erected for that purpose some ten or twelve feet above the roof of
the house. From this spot a view was obtainable right over the
clearing to the forest which surrounded it on three sides. The other
hands proceeded to cut down more of the corn, so as to extend the
level space around the house.




CHAPTER II.


AN INDIAN RAID.

That day and the next passed quietly. The first night the man who was
on watch up to midnight remarked to Mr. Welch, when he relieved him,
that it seemed to him that there were noises in the air.

"What sort of noises, Jackson--calls of night-birds or animals? If
so, the Indians are probably around us."

"No," the man said; "all is still round here, but I seem to feel the
noise rather than hear it. I should say that it was firing, very many
miles off."

"The night is perfectly still, and the sound of a gun would be heard
a long way."

"I cannot say that I have heard a gun; it is rather a tremble in the
air than a sound."