CHAPTER III.
THE REDSKIN ATTACK.
Mr. Welch was with the men, two or three hundred yards away from thehouse, when the Indians suddenly sprang out and opened fire. One ofthe men fell beside him; the farmer stooped to lift him, but saw thathe was shot through the head. Then he ran with full speed toward thehouse, shouting to the hands to make straight for the gate,disregarding the cattle. Several of these, however, alarmed at thesudden outburst of fire and the yells of the Indians, made of theirown accord for the stables as their master rushed up at full speed.The Indians were but fifty or sixty yards behind when Mr. Welchreached his gate. They had all emptied their pieces, and after thefirst volley no shots had been fired save one by the watchman on thelookout. Then came the crack of Pearson's rifle just as Mr. Welchshut the gate and laid the bar in its place. Several spare guns hadbeen placed in the upper chambers, and three reports rang outtogether, for Mrs. Welch had run upstairs at the first alarm to takeher part in the defense.
In another minute the whole party, now six in all, were gathered inthe upper room.
"Where are Nelly and Harold?" Mr. Welch exclaimed. "I saw the canoeclose to the shore just before the Indians opened fire," the watchmananswered.
"You must have been asleep," Pearson said savagely. "Where were youreyes to let them redskins crawl up through the corn without seeing'em? With such a crowd of 'em the corn must have been a-waving as ifit was blowing a gale. You ought to have a bullet in yer uglycarkidge, instead of its being in yer mate's out there."
While this conversation was going on no one had been idle. Each tookup his station at a loop-hole, and several shots were fired wheneverthe movement of a blade of corn showed the lurking place of anIndian.
The instant the gate had been closed War Eagle had called his menback to shelter, for he saw that all chance of a surprise was nowover, and it was contrary to all redskin strategy to remain for onemoment unnecessarily exposed to the rifles of the whites. The farmerand his wife had rushed at once up into the lookout as the Indiansdrew off and, to their joy, saw the canoe darting away from shore.
"They are safe for the present, thank God!" Mr. Welch said. "It isprovidential indeed that they had not come a little further from theshore when the redskins broke out. Nothing could have saved them, hadthey fairly started for the house."
"What will they do, William?" asked his wife anxiously.
"I cannot tell you, my dear. I do not know what I should do myselfunder the circumstances. However, the boy has got a cool head on hisshoulders, and you need not be anxious for the present. Now let usjoin the others. Our first duty is to take our share in the defenseof the house. The young ones are in the hands of God. We can donothing for them."
"Well?" Pearson asked, looking round from hisloop-hole as the farmer and his wife descended into the room, whichwas a low garret extending over the whole of the house. "Do you seethe canoe?"
"Yes, it has got safely away," William Welch said; "but what the ladwill do now is more than I can say."
Pearson placed his rifle against th