Show the mother soe stefene sAe s defence fene A the 14 i i frontier war i afy my aly husbands hur huo bands rifle al 21 she shouted and cpr spring ing ing to her feeland fee feet tand and rushing across the slig cabin she I 1 tore the weapon and accoutrements from the wall i but on trying the ramrod it proved to tob be e nin fin loaded unloaded she thrust her hand in the pinch but it contained I 1 nothing but musket balls balis that her husband had purchased a few days before fo to ipri run luto into bull buil bullets ets suitable for his rifle the thi powder horn was wai fuli full but of what use way was the powder without the ball dropping the tim weapon she wrung her hands despair in de pair suddenly an idea struck hen her he she seized one of ot the tile balls halls placed her teeth ani by y a tremendous exertion hi itin it in two das dashing hn in a charge of powder aderinto into she down oreba one oce bf the fragments primed and cocked the piece and the tile next moment its muzzle protruded protrudes through the aperture ure cre and covered the boedy beedy beay boidy of the chief now ad at the head of rhe fhe party toward doward the house the quick eye ee of the savage caught the glimmer of the sight as a the sun jell rell fell feil upon it and he stopped but before he hah hat time tune to make a rush hiriams nir Mir iams lams finger pressed tee tie ike trigger trigg ef when the puff of smoke at a cleared away slie she saw him cluttering jn in the air in the recover himself before the other indians who seemed paralyzed by the unexpected catastrophe could amford afford him any assistance he thre threw his hand above his head and arz whirling quietly aroun fell feil upon irs his face about A shout bout of triumph burst from thelius the lip of miriam as she saw the effect of the ove avenging nging 1 shot retiring 1 ing from the loophole loop hole she coin reloading r the rifle the indians re mamed remained motionless for a few moments transfixed with astonishment then lifting in the body of the chief withdrew to ito a respect ful distance from th tho cabin and the inmates halt f believed their peril was over but they were deceived after getting out of gunshot gun shot the savaged clustered to boether together I 1 ether and appe appeared ared for several minutes to be in close conversation at the expiration tion af heir powwow pow wow having ap apparently ardently agreed upon I 1 their air plan of action the WE whole ole oie gang pang took open order der and dashed at f ruil cull rup run with wild yells tov tox towards var s the house As the foremost came up miriam cook who vas was now Matio stationed ned at another loophole loop hole again i discharged her rifle and tile the unlucky wyandot Vyan dot shot through both legs dropped in his tracks with arf arl im shriek shriek of a agony ony the others ke kept hept pt 01 and deac reached the cabin six of them clambered or 01 the roof tool and the remained upon the ground round commenced birin firing on the door and cutting opening sia sla sin in the logs those upon the roof quickly kindle kindie fl a fire on the shingles ps and they were ablaze thede the destruction of the cabin and its ts inmates now noir appeared inevitable there was a hogshead half halt full of water inthe in the house miriam bucket in in hand moun mounted ted fed to the loft hope and an dAlice alice supplied her with water from below by which she contrived to extinguish the flames as fast althey broke out while she herself enveloped and almost suffocated by steam and adds ands smoke moke was invisible to p the assailants at length the water was exilou exhausted vied tied and ope ode of i the indian indians observing that the efforts of the be 1 party narty were slackening ventured to poke nohe 1 h 3 head through one of the holes that had been j burning bu ning ring in the roof to see how the land lay th the miriam was standing stand ipg within a few tew feet of the opening and grid that instant she whirled the empty anck bucket qt around her head bead head and with a powerful effort struck him directly in in the forehead with the sharp dge fdge of the staves she hea head d the bones crush and the victim groan and a moment after he was drawn away by his companions three of whom descended from the roof bearing him bimi in their arm arms minam binam now thought she heard the two remain remain ing savages tearing the foundation from the chimney e i and presuming they intended to attempt an entrance in she ran down st stairs airs to prepare for them athe the f eather feather bedl bed the feather bed bhe she shouted I 1 as PS she he reached the lowe lower room and this prized Pirt icle icie in a frontier mahs inventory of household I 1 c cattels wa was quickly bro brought tight light forth forsland