Dave was on guard during the first half of the night, with his father on the next post not a hundred feet away. The night was dark and a low wind was rising which betokened a storm. All else was quiet and the camp-fire was allowed to burn low until only a few embers were left.
"It looks as if the Indians had really given it up," said Dave, as he and his father met on their walks up and down the two posts.
"Don't be too sure," answered James Morris. "At this very minute they may be preparing to rush in and overwhelm us. I won't believe we are safe until we come in sight of Winchester."
"Is the fort there in good shape?"
"Fairly good, although Colonel Washington is going to strengthen it all he can. The trouble is, Washington is having trouble with Governor Dinwiddie. The governor thinks he knows it all and won't give the colonel half the soldiers or equipments that are needed. He doesn't seem to realize that if Winchester should fall all the English settlers would be driven back over the Blue Ridge and would lose everything they possess in this locality."
When it came time to turn in Dave was glad enough to throw himself down and go to sleep, with nothing more than a thin blanket to cover him. His father lay beside him, with Joseph Morris, Mrs. Morris and Rodney and little Nell not far off.
How long he slept Dave did not know, but when he awoke it was with a start and a cough. There was a fierce shouting and shooting going on and the forest seemed full of smoke and fire. Hardly had he gained his feet when an arrow whizzed past his head burying itself in the tree trunk behind him.
"The attack is on!" came from James Morris, who was already up. "They have fired the woods on two sides of the camp and they are laying for us on the other two sides. I'm afraid it is going to be a fight to the finish."
There was no time to say more for the confusion on every hand was great. The shouting and shooting continued, and in the midst of this Captain Tanner ran around, followed by Lieutenant Baldwick, giving orders to the men and advising the women and children what to do. To the uproar was added the mad prancing around of some of the horses, who sniffed the smoke, and the screams of the frightened children, some clinging to the skirts of their mothers and others running about looking for their parents, who had become lost to them in the general mix-up.
"Stay with your aunt and uncle, Dave," said James Morris. "They'll need you. I'll go out with the soldiers," and in a second he was bounding away, to learn how bad the situation really was, and what might be done to remedy it.