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Page 33
Regardless of this and having secured his own footing,
he now moved cautiously towards the opposite end of the
loft, where a small opening, about two feet in length,
and one in height, seemingly intended as a ventilator,
appeared nearly vertical to the window of the bed-room
below. Casting his glance downwards through the opening,
he beheld five or six savages standing grouped together,
leaning on their guns, and apparently watching some object
above them. This, naturally, drew the corporal's attention
to the same quarter, when to his dismay he found that
the long ladder usually kept at the barn was now resting
against the gable of the house, not three feet from the
right corner of the aperture, through which he gazed. In
an instant it occurred to him that this had been the work
of the Indians, and at once accounted for the grating
sounds that had so often met his ears that night. There
could be no doubt that the plan of the enemy now was to
enter the roof, which could be done by removing part of
the raw buffalo hides of which it was composed. Indeed
it was a slight noise made in the direction of that very
angle of the roof where the ladder now stood, that had
caught his attention on first putting his head through
the aperture while preceding his men. This had suddenly
ceased at the moment when the ladder broke and fell, nor
had there been a repetition of the sound. Still, satisfied
that some discovery of the true designs of the Indians
would result from his remaining a little longer, he
continued at the opening, which was too small to betray
his presence if using precaution, while it enabled him
to observe the movements of the enemy. Soon afterwards
he heard them speaking in earnest but low tones, as if
addressing somebody above them, and then a prolonged
yell, which was answered by others from the front of the
house, echoed through the surrounding forests. Even amid
the horrid discord, the quick ear of the Virginian, now
painfully on the stretch, caught the same sound that had
first attracted his attention. It was exactly at the
angle of the roof, and only a pace or two from him. The
peculiar noise was not to be mistaken even by an unpractised
ear. It was, evidently, that of a knife, not very sharp,
cautiously cutting through a tough and resisting leather.
The corporal became now more anxious than ever, but this
feeling did not in the slightest degree, disturb his
self-possession, or cause him to waver in the resolution
he had from the first adopted. He waited patiently, until,
as he expected, he heard a corner of one of the buffalo
hides turned up, and beheld reflected, against the
back-ground of light, thus suddenly introduced, the upper
part of a human being, whose shorn head, covered on the
crown with straight and slightly streaming feathers, too
plainly indicated his purpose. What a target for the
bullet--what an object for the bayonet of the soldier,
who, had not prudence and coolness interposed, had
certainly used one or the other. But the Virginian had
hit upon another, and as he conceived, a better plan to
get rid of his enemy, and in his fate, of further probable
annoyance from his ferocious companions. It was not his
object to let himself be seen, or that the Indians should
even suspect that they had been detected in this new
device, for he was well aware that if he fired, or used
his bayonet against the man, those below would rush up
the ladder to succeed him, and by their weight prevent
the accomplishment of what he had in view; therefore cut
off as he in a measure was, from his party, it was
incumbent on him to adopt the only sure means of relief
from danger, and that without a moment of delay.
While the Indian, who finding, evidently, that the orifice
he had made in the roof was not yet large enough for his
purpose, had dropped the incised portion of the hide,
and was again using his knife; the Virginian, stooping
slightly at the off-side of the window, ascertained that
the feet of the former were resting on one of the upper
steps of the ladder. This was what he desired, and all
he now wanted was a hard, flat substance to fasten on
the point of his bayonet. After reflecting vainly for a
few moments how this was to be attained, he suddenly
bethought him of his thick-soled ammunition-boots. Removing
one of these without noise, he pierced the inner leather,
by pressing it firmly against the point of the bayonet,
so as to secure without allowing it to pass through.
Then, cautiously protruding his musket from the opening,
he slowly advanced it, until the sole of the boot touched
the frame of the ladder, not two feet under the round on
which the Indian stood. Here for a moment he allowed the
barrel, concealed by the low depending eaves, to rest
against the jamb of the aperture. His anxiety was now
worked up to the highest possible pitch, for he feared,
notwithstanding his success so far, that something might
yet occur to defeat his purpose, and thus peril not only
his own life, but the lives of the whole of the party
below. Three minutes he remained in this trying position
of uncertainty, which seemed to him as so many hours.
Presently, however, the Indian on the roof, having
evidently accomplished his task, and believing from the
silence that had for some time pervaded around, that no
one was near him, spoke in a low tone to his companions,
who now cautiously crept towards the ladder.
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