' approach was soon followed by the
savages themselves, who, brandishing their tomahawks and waving their
scalping-knives, instantly demanded the surrender of the white men.
The reply they received was a volley fired at the standard which they
bore aloft. With a terrible war-whoop the Indians rushed to the
assault, but the men in the fort and in the house were good shots, and
it was rarely that one of them missed his mark. Happily, there was a
good stock of arms in both strongholds, and taking advantage of this,
the women loaded the muskets and handed them to the men, who were thus
enabled to fire quickly and were spared the fatigue of loading.

Again and again the Indians attacked the house and the fort, but on
every occasion they were driven back. When darkness came on the
attacks ceased, but the white men did not grow less vigilant, for they
were confident that before daybreak the savages would make an attempt
to surprise them. And this proved to be the case. In the dead of
night one of the defenders espied an Indian crawling towards the house.
He watched him until he rose to his feet and kindling a torch that he
carried, attempted to set fire to the building. Then the watcher
fired, and the Indian dropping his torch fled, wounded.

At daybreak it was seen that the Indians were still surrounding the
fort and the house, and that they were evidently unusually excited.
Could they have captured any of the defenders? Enquiries shouted from
the fort to the house elicited the assurance that no one was missing.

Suddenly there was a tremendous explosion at the spot when the Indians
were thickest, and the surprised white men could see that several of
the enemy had been killed and many injured. The explosion was caused
in this way: On the preceding evening, after the firing had ceased,
some of the Indians surprised a boat ascending the river with cannon
balls for the fort. The boatman escaped, but the cannon balls fell
into the hands of the Indians, who believed that all they now wanted to
demolish the house and fort was a cannon. Therefore they decided to
make one. They procured a log of wood, bound it tightly with chains,
and then made a hole in it large enough to admit the ball. Then they
charged it heavily, and when it was pointed towards the fort the match
was applied. Instantly the cannon burst, killing many of the men who
stood near and injuring others.

This accident did not, as one might suppose, dishe