the fort was opened just wide enough for her to get out.
Her friends gave her up to die.

Some of the Indians saw the gate open, and saw the young woman running
to the house, but they did not shoot at her. They probably thought that
they would not waste a bullet on a woman. They could make her a
prisoner at any time.

She did not try to carry the powder keg, but she took the powder in a
girl's way. She filled her apron with it. When she came out of the
house with her apron full of powder, and started to run back to the
fort, the Indians fired at her. It happened that all of their bullets
missed her. The gate was opened again, and she got safely into the
fort. The men were glad that they had powder enough, and they all felt
braver than ever, after they had seen what a girl could do.

The Indians had seen the gate opened to let her out and to let her in
again. They thought they could force the gate open; but they could not
go and push against it, because the men in the blockhouse would shoot
them if they did. So they made a wooden cannon. They got a hollow log
and stopped up one end of it. Then they went to the blacksmith's shop
in the little village and got some chains. They tied these chains round
the log to hold it together. They had no cannon balls, so, after
putting gunpowder into the log, they put in stones and bits of iron.
After dark that evening they dragged this wooden cannon up near to the
gate. When all was ready, they touched off their cannon. The log cannon
burst into pieces, and killed some of the Indians, but did not hurt the
fort.

The next day white men came from other places to help the men in the
fort. They got into the fort, and after a few more attacks the Indians
gave up the battle and went away.

Whenever the story of the brave fight at Fort Henry is told, people do
not forget that the bravest one in it was the girl that brought her
apron full of gunpowder to the men in the fort.

THE RIVER PIRATES.

A hundred years ago the country near the great rivers in the interior
of the United States was a wilderness. It contained only a few people,
and these lived in settlements which were widely separated from one
another. Hardly any of the great trees had been cut down.

There were no roads, except Indian trails through the woods. Nearly all
travelers had to follow the rivers. Steamboats had not yet been
invented. Travelers made journeys on flatboats, keel boats, and barges.
It was easy e