Captain Wells."

"How know you my name?"

"Mrs. Heald told me she believed you would surely come when you learned
of our plight at the Fort,--it was for that she despatched the man
Burns with the message,--and she described you so perfectly that I knew
at once who you must be. There are not so many white men travelling
toward Dearborn now as to make mistake easy."

"And the Fort?" he asked, anxiously. "Is it still garrisoned, or have
we come too late?"

"It was safely held two days ago," she answered, "although hundreds of
savages in war-paint were then encamped without, and holding powwow
before the gate. No attack had then been made, yet the officers talked
among themselves of evacuating."

For a moment the stern soldier seemed to have forgotten her, his eyes
fastened upon the western horizon.

"The fools!" he muttered to himself, seemingly unconscious that he
spoke aloud; "yet if I can but reach there in time, my knowledge of
Indian nature may accomplish much."

He turned quickly, with a sharp glance over his military force.

"We delay no longer. Jordan, do you give this lady your horse for
to-day's journey, and go you forward on foot with the Miamis. Watch
them closely, and mark well everything in your front as you move."