O'Rourke was wounded badly already, his arm being now roughly bandaged. Yet, beyond begging for some drink, he desisted not in his efforts but instantly took up his place in the hall, on which an attack might at once be anticipated and from which he could easily reach us should he be required in the saloon. And with him went the overseers. From above, we knew that Buck and his party were still firing on the advancing foe--who were now on the lawn and close on the porch--and once he called out to us that the "niggers" were bringing up small trees and brushwood, evidently with the intention of firing the house. But that which warned us more surely than all that our bitterest hour was at hand, was the sound we heard at the shutters of the saloon window. That sound was the sharp clicking noise made by the tomahawks of the Indians on the wood of those shutters and on the iron bars. They were cutting away the last defence between us and them! My lord advanced to the table on which were all the pistols primed and loaded--for Mary and I had attended to each one as it had been emptied--and bade Kinchella stand behind him. Then he drew me to him, and folded me once more in his arms and kissed me, saying: "My dearest one, my heart's only love, here we stand together for, perhaps, the last time. If I can shield you with my life I will, if I should lose that life I pray God to bless you ever. Now, Kinchella," turning to him, "stand you also by my side as you once stood by it when I wanted a friend badly enough, God He knows; and, as you befriended me in those days, so will I befriend you now if 'tis in my power. Kiss your girl, Kinchella, as I have kissed mine, and then forget for the time being that you are a clergyman and remember nothing but that you are a man fighting for her you love." And, even as he spoke, still louder grew the clicking of the tomahawks outside. CHAPTER XIX AT BAY My lord's pistol was raised, ready. The first hand or arm that appeared through the shutters would be shattered as it came. Yet, even as he stood there waiting to see the woodwork forced in, he altered his tactics somewhat. The table was too full in front of the windows, too much exposed to any missile that might be directed into the room. It would be better, he said, at the side. "And, Kinchella," he exclaimed as thus they altered it, "keep you on one side the window while I take the other. With a pistol in each hand you can shoot them one by one, while I, on this, can do the same; or, better still, we can fire alternately. Unless they can force in the whole front and enter in a mass, we should be able to hold the place for hours." Even as he spoke, we heard the cracking and splintering of wood, we saw a strip of the massive pine-wood shutters forced in and a huge red hand and tattooed arm protruded through the opening, while the former, seizing the shutter, tore at it to wrench it apart.