Then came other shots, a rapid pattering volley, and bullets struck with a low sighing sound against the upper walls of the blockhouse.

The long quavering cry, the Indian yell rose and died again and in the black forest, still for aught else, it was weird and unearthly.
Lucy stood like stone when the lifeless body of the boaster fell almost at her feet, and all the color was gone from her face.

The terrible cry of the savages without was ringing in her ears, and it seemed to her, for a few moments, that she could not move.

But Paul grasped her by the arm and drew her back.
"Go into your house!" he cried.

"A bullet might reach you here!" Obedient to his duty he hastened to the palisade to bear a valiant hand in the defense, and she, retreating a little, remained in the shadow of the houses that she might see how events would go.