enough to attempt it?" he asked. "Nay!" he pursued,
stepping boldly a pace or two in front of the wondering
savages,--"here I stand singly, and defy your whole
garrison!"

A sudden movement among the soldiers in the guard-room
announced they were preparing to execute the order of
their chief. The eye of the black warrior sparkled with
ferocious pleasure; and he made a gesture to his followers,
which was replied to by the sudden tension of their
hitherto relaxed forms into attitudes of expectance and
preparation.

"Stay, men; quit not your cover for your lives!" commanded
the governor, in a loud deep voice:--"keep the barricades
fast, and move not."

A cloud of anger and disappointment passed over the
features of the black warrior. It was evident the object
of his bravado was to draw the troops from their defences,
that they might be so mingled with their enemies as to
render the cannon useless, unless friends and foes (which
was by no means probable) should alike be sacrificed.
The governor had penetrated the design in time to prevent
the mischief.

In a moment of uncontrollable rage, the savage warrior
aimed his tomahawk at the head of the governor. The latter
stepped lightly aside, and the steel sank with such force
into one of the posts supporting the piazza, that the