It was impossible that such hazardous work should not have tragic results. Trip after trip, Donald made without harm, but his men were not so fortunate. One was killed outright, and another, game to the last, threw himself back among his companions, coughing blood from a bullet hole in the lung, but with two bales of fur in his hands.
The free-traders, by this time, had almost completed their circle, and could fire upon the besieged from every side except that which led down to the lake. Consequently, Donald was forced to cover every direction at once, and could not concentrate more than two rifles upon any one point. Presently, the firing from the woods became hotter, and the Hudson Bay leader, recognizing the symptoms, crawled back and forth in the narrow trench, speaking to his men.
“They're probably going to try and carry our position with a charge. Shoot to kill, but don't shoot one man—Charley Seguis.”
“But, Captain, he's the ringleader,” cried Timmins, annoyed. “If you finish him, the rest of 'em will go to the four winds.”
“I know it,” replied McTavish, “but I must still ask you to spare him. You remember, he saved my life once, although he didn't mean to, and, besides, I have other and better reasons for asking this: reasons that I can't tell you now. In time, you'll all know—if we can get out of this thing alive.”
“Oh, pshaw! We'll get out of it alive all right,” drawled Buxton.
The man had Yankee blood in him somewhere, for now he was chewing tobacco industriously, and staining the snow in front of the barricade, where a loophole between the logs offered him opportunity for marksmanship of varying sorts.
“Here's hoping, boys,” was Donald's rejoinder. “Now, their plan will probably be this: A stiff fire will suddenly be poured in from one quarter to draw our attention there. At the same time, a charge will start from the opposite side, and be upon us before we know it. Watch for it!”
He had hardly got the words out of his mouth, when there was a sudden, fierce volley from the point just back of the black spot where once the warehouse had stood. The men in the trench crouched low.
“Watch that firing, Timmins and Cameron,” was the order. “The rest face the other way.”