All this while the robbers had been yellin' an' swearin', an' cuttin' away at the cellar-door with their tomahawks; an' we well knowed that they would soon be out an' arter us.

Our cabin stood in a large, natural prairy, an' we had to travel full half a mile acrost the open ground afore we come to the woods.

My father followed close behind us, with his rifle, ready to shoot the first one that come in sight, an' kept urgin' us to go faster.

We hadn't gone more'n half the distance acrost the prairy, when a loud crash and yells of triumph told us, plain enough, that the villains had worked their way out of the cellar.

Then heavy blows sounded on the window-shutter, which, strong as it was, we knowed could not long hold out ag'in 'em.