hat were sent
outside of the fort to fight the Indians were either killed, or kept
from going back. The women and the children of the village which stood
near had all gone into the fort for safety.

When at last the fiercest attack of the Indians was made, there were
only twelve men and boys left inside of the fort. These men and boys
had made up their minds to do their best to save the lives of the women
and children who were with them. Every man and every boy in the fort
knew how to shoot a rifle. They had guns enough, but they had very
little powder. So they fired only when they were sure of hitting one of
the enemy.

The Indians kept shooting all the time. Some of them crept near to the
blockhouse, and tried to shoot through the cracks, but the bullets of
the men inside brought down these brave warriors.

After many hours of fighting, the Indians went off a little way to
rest. The white men had now used nearly all their gunpowder. They began
to wish for a keg of powder that had been left in one of the houses
outside. They knew that whoever should go for this would be seen and
fired at by the Indians. He would have to run to the house and back
again. The colonel called his men together, and told them he did not
wish to order any man to do so dangerous a thing as to get the powder,
but he said he should like to have some one offer to go for it.

Three or four young men offered to go. The colonel told them he could
not spare more than one of them. They must settle among themselves
which one should go. But each one of the brave fellows wanted to go,
and none of them was willing to give up to another. Then there stepped
forward a young woman named Elizabeth Zane.

"Let me go for the powder," she said.

The brave men were surprised. It would be a desperate thing for a man
to go. Nobody had dreamed that a woman would venture to do such a
thing, nor would any of them agree to let a young woman go into danger.

[Illustration: Elizabeth Zane's Return.]

The colonel said, "No," her friends begged her not to run the risk.
They told her, besides, that any one of the young men could run faster
than she could.

But Elizabeth said, "You cannot spare a single man. There are not
enough men in the fort now. If I am killed, you will be as strong to
fight as before. Let the young men stay where they are needed, and let
me go for the powder."

She had made up her mind, and nobody could persuade her not to go. So
the gate of