Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1850-04-09

r aperture. the group Of sayages, who had been
n engaged in stripping the body Of her husband
A and hacking it with their knives and ioma.
hawks, orcned on the nigh, aud lch, and !
E brawny fellow in the traPPings Of chief ad.
vanccd two or three steps and shook the
! bloody scalp Of the victim dcrisVely shove
: his head while the whole party joined in IN
! Internal veil Of scorn and cxul,ation.
MY husbands rifle r'she shouted, spring.
ING to her feet, and rushing across the cabin
she tore the weapon and accou,rements from
the wall. But on trying the piece with the
ramtod, il proved to be unloaded. She ,hus,
her hand into the pouch but 1t contained nothing
except muskc, bullets, which her husband had
purchased =, Frankfor, few days before, in.
tending TO run them into balls suitable cor his
rife. The powdcr.hom was full but Of
what use was powder withou, ball' Drop
ing the weapon she wrgrg her bands in dcs-
PAIR. Sudlcnly thought struck her she
seized one ofihc bullets, placed j, between
her teeth. anl by a tremendous eHcr,ion, bt
1t IN two DlShing a charge ofPowdcr into
the barrel, she rammcd down enc Of
the fragm,ats, primci and cooked tho
the piece, and 4, the next momcn, Its
muzllc, prolrudIng through the aperture, GOV.
cred the body of the chief now advancing a,
head Of his party toward the house. The
quick eve Oft the savage caugh, the gllmmer
or the rifle sight as the sunshine fell upon it,
and he stopped, bu, before he had time To
make 4 rush for cover, Miriam, finger press
cd the trigger When the puff Of smoke
from the discharge cleared away, saw him
rcclinr backward, aud clutchiug 4, the air In
4 vain effort 10 recover himself Before ihc
other Indians, who seemed paralyzcd by the
unexpected catastrophe, could afford him any
assistance, he threw his hands wildly aborr
ms head, and whirlinC quickly round, fcll up
on his face. 4 shout Of triumph burS, from
III, lips Of Miriam a, she saw the clcc, Of the
avcuging shot. aud then Withdrawing from
the loop.holc she commenced Tc.charging the
rife. q.
I The sayagcs remained mo,ionlcss ior a few
seconds, Irln.dNci with as,onishmcn,, and
then lifting the BODY OF the chief, withdrew
hastily to 4 more respectful distance from the
cabin and It's inmate, half believed tha, their
peril was over They were soon undccci,cd
Afcr getting ou, Of ruusho, the savage
clustered together, and appeared ior several
minutes to b. 10 close conversation. At the
expiration of their pow.wow, having apPar
emily agreed upon their plan Of action, the
whole game took open order and dashed with
Wild wells, a, full speed, toward, the dwelling
As the foremost came up, Miriam Cook, who
uas now stationed at another loop hole, again
Discharged her rro, and ,h- uDlucLy Nyan
dot, shu, through both legs, dropped ~ his
tracks with an involuntary shrek Of agony
The other eleven ksp, on, and reaching the
cabin SIX of them clambcrcd on the root,
while the other five commenced firing a, the
doors and opcniags 10 tie logs, Those ON The
oofouickly kudlcd Ere on the Single,
which were soon IN a light blaze. The Dc.
,,ruc,ion Of the cabin and lls inmates no"
seemed inevitable. Bu, the brave garrison
did not despair There was 4 ho-shcad half
fllcd with water IN the house, and Miriam
bucLc, 10 hand, mounted 10 the loft. Hope
and Alice Supplied her ~llh water from be-
low, and as long as 1t lasted she c0utr,'ed to
cN,inru.sh the flames a, last as they broke
but. while she herself, cuyclopcd and almost
suGoca,cd by steam and smokc, Vas invisible
,o the ASSISTANTS. Al length the water was
exhausted, ana one of the Indians observing
that the efforts Of the bcsclgcd were slackCu-
ING. ycn,urcd to poke hls head through one OF
the holes that had been made 10 see how ,hc
hBJ Law The undauntcd Miriam was stand
.in at the moment vlhin irw Zee, oC the open
inr. and. aud the ius,au, shc saw the fac Of
the Indian she whirlcd the empty bucket
around ncr haad, aud hlrling It with the full
swing other powerful arm, struck him d.
rcc,lv IN the forehead with the sharp edge OF
the slaves. She heard the bones crash and
the victim ,roan. \ momcn, afterwards he
was drawn away By hrs companions, three Of
whom then descended bearing him in their
arms
Miriam now though, She heard the two
who remained upon the rod ,rartng down the
upper logs Of the chimney, and Prcsuming
tina, they intended to attsmp, an entrance tia,
way. she ran down stairs toprcPare for them.
"Thc feather bed tic feather bcd'' she
shouted as she reached the lower room; and
this much prizcd article in the lrOurersman's
inventory Of household chatIlcs was quickly
dragged forth and thrust sans ceremony into
the huge fireplace. BY this time one OF the
Indians was fairly in the chimney and the
other about to follow.
"Thrus, the lighted brands into II, quick"
, said Alice, and the mex, moment clouds Of
sitting smoke from the burning feathers were
ascending the chimney. The savage made
an effort to scramble up again, Bat, the pun
gent infIluya Of the feathers oyercame him,
and he fell heavily on the hear,h.,one. In
the meantime Miriam had again grasPcd the
, rifle and held IT clubbed ready for his rcccp-
tion. Scarcely had he touched tie floor,
when the iron-bound point ofthe breech crash
ed through hi. skull. The other Indian, who
had caught Whit Of the raPor In time to
, ayoda like fate preciPitately descended from
the roof
1 -Four Of the thirteen Indians were now