the lost field, and he was sure that the others were doing the same. The
sun was setting, but its dying light, brilliant and intense, tinged the
field as if with blood, showing all the yelling horde as the warriors
rushed about for scalps, or danced in triumph, whirling their hideous
trophies about their heads. Others were firing at men who were escaping
to the far bank of the Susquehanna, and others were already seeking the
fugitives in their vain hiding places on the little islet.

The five moved farther into the forest, retreating slowly, and sending
in a shot now and then to protect the retreat of some fugitive who was
seeking the shelter of the woods. The retreat had become a rout and then
a massacre. The savages raged up and down in the greatest killing they
had known since Braddock's defeat. The lodges of the Iroquois would be
full of the scalps of white men.

All the five felt the full horror of the scene, but it made its deepest
impress, perhaps, upon Paul. He had taken part in border battles before,
but this was the first great defeat. He was not blind to the valor and
good qualities of the Indian and his claim upon the wilderness, but he
saw the incredible cruelties that he could commit, and he felt a horror
of those who used him as an ally, a horror that he could never dismiss
from his mind as long as he lived.

"Look!" he exclaimed, "look at that!"

A man of seventy and a boy of fourteen were running for the forest. They
might have been grandfather and grandson. Undoubtedly they had fought
in the Battalion of the Very Old and the Very Young, and now, when
everything else was lost, they were seeking to save their lives in the
friendly shelter of the woods. But they were pursued by two groups of
Iroquois, four warriors in one, and three in the other, and the Indians
were gaining fast.

"I reckon we ought to save them," said Shif'less Sol.

"No doubt of it," said Henry. "Paul, you and Sol move off to the right
a little, and take the three, while the rest of us will look out for the
four."

The little band separated according to the directions, Paul and Sol
having the lighter task, as the others were to meet the group of four
Indians at closer range. Paul and Sol were behind some trees, and,
turning at an angle, they ran forward