enry, an' then thar ain't so much
chance to git mixed up with them that's lookin' fur you here."

"I'll remember what you say, Sol," replied Paul earnestly, as he girded
his spirit for action. He knew that the attack would come very soon, as
the Indians would choose the darkest period before the moon rose. Nor was
he wrong. The battle in the night began only a half hour later.

Paul first saw a pink point appear in the darkness, but he knew that it
was the flame from a rifle shot. It came from a place not far away, to
which some Shawnee had crawled; but the hunters paid no attention to it,
nor to a second, nor to a third, as all the bullets flew wild. Paul,
forgetting for the moment that those bullets were sent to kill, became
engrossed in the spectacle of the fireworks. He was always wondering where
the next spurt of blue or pink flame would break through the darkness,
and the popping of the shots formed a not unpleasant sound in the night.

"Comin' closer, comin' closer, Paul!" whispered Shif'less Sol. "One o'
them bullets flyin' in the dark may hit somethin' putty soon."

Sol was a prophet. A hunter not far away uttered a low cry. He was struck
in the shoulder, but after the single cry he was silent. Henry was the
first to see one of the creeping brown bodies and fired, and after that
the shots on either side increased fast. It was all confused and terrible
to Paul. The darkness, instead of thinning to accustomed eyes, seemed to
him to grow heavier. The pin points of light from the rifle fire
multiplied themselves into hundreds, and the front of the foe shifted
about, as if they were trying to curve around the defenders.

Paul could not definitely say that he saw a single savage, but he fired
now and then at the flashes of light, and also tried to obey Sol's
injunction about sticking close to him and Henry. But he was not always
sure that the figures near him were theirs, the darkness remaining so
intense. He heard occasional low cries, the light impact of bullets, and
the shuffling sound of feet, but he was fast losing any ordered view of
the battle. He knew now that the savages were very close, that the combat
was almost hand to hand, but he knew little else. The night enclosed all
the furious border conflict, and hid the loss or gain of either side from
all but the keenest eyes.

Paul could never tell how long this lasted, but he felt confident that the
area of conflict was shifting. Having first faced one sid