Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-10-07

dance of food.
Captain Philip, with the rest of the
Indians. was creeping stealthily through
the woods toward ohm Kilburn's house.
Mr.. kilburn and his son John, Mr..
Pike and his son, were out in the field
| reaping wheat, their guns close at hand.
Mr.. Kilburn had trained his dog to
scour the woods, and the faithful ami
NAL ever had his eyes and ears open,
and was shifting the wind If wolf or
bear was about. On this afternoon in
August the dog came running in with
his hair in ruff, and growing.
/" Indians" said MIR. Kilburn. The
men and boys seized their guns, ran for
the house, and had just time to get in
side and bar the door when Captain
Philip and nearly two hundred Indians
made their appearance.
The Indians staid q. a safe distance,
and so did Captain Philip, though he
came near enough to talk.
"Come out, old joint come out,
young John! / give you good quarter"
he shouted.
There were only the two men, the
two boys, Mrs. Kilburn and her daugh-
ter and four children, in the house, with
three hundred Indians attacking them,
but John Klburn was not in the least
frightened-not he. Neither was Mrs.
kilburn. nor her son or daughter. They
had several extra guns; Mrs. Kilburn
and her daughter knew how to load
them. They would rather die than be
taken prisoners. The Indians had no
cannon, and their bullets would not 90
through the stout timbers. Only BY
burning the house would they be able
to get in.
"Get you gone, you rascal, or I'll
quarter your was the defiant answer
that John Kilburn shouted through one
of the loop-holes to Captain Philip, as
the latter went back to the dark crowd
of savages, who set up the war-whoop.
"They yell like so many DEVILS"
said John Kilburn; but he was not in
the least disturbed by the bowling.
Then the bullets began to come
through the shingles on the roof, and
strike against the timbers.
The Indians surrounded the house,
but there were loop-holes on each side.
Mr.. kilburn and Mr.. Pike took two of
the sides, and the two boys the others.
Bang! bang! went the guns of Mr.. Kill
burn and Mr.. Pike. Bang! bang! went
the boys guns. They could fire at q
rest, and take deliberate aim. The In
dams could not see the muzzles of the
guns, and the moment one of the red
men peeped from behind a tree his skull
was in danger.
One by one they fell, which enraged
them all the more, and they crept near.
ear, firing rapidly, Kidding the shingles.
hoping, quite likely. that bullet might
glance down from the roof and hit
those inside.
"The roof looks like a sieve,' said
John Kilburn, as he looked up and saw
the holes.
Mrs. Kilburn and her daughter were
loading the extra guns the while, and
handing them to the men and boys,
who kept up such rapid fire that the
Indians came to the conclusion that
there were large number of men in
the house.
"We shall soon be out of bullets
said Mrs. Kilburn.
A thought came: Why not catch the
bullets that were coming through the
roof? The balls had nearly spent their
force when they came through, and
lucy uuDH up UldHhcb VIII thiNh
folds, which stopped them entirely; and
the girl, gathering them as they fell
harmlessly upon the floor, put them
into a ladle, melted them and ran new
bullets, which soon were whizzing
through the air. and doing damage to
the enemy.
All through the afternoon the fight
goes on, the Indians aiming at the loop
holes. Their bullets pepper the logs
around them. One comes in and in
flicts a ghastly wound in Mr.. Pixies
thigh, but the Indians do not know it,
and the brave defense is kept up till
the Indians, foiled in all their efforts,
defeated, with several of their number
dead and many wounded from the vol
leys fired by Colonel Bellows and his
men, and by those in the house. set Mr..
Kilburn's wheat on fire. kill his cattle,
bury their dead and stink away, not
having taken a scalp or a prisoner.
They have only wounded one man.
When everything goes well with the
Indian he can be very brave, but when
the tide is against him he quickly loses
courage and becomes disheartened, and
so Captain Philip made his way back 10
Canada, very much crestfallen at the
repulse he had received at the hands of
two men, a woman, two boys and n
brave-hearted girL-CHarles @. Coffin,
i'm Hdrper's Young People.