"Now, Nelly! into the boat again--quick!" he said. "We must keep out
of the way till it's all over."

Nelly was about twelve years old, and her life in the woods had given
her a courage and quickness beyond her years. Without wasting a
moment on cries or lamentations, she sprang back into the canoe.
Harold took his place beside her, and the light craft darted rapidly
out into the lake. Not until he was some three or four hundred yards
from the shore did Harold pause to look round. Then, when he felt he
was out of gunshot distance, he ceased paddling. The fight was raging
now around the house; from loop-holes and turret the white puffs of
smoke darted angrily out. The fire had not been ineffectual, for
several dark forms could be seen lying round the stockade, and the
bulk of the Indians, foiled in their attempt to carry the place at a
rush, had taken shelter in the corn and kept up a scattering fire
round the house, broken only on the side facing the lake, where there
was no growing crop to afford them shelter.

"They are all right now," Harold said cheerfully.

"Do not be anxious, Nelly; they will beat them off, Pearson is a host
in himself. I expect he must have been lying down when the attack was
made. I know he was scouting round the house all night. If he had
been on the watch, those fellows would never have succeeded in
creeping up so close unobserved."

"I wish we were inside," Nelly said, speaking for the first time. "If
I were only with them, I should not mind."

"I am sure I wish we were," Harold agreed. "It is too hard being