rs made a dash at the
gates. He had seen that the men outside were unarmed, and his plan was
to get to the gates before they could reach them, and thus get all the
people of the place at his mercy in an open field and without arms to
fight with.

The fort people were quick to see what his purpose was, and the men
hurried forward with all their might, hoping to reach the fort before
the savages could get there. By running at the top of their speed they
did this, and closed the gates in time to keep the Indians out. But, to
their horror, they then saw that their wives and children were shut out
too. Unable to run so fast as the men had done, the women and children
had fallen behind, and now the Indians were between them and the gates!

Seeing that he had missed his chance of getting possession of the fort,
Francis turned upon the women and children with savage delight in the
thought of butchering these helpless creatures in the sight of their
husbands, fathers, and brothers.

It was a moment of terror. There were not half enough white men in the
fort to master so large a force of Indians, and if there had been it was
easy to see that by the time they could get their rifles and go to the
rescue it would be too late.

At that moment the hero of this bit of history came upon the scene. This
was a young man named Isaac Haden. He was a notable huntsman, who kept
a famous pack of hounds--fierce brutes, thoroughly trained to run down
and seize any live thing that their master chose to chase. This young
man had been out in search of stray cattle, and just at the moment when
matters were at their worst he rode up to the fort, followed by his
sixty dogs.

Isaac Haden had a cool head and a very daring spirit. He was in the
habit of taking in a situation at a glance, deciding quickly what was to
be done, and then doing it at any risk that might be necessary. As soon
as he saw how the women and children were placed, he cried out to his
dogs, and, at the head of the bellowing pack, charged upon the flank of
the Indians. The dogs did their work with a spirit equal to their
master's. For each to seize a red warrior and drag him to earth was the
work of a moment, and the whole body of savages was soon in confusion.
For a time they had all they could do to defend themselves against the
unlooked-for assault of the fierce animals, and before they could beat
off the dogs the men of the fort came out and joined in the attack, so
that the