Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1897-02-18

command, and he knew Baker and
the girl even better than we did.
Baker had hunted with him and on
one occasion had saved his life, and
he called at the cabin on varions
occasions which had been hospita.
bly, received. He was, therefore,
probably in earliest when he ad-
vanced alone and unarmed to with
in few feet of the cabin and said
to Mary:
/ We are on the warpath against
the whites and we mean to kill,
Kill. kin until oil are dead or driy-
en- away. Ysnr father saved my
life, and an Indian never forgets.
do not want harm to come to you
and you shall take your horse and
ride away to the fort in safety
But what about the soldiers p
she asked from one Of the loop
holes.
sThey cannot co. he replied.
THE soldiers are here to make war
on us-to shoot us down-to make
us obey orders we do not like. We
have only hatred for them.
know how many there are in there
-four. They have their guns and
will fight, but we shall kill every
one. Come out, and we will send
you safely away
Il shall remain here and help the
soldiers to fight you" answered the
girl.
'Then you will be killed with
Them
The-chief turned away aud went
back to his warriors and ten min
utes later there was q circle of fire
all about the cabin. The loopholes
were the objects aimed at, and as
every redskIn was sheltered from
our return fire we plugged the loop
holes up and did not fire a shot in
answer. 1t was noon before their
fusilade ceased, and it was almost
the last bullet which penetrated q
loophole and struck one of the SOL
diers in the groin. In half an hour
he was dead. From the minute he
was hit until the death rattle came
the girl sat beside him, holding his
hand, but helpless to do anything.
When his life went out she arose
up quietly aud said:
Garry the body into my room
and lay it on the floor. Thank
God, he did not cry out for water
when we had none to give
We had scarcely removed the
body when the Indians made a
rush. There were now 100 of
them. Some of them carried a log
to batter in the door, some climbed
upon the roof, some fought with US
for possession OF the loopholes. We
fired up through the brush and
dirt and through the loopholes, and
at the end of ten minutes had beat
en- them off, but we had lost
another man. A bullet had struck
him in the heart and he had fallen
without a groan. In return we
could count five dead Indians out
side and see three or four wounded
crawling away.
As we bent over the man and
knew he was dead the girl motion
ed for us to lay him beside the 9TH
er, and when we had returned to
the front room it was to beg of her
to- accept 'Chief Charles" offer, If
he still held it good, and secure her
own safety. With only three of us
left to guard the cabin another
such general attack must overcome
rs. She replied that she would
not go, and we at once set about
reloading the carbines AID making
ready to defend the cabin to the
last. 1t was hours before we heard
from the Indians again, and we
were almost certain that they had
drawn off, when, an hour after sun
set, and without the slightest warn
ing, they rushed for us as before.
| We blazed away as fast as we
could through the loopholes, but
am sure the cabin would have been
carried but for a lucky shot which
killed the chief. His fall created a
panic, and just when the situation
was most critical the attack
ceased. | did not knew when they
drew of.
The demons were on the roof
and battering at the door and fir
ing in upon rs from some of the
loopholes, when things suddenly
turned dark about me, and when
| I racovared consciousness falt a