“Up the Rolling Fork we travelled, seeking where we might obtain Precious plunder from the living, bleeding trophies from the slain. “By a spring-branch in the bottom, near a clearing in the wood, Hidden by the sombre hemlocks, Merrill’s low-roofed cabin stood. “It was built of logs of white-oak, chinked, save loop-holes here and there, With a door of heavy puncheons, made the axe’s blow to bear. “At its end a good stone chimney reared itself among the trees, And the smoke-wreaths, as we neared it, still were breaking in the breeze. “Out we lay upon the mountain, till the midnight hour came on, Till the darkness growing deeper told the summer moon had gone. “Then we downward crept in silence—not a rustle, scarce a stir— Till by chance a stone we loosened, which descended with a whirr. “Rose the dog who had been lying in the cabin’s deepest shade, Snuffed our presence in the valley, and, to warn his master, bayed. “Then aroused he came to tear us, in his fury, limb from limb, But my hatchet’s blow unerring was enough to quiet him. “There was stirring in the cabin, and I heard old Merrill say— ‘Wife, that is some wearied hunter, who perchance has lost his way. “‘Rouse you, stir the ash-hid embers, and get ready to prepare Bed of feathers for the stranger and a bait of cabin fare.’ “How we chuckled as he said it; then, in English, ‘House!’ I cried, While my comrades all stood ready, when the door should open wide. “With one hand his rifle grasping, Merrill then unclosed the door, When we poured a sudden volley, and he sank upon the floor. “In the fall the gun exploded, lighting up again the dark; But no fingers drew the trigger, and the bullet found no mark. “Ere we reached the open portal, though the journey was not far, Lo! the woman Merrill closed it, and secured it with a bar. “Long we hacked and long we hammered at the door with useless din, Till at length a heavy sapling, fiercely driven, burst it in. “Young Penswataway, our leader, stout old Cornstalk’s gallant son, At the breach we had thus opened, entered in the foremost one. “He had battled at Point Pleasant, and escaped the deadly ball, By the weapon of a woman at the dead of night to fall. “There she stood, that fearless woman, in her hand a heavy axe; Came a sound of skull-bone crashing, and he died there in his tracks. “Then, as four more strove to enter at the breach within the door, One by one my slaughtered comrades sank and died upon the floor. “Thus that stern unflinching woman managed five of us to slay, And with axe and blow so ready those surviving kept at bay. “Yet another entry offered; so, while I with rifle stood, Lest the woman should escape us in the darkness of the wood,