secure their safety. Order a gun to be fired immediately
from the southern bastion. It will be distinctly heard
by the party, and if not already apprised of the existing
danger they will at once understand the signal. Moreover
the report may have the effect of alarming the savages."

Lieutenant Elmsley withdrew to execute the order, and
soon after the dull booming of a cannon was heard
reverberating throughout the surrounding woods, and
winding its echoes along the waters of the narrow and
tranquil Chicago. So unusual an event as this excited a
good deal of speculation, not only among the inmates of
the Fort, but among the numerous friendly Indians encamped
without, who, wholly unacquainted with the cause of the
alarm, were, by the strict orders of Captain Headley,
kept ignorant of the information of which Ephraim Giles
had been the bearer--

That night there was a more than usual vigilance exercised
by the sentinels, and although the rest of the garrison
were exempt from extraordinary duty, the watchful and
anxious commanding officer slept not until dawn.




CHAPTER III.

At a distance of about two miles above Heywood's farm,
and on the southern branch of the Chicago, which winds