The Rising of the Red Man | Page 9

so as to smash in the door. Come this way, all of you. Two on either side. That is right. Fire into them as they charge!"

CHAPTER IV
HARD PRESSED
The half-breeds and Indians, keen and determined as they were to effect an entrance to the house at any costs, were not without considerable foresight and strategy. But their feint failed, and when they did make a rush with their ram two or three of them were picked off. The survivors dropped the ram, and made a dash across the open for the stable.
Pasmore telling the others to remain at their loopholes, went to a room at the end of the long passage, Dorothy following him.
The rebels must have applied a match to some of the inflammable matter, for in another instant the growing, hissing roar of fire was audible.
"It will spread to the house in a few minutes more," remarked the sergeant, quietly, "and I'm afraid that will be the end of it."
But he had already seized an axe and was opening the door.
"Shut the door after me and go to your father," he exclaimed. "I'll cut down the slabs that connect it with the house. Child-of-Light may come up yet. Good-bye--in case of accidents."
She caught him by the arm and looked into his face.
"You can't do that--you must not do that! You are sure to be shot down."
"And I may be shot if I don't." Forcibly, but with what gentleness the action permitted, he disengaged her firm white hand.
"You can't use an axe with that arm," she pleaded, all her old reserve vanishing.
"I can at a pinch," he replied. "It is good of you to trouble about me."
He slipped out and pulled the door behind him. The look he had seen in her eyes had come as a revelation and given him courage.
She stood for a moment speechless and motionless, with a strained, set expression on her face. It was old Rory who aroused her to the gravity of the situation. He came running along the passage.
"Come hyar, honey, and into the cellar wid ye," he cried. "There's more of the inimy comin' along the trail, but there's still a chanct. Nivir say die, sez I."
As if roused from some horrible dream her feverish energy and readiness of resource returned to her.
"Come into the next room," she cried to Rory; "we can see the oil-house from the window. He is out there pulling down the stockade and we can keep them back from him. Quick, Rory!"
Like one possessed she made for the first door on the left of the passage.
Along the trail came the new lot of half-breeds and Indians to the assistance of their fellows, or, perhaps it would be more correct to say, to see to it that they did not miss their full share of the plunder. Roused to fresh efforts by the sight of the others, those on the spot fairly riddled the doors and windows of the house. The bullets were whizzing into the kitchen in every direction, splintering the furniture and sending the plaster flying from the walls until the room was filled with a fine, blinding, choking dust. It was impossible to hold out much longer. The final rush was sure to come in a very few minutes--and all would be over.
Pasmore had cut off the house from the burning shed by hewing down the connecting wall, while Dorothy Douglas and Rory, by firing from a side window, had kept the enemy from approaching; After what seemed an age, Pasmore rejoined them.
There was a pause in the firing, then a hoarse murmur of excited voices came from the sheds. It rose like a sudden storm on the Lake of the Winds. There was a wild volley and a rush of feet. A dark body smashed in the casement and tried to follow it, but Rory's long knife gleamed in the air, and the intruder fell back in his death agony. Rory seldom wasted powder and shot at close quarters. The sergeant looked at the girl strangely.
"Come with me to your father," he said hoarsely.
"Is it the end?" she asked.
"I fear it is," he replied; "but we'll fight to the finish."
He opened the door and led the way out.
"I must go to the others," he continued. "Rory can guard this end of the house. Will you come with me?"
"Yes, and remember your promise--I am not afraid."
"I am," he admitted, "but not of them."
They reached the kitchen, but he would not let her enter.
"Stay where you are for a moment," he commanded firmly.
He found Douglas and Jacques still holding the doorway, though the door itself, and the table which had been placed against it, were badly wrecked. A breed had actually forced his body through a great rent when they had rushed, but Jacques had tapped