Now and then from different points could be heard voices shouting words of encouragement to those in that line of brave men who might perchance be for the moment faint-hearted. Again, and all too often, came the cry of pain or an exclamation of anger when the bullet of a savage had bitten the flesh, and meanwhile Major Clarke was calling out to this man or to that as he leaped from one point of vantage to the other, animating every one by his words as well as his example. In such a situation the combatants do not give heed to the passage of time. There are intervals when each second is as a dozen minutes, and then again, when the minutes flit by apparently more quickly than one could count. Once, when having turned my back to the tree, knowing that my body was fully sheltered while I reloaded my rifle, I observed Paul, calm and collected as the mightiest hunter among us. If perchance his aim was less true than some of the others, it was not because of nervousness or anxiety concerning himself. He stood his ground like a man--a man who fights to protect others, rather than for his own honor or to preserve his own life. On that morning Paul Sampson gave good proof that he was worthy to be numbered among the defenders of the frontier, and showed that in him could be found none of his father's fickle-mindedness. The report of his rifle rang out as often as did that of the most eager or most experienced in the line, and how much execution he might have done I know not; but this is certain, that I saw no less than two tufts of feathers rise convulsively and then sink suddenly out of sight when his weapon had been discharged at them. I say it is impossible to tell at such a time how long one faces his foe; but it was afterwards told that the Indians stood up to the battle for near an hour, and then came the word from Major Clarke that they were falling back. This information was in the nature of a command for us to advance, and advance we did, leaping from one place of shelter to another, while hastening the faint-hearted foe by bullets sent whithersoever the swaying of the foliage told us one of the brutes was making his way onward. When we had advanced in such halting fashion for the distance of forty or fifty paces, I was come to where the painted crew had made their stand, and there saw good evidence of what we had accomplished. No less than four bodies were stretched on the ground lifeless, and my timorousness returned in a measure as I realized that near at hand, perhaps making ready to take aim at me, might be some savage, so badly wounded that he could not join his fellows in what had become little less than a flight. [Illustration: We advanced from one place of shelter to another, firing rapidly,--Page 142. _On the Kentucky Frontier._]