Part 45 (1/2)

Gradually the rifle mob

The rank, of which Rube was the centre, stood Here was no rifle practice

Revolvers were at ith the rapidity of uns As they were emptied, they were passed back and reloaded by the women But even this was inadequate to hold thewhich is in the heart of everyhis rifle, reverted to theit around his head like a flail, and crashed it ast those directly in front of him And his action became an exaht, and desperate exertion, the defenders cleared a space before theht He could no longer wait for attack; he went toa

The scene was one never to be forgotten He hewed a road for hi aed with all the ent, and Nevil and the ht in the cleric's eyes, such as had never been seen there before by any of his flock, and a devilish joy in his heart as he felt the concussion of his blows upon heads that crushed beneath the, back toward the fiery gateway It literally crumpled before their furious attack But as the warriors fell back the progress of the white ether, for the es that they could not retreat

Darkness was settling over the land The Indians rallied as the first fury of the white hters at all tie And their counter was no less furious than the defenders' assault had been Step by step, with hatchets glearound

Slowly the white men were beaten back; all but Rube, whose fury was unabated He had cleared a space for himself, froe hi to those behind to care for the wo his back to his, stood to help hi, like a ht only to slay, to crush, to add to the tally of the dying and dead

How the last moments of that terrible final stand were passed, Seth could never have told His long illness was telling on him His weakness affected hihty blows, and the fury that was driving him That, and the necessity to defend hiuided hi, and he was hazily conscious of his ineffectiveness

Once he was forced to his knees by the blow of a hatchet, which, glancing down his clubbed rifle, took him in the neck with its flat It was at that le call He scarcely recognized it, and, certainly, at the

Instinctively he struggled to his feet and fought on Curiously enough, a moment later, his dulled sensesover his coered, just as he was made aware that he recovered, and, with a sudden access of fury, renewed the fight He knew that his friend had been badly hit, and was putting forth his last reserve of strength

In the ain, but this tih above the noise of battle, the roar of the fla until he heard a o up froreat joy thrilled him His head suddenly beca of so cloud He found himself able to put forth a last exertion, and at this juncture he was so at Rube's side, instead of at his back

Of one accord, and without a word, they charged the howling mob They s as they went, driving all before thehty triu else, no thought for anything else Even he was blinded to the old man's condition It was not until he was joined by the rest of the defenders, and the Indians ildly struggling over one another to escape through the still blazing gateway, and the oldat his side in the midst of the pursuit, that he realized what had happened Rube was bleeding fro wound at the base of his neck

Just for one instant he saw the gateway fill with uniformed horsemen, then Seth fell on his knees at his foster-father's side

There was no attearrison gathered mutely round the fallen man Ma was at Seth's side She had raised her husband's head, and her old gray eyes were peering tenderly anxious into his While she was still supporting him, some one pushed a way to her side One bare white arently laid on the old ly upon the intruder, and found herself staring into a pair of tearful, violet eyes

”Rosebud!” she cried And instantly the tears slowly rolled down her worn cheeks, the first tears, she had shed during that last terrible week

CHAPTER xxxI

THE SENTENCE

The relief of the farn It reat northern posts were pouring out their thousands of troops, and that a general advance was in progress

It meant that now, at last, but, alas! too late to avert the awful massacre of the white settlers, the force was adequate to the task of subjugating the savages

The flying column that had ridden to the rescue was a suns It was co the desperate chances of thus cutting the into the very jaws of death, were yet ready to do it again and again

The Indians, believing this initial attack of white troops to be the i force, withdrew in soht they realized they had been ”bluffed” and at once returned to the attack

For the defenders, however, all real anxiety was past They knew that a sweeping hout the whole disturbed area, and it was only a question of days before the Indians would be shepherded back to their Reservations

The mischief, however, was done, the country was devastated The prosperous farion was laid waste, and the labor of years utterly destroyed Of the survivors of the awful holocaust the majority found themselves utterly ruined; their hoone