Indians again attacked, and
repulsed them with a deadly fire. As time went on the assaults became
less frequent, and on the third night they finally ceased. The task of
massacring the settlers of Wheeling had, contrary to the Indians'
expectation, been too formidable for them, and therefore they raised
the siege and crept quietly away by night. Their losses had been
great, but during the three days' fighting the casualties of the
defenders were only two men wounded.

NELLIE AMOS, A FRIEND IN NEED

In the tiny cabin of a canal-boat which had but recently started on its
long journey from the Midlands to London, lay a woman seriously ill.
And by her side lay her two days' old baby. Her husband was on deck
steering the boat, but every few minutes he hurried down to see if
there were anything he could do to make his wife comfortable. He could
do but little, however.

Never before had he felt so helpless; never had he experienced so
acutely the isolation of barge-life. The district through which he was
travelling was thinly populated, and to obtain a doctor the bargeman
would have to trudge some miles across country, leaving his wife alone
on the canal. He could not leave her unattended, and consoled himself
with the hope that before long he would meet someone whom he could send
for a doctor. But he was disappointed; he met no one.

At last he arrived at Stoke Bruerne, in Northamptonshire, and, having
tied up his barge, hurried to the post-office--a little general shop
kept by Mrs. Nellie Amos, who was well-known to the canal boatmen. He
told her of his wife's illness, and asked her if she would be good
enough to come to his barge and see if she could discover the nature of
her illness. Without the slightest hesitation Mrs. Amos accompanied
the man to his barge, and found his wife very feverish.

Mrs. Amos could not discover what was the matter with the invalid, but
one thing was very plain to her--the poor woman could not be expected
to get well in her present quarters. The cabin was low-roofed, about
eight feet by six in size, and near the door stood the stove in which
the meals were cooked. In such close quarters the sick woman had
little chance of recovery, and Mrs. Amos did not conceal this fact from
the husband. She told him also that if a doctor would certify that she
could be removed with safety, she would take her to her house and nurse
her and the baby. As soon as the bargeman hurried away t