ton! It was I who caused us to be trapped,
by advising that the prisoners be set free at such an early hour, and I
am the one who shall go into the loft!"

"Because it is a place of greater danger!" I cried, still swarming up
the shaky bars of wood which were nailed across the side of the
building, and when I was come to what was left of the floor above, I
threatened to throw Pierre down if he attempted to join me.

"I have shown the white feather more than once since we have been in
this town of York, and now am I determined to prove whether I be a
coward or no!" I cried shrilly, hardly knowing what I said, for the
imminence of the danger had stirred me into a fever, and once more in my
life did I see a reddish hue before my eyes, while my one desire was to
kill those who counted on speedily overcoming us. "You are needed below,
Pierre, where some execution may be done, and I shall take my stand
here."

Even while speaking could I hear sounds from the rear of the cabin as if
the soldiers were piling up timbers, or something of that sort, to make
their way to the roof, and although it was borne in upon me clearly that
within a few seconds most like I would be struggling hand to hand with
men who had been trained in the art of warfare, yet I set it down as
true that never did there come into my heart the slightest idea of
wavering or of fear. Yet that may not be put to my credit, for, as I
said before, the fever of battle had seized upon me, and I burned to see
the first red-coated scoundrel show himself at the aperture in the roof
that I might send a bullet into his worthless carcass.

Suddenly, and so far as I could judge, before those in the rear had been
able to gain a position on the roof, fire was opened upon us from the
front, and on the instant it was returned by our lads with such spirit
that at once dense clouds of smoke from burning powder came up through
the scuttle, parching my throat, and rendering it difficult for me to
keep my eyes free from the blinding tears of irritation which filled
them.

I was yet saying to myself that the Britishers had not succeeded in
gaining a foothold upon the roof, when suddenly I saw the muzzle of a
musket through the crevices of the logs, where as yet the timbers
remained intact, and immediately came the report of a weapon as a bullet
whistled past my cheek, cutting the lightest furrow in the skin, and
causing the blood to flow as if I had been grievously wounded.

I