“Be careful, my son,” pleaded Mrs. Parsons. “Thee must not expose thyself again.”
“I’m not going to,” answered Harry.
Once more the young pioneer took his station at a loophole. He and Joe were at opposite sides of the living room, while Mrs. Parsons and the girls were on the watch from the bedchambers.
“How much water have we on hand?” asked Joe, presently.
“The cask is full,” answered Harmony. “I looked only this morning.”
She referred to a cask that had been sunk under the living room floor sometime before. This cask had been fitted with a cover, and the water in it was changed once a week by either Joe or Harry. It was not used ordinarily, but had been placed there for possible use in just such an emergency as now seemed at hand.
“Do you—do you think they’ll keep on the watch until to-night?” faltered Cora.
“Possibly—unless they are defeated in other directions,” answered Joe.
Slowly an hour went by, and still none of the red men appeared. Twice they heard rifle-shots at a great distance, but that was all.
“They seem to have moved in another direction,” said Harry.