St. Mary's beacon., 1861-04-18

house. through which The old gentleman
tt'ok- AZ observation of the premises within
the enclosure. From what be could observe,
hr was satisfied that Indians were lurking
about, and. ~ war existed between the
whites and sayages. of course their inten-
titns we're not Of friendly ehsrscter.
Whes he returned TO the room below
stsirs. he assisted IN xpfepasiqg. tbs sssss
sud distributing the .murunitien. There
were 6rearms enough for all. except the
old lady. and. for better security. she was
placed in enc end of the room A screen
Was made TO shut of the light from the
Gre. BY suspending before it two or three
b:d quilts.
AL the necessary preparations having
.. been completed. the family waited. in per.
feet silence. the result Of their suspicious
II was perhaps midnight. when shere was
. slight rustling outside Of the door, and.
BY closely observing and listening. a voice
could be heard. The old man ordered
three Of the party up stairs to are upon
; the savages who might be in the yard
while he would defend the door. The
command was put in the hands Of Risler.
who. OH looking out. saw. by the faint
light the moon cast through the clouds. a
body Of Indians, just inside the palisade
They werc standing. perfectly quiet. watch
near the door.
Take the three Indians to the right" !"
said Risler. II will take the FIRST on.
Harry the second, and Nancy the third" 4"
Noisclcssly they placed their weapons
in the port holes, and a, the same Instant
the arms belched forth fire, and three In
dians fell dead on the spot. The Indians
seemed stricken with panic. anu prccip-
itately fed, but moment after returned
and attacked the house furiously. Their
principal point of attack was at the door.
which the old man wax defending. While
they we're battering at is. sh. old lady put
kettle Of water over the Gre. and in u
few minutes had it boiling She then as
eeaded the stairs. and -oftly raising small
window directly over the savages. she
threw the whsle conteuts over them. With
loud huwls they fed. and ss they retreat
ed the party up stairs gave thern a valley.
aud two or three were either killed Or
wounded
For about half an hour there was 8 per
fec. silence no trace Of NIL Indian could
be sc:n.
y reckon they're gone" said the old
lady in Il whisper to her husband.
Not ,hey--wc'll hear from them di-
rectly :" and he had scarcely made the re-
ply, when q rife shst from on. of the par
y ur stairs announced the temperance
Of the savag"s.
go into the kitchen Hannah" said
the old man: Il believe they are at the
back door"
The old lady hastened to obey orders.
aud watched the door closely as the In
dams battered away at it. There was a
party nf savagcs at the front door. which
the old man was guarding with the utmost
care. Those up stairs were ordered down.
! ss"i the whole force were then mustered
bei"w stairs. The son and the mother
we're guarding the back door. at which the
ssvagcs were eagerly at work. AT length
it yielded to their efforts. aud fell iu.-
The son shot the 6rst Indian, whilo the
mother, with an axe, attacked the, second
one. and drove him back. The huw!iug
Of the ssvages brought those from the
front door to the rescue, and the whole
force was now assembled 1t that point
The old lady received . serious wound,
and Was borne away BY her son. The
old man, Rislcr and Nancy. now Joined
in the fight. by giving the ssvages VOL
ley which was returned. wounding Risler
and the elder Spellman; but thsy contin-
ued the fight, and as the s~vsges Acd. pur
sued them to the ysrd. Sp-llman rcc-iv-
ed q second wound. which disabled him,
and he erswled into the house.
The remaining three fought With dss-
peratiou, and drove the ssvages step by
step beyond the palisades Nancy and her
brother stopped !" repair the breach. while
Risler made 3 circuit Of he place, to see
q it was thoroughly cleared Of the enemy.
Az he came near the precipice sn Indian
sprung frem the darkness upon him. and
then oommenced a struggle for life. The
Indian had no weapon. but cndeavored to
drag Risler over the precipice. The lat
tet WAS CuupuiICu to otoP uto sthcs Ah>s
was therefore on equal footing with his
savage fac.
For few moments they would dangle
over the edge Of the precipice, when Ris-
| ler. getting little Of the advantage. would
force his antagonis, back. His only hope
was to choke the savage; and to this pur-
poss he put out his whole strength. But
the savage Was thc strongest man., and
Rislsr las somewhat weakened BY the
loss Of blood.
The struggle had continued for several
nsiRutes. when Risler felt . peculiar tight
ness about the throat The Indian had
planted his 6ngcrs tightly in the neck If
kisler. aud was choaking him to death. He
was dragging his helriess vicsim toward
the preeipice. when tie but Of gun came
~biising down upoD bir hesd. and. with
Q coBvulsivs skudder. he tusnbled over IA
receive dcsah blow ffom the bands al
Nauey. She hsd fought bravsly. eoprsSs-