"To the loops! to the loops, or we are lost!" was a summons that admitted
of no delay. Led by the stranger, the young men rushed below, where, in
truth, they found a serious demand on all their activity and courage.
The Indians were wanting in none of the sagacity which so remarkably
distinguishes the warfare of this cunning race. The time spent by the
family, in arresting the flames, had not been thrown away by the
assailants. Profiting by the attention of those within, to efforts that
were literally of the last importance, they had found means to convey
burning brands to the door of the block, against which they had piled a
mass of blazing combustibles, that threatened shortly to open the way into
the basement of the citadel itself. In order to mask this design, and to
protect their approaches, the savages had succeeded in dragging bundles of
straw and other similar materials to the foot of the work, to which the
fire soon communicated, and which consequently served both to increase the
actual danger of the building and to distract the attention of those by
whom it was defended.
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