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Page 29
"A small stock of ammunition, this, I guess, to stand a
long siege on an empty belly," drawled forth Cass.
"Just like you--always croakin'," sneered Green, "and
always thinking of your belly. Why man, you've more
ammunition there, I take it, than ever you'll fire away
in your life."
"And if we haven't enough," said the corporal, going to,
and taking down and shaking a powder horn, which hung
suspended from the wall, that had evidently been overlooked
by the Indians, "here are a dozen more charges at least,
and the balls of the cartridges have not, I take it, lost
their power to drill a hole into a fellow because they've
been considerably well ducked. But hark! what noise is
that--listen!"
A low, grating sound, as of some heavy body rubbing
against the ground, was now audible at short intervals,
to seemed to proceed from the southern gable--but not a
voice was heard. From the moment when they had uttered
their cry of disappointment, on finding the back entrance
secured, the Indians had preserved the utmost silence.
Suddenly a yell, pealed from the direction of the river,
caused them for the first time to revert to the exposed
position of the unfortunate Collins.
"Poor fellow," said Green, dashing away a tear. "I wish
he was with us. Somehow or other, I feel as if we should
all have a better chance in a fight, were that lad in
the middle of it."
"We shall never see him more!" gravely observed the
Virginian; "That shot fired just after he warned us, did
his business, depend upon it, and if that one didn't, it
is not likely the blood-hounds would let him off after
robbing them of their prey: no, no, poor Collins has lost
his life in saving us."
Again the yell was repeated, and from the same quarter.
The corporal sprang to the ladder which communicated with
the loft, and having placed it under the window on the
front, hastily ascended and looked out, for no one had
hitherto thought of closing an opening, from which no
danger was, seemingly, to be apprehended.
The darkness which had been so excessive at the moment
of their entrance, had greatly diminished--so much so,
that he could trace the forms of two or three of the
warriors who were stooping low, apparently engaged with
some object lying on the very bank of the river.
"Scalping and mutilating the poor fellow, no doubt," he
muttered fiercely to himself, "but here goes to revenge
him!"
Forgetting his usual prudence, he, in the strong excitement
of the moment, drew up the butt of his musket to his
shoulder, and as well as his cramped position would
permit, covered one of the savages, but while in the very
act of pulling the trigger, they all fell prostrate, and
the bullet whizzed harmlessly over them. In the next
instant a ball, aimed at himself, and fired from another
quarter, passed through the window, grazing the shoulder
slightly bitten by Loup Garou, and lodged in the opposite
logs of the room. A third loud yell followed as the
corporal drew in his head and disappeared from the window.
The Indians evidently thought he had been hit, and thus
gave utterance to their triumph.
"There's that grating sound again," remarked Weston.
All now listened, and heard much more distinctly than
before the peculiar sound. Then followed a scratching
and bumping of something heavy against the end of the
house.
"I have it," said the Virginian. "They've dragged the
ladder from the barn, and are trying to fix it under the
bedroom window. Cass, do you and Philips go in and see
what they're doing. But close the door after you that
they may not pick you off by the light."
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