"From the Miami!" gasped the newcomer. "Thank fortune I am here, although I see you, too, are surrounded by the red varmints." He was so exhausted he could scarcely stand. "I've been running steadily for eighteen or twenty miles," he added.
"Did you come from the fort up there?"
"Yes. The Indians surrounded us and we had a fearful fight. I reckon most of the men are dead. The Indians attacked Robertson's place, too, and Ike Barlow is dead. It's a general uprising, I'll warrant."
"Are any of those redskins coming this way?" asked Tony Jadwin.
"Yes, forty or fifty on 'em, and they are tuned to the top pitch for fighting, too. Pontiac has been preaching to 'em all winter. They say they are going to drive all the English out of the West."
"I thought it would come," replied James Morris. He gave a deep sigh as he thought of the time and labor he had spent on establishing the new post.
Another consultation was held, and it was resolved to fight, if the attack should come within a few hours. If it did not come, those in the trading-post were to pack a few of the things and leave in secret, providing such a movement could be accomplished.
"It's out of the question to leave by way of the tunnel, since the Indians now surround the hollow tree," said James Morris. "We had better try it by way of the old ditch."
The ditch he mentioned was one dug to drain water into the brook. During the summer it had been choked with weeds, and the brushwood was thick upon either side. Where it entered the brook there were half a dozen big rocks and an old willow tree.
A guard had been posted near the end of the ditch and so far he had discovered no hostile Indians in that vicinity.