foreland and ana piled pilo into j ti ta e huce huge anre fire placa by this time one of the indians had fairly fairty get got into the chimner and nd the other was about to follow thrust the ibe li lighted I 1 cited brands into it quick ald said aid alice and in a moment floods clouds of smoke from the burning feathers were i ascending the chimney the savage made an efm eff ortto up acain again but the pungent effla j via of the Te athers feathers overcame him and he be fell heavily on the hearthstone heart hearth stone tone in the meantime i miriam had grasped the rifle and held it read ready V for his reception scarcely had he touched the door floor when thie tige th e ironbound iron bound point of the tiie breech crushed his scull the other who had cau caught ht a whiff of the vapor in time to avoid a like ilke ike fate hastily des descend bended cd from the roof I 1 fouron four of the thirteen indians were already kill elii d 1 but these carnalities carnali ties only added new fura to the remainder they well knew that the cabla cabin was occupied e cup 1 ed by women only and could be more degrading in ake estimation of the swarthy war lors jors chanto be baffled by a parcel of squaws squads they now furiously assailed the door with j tomahawks toma hawks bawks to this proceeding the ir mates could offer no rel res resistance e in striking kig the sava savara A wio wo bad fallen down the chimney miriam had broken the lock of her hus bus husbands banals tlde tide the on y on thay thoy had and now handing tu to toh lir ers sister inlaw in law lawshe she armed herself with wilh the axe of i oung mcandie Mc Andre which stood in the he corner and aria prepared herself for the last extremity aiice alice betook retook herself to a very formidable weapon ine slaughter knife e of the establishment and thus armed the three women arjang arranged led themselves on either cide olde of the door determined to sell their cirps a dearly deatly as loibl po ibi giblo ibl I 1 in half an in hour the indians had nearly cut through two planks of the door bereath be lealh the I 1 bar ar a space just sufficient cent for a maa man to force his body through in a stooping stoop inz ins posture rio sture they bi ought t teavy leavy eavy piece pieces of wood from the adjacent adil adji cent pile phe and asin using them as a battering yap jam j iam am soon beat jahe wa weakened ned portions of i the door at sit the same jime ime driving the articles artiles 46 had hai been eer ept piled against itin it into he middle 0 the boom room taught f caution by py the loses looses lo ses they had sinta siuta sustained ined tiley they jd did id not hot immediately attempt an ingress through the aperture I 1 but thrusting in ani and crossing thein their riles tiles discharged nemo hero into tile he hoile holle e in this they had bad 1 a double liesl llesi design n that of killing killington lil lingor tor maiming some soine of the oc occupants up ants anti and getting in n under cover of tile the smoke B before e to ih the e deafening aund sound had hal ceased the fea flea ther crested t ed head of a IV wyandot warr wart r paced the sMoke cloud tha that t had ad ab obscured cured I 1 t the fhe it ie inh imor or but as a he arose from a stooping mg posture hiriams Mir iams axe axe descended with tremendous force cutting theoti through the ani and collar bone into lle ile lie chest chelt he ile dropped with a wild cry halt defiance and balf half agony i another avace avage followed and another adoth er each to sink sini in turn under the axe of p the cou courageous ageon matron the bif rif fifth th she missed bit buu but inston instantly ay grappled led with him holding hin him powerless to her csom bosom of ahe abe he next two that entered one wal was disabled by a blow biow on the head bead f from rom hopes rifle I 1 anti anu the other well weil nigh df decapitated by the cleaver 1 in the hands hanas of alice 1 of tot the thirteen bronzed warriors who had left I 1 their tribe for tile the war but a few days before only ony two remained unwounded und end capable of i ser set service seffi vice cf and they seized with a panic at the havoc made madea monc among their companions by the iong long knite knife i abandoned thein their design and fled back to the village to th he wounded left behind no quarter wai wag was given T to hav have spared them would have ave been treason to fhe the dead hiriams Mir iams axe and the fhe long knife of alice made short of them this duty fulfilled the family lost no time in proceeding to frankfort the next day dav a huli hundred dred mounted frontiersmen assembled and after ter bringing in the bodie bodle sf the cooks aril arll and mcandie Mc Andre started for the next wyandot village to take a wholesome revenge |