“But how can we provide for their safety?” I cried, passionately. “If we fight to the last, more cannot be demanded of us.” “Stephen Morley and I have been talking together as to the possibility of giving those poor creatures one little chance of escape, while we make our last stand, so that our lives may not be given up simply to save ourselves from the pain of torture.” “Explain yourself, Master Bartlett. We may not have many moments in which to talk, and if there is work to be done, it is necessary that we set about it quickly.” “Even now Stephen Morley is explaining to the women what we hope even against hope that it may be possible for them to do. So far as we know, the Pittstown stockades are in no immediate danger; why can’t these women and children, during the heat of the battle, contrive to get themselves across the river, or, failing in stemming the current, drift so far down-stream as to be beyond reach of the fiends?” “If they can leave the fort, then why not we?” I asked, and he replied in a tone which made me ashamed of having used the words: “Because it is not for us to turn our backs upon the foe until the moment has come when we know, beyond a peradventure, that nothing can be gained by continuing the battle.” In order that no more words may be used than is absolutely necessary for the telling of the story, let me say that Masters Bartlett and Morley had hatched up what seemed like a poor plan, but yet better than nothing. Their idea was that, when the savages made the next assault, if they succeeded in throwing into the enclosure an overwhelming number, we should make our last stand near by the blockhouse, or inside, as the case might be. Before this could happen, the women, each taking from the building itself such timbers as could be readily carried, should be allowed to go out through the small gate, with the chance of gaining the river, and there, trusting to the logs or splints which they carried, gain the opposite side, or, as Master Bartlett had said, float down to some place of safety. It was a poor plan at the best, but yet the only one that could be formed. As a matter of course, I agreed to it; but my agreement was no more than a form, for, on approaching the blockhouse, I saw that already were the women at work tearing out the inside in such fashion that each procured a plank or log which would serve to keep herself and little ones above the surface of the water. I had no hope that it would succeed. With all these preparations for the final moment, and the knowledge that when the Indians had made up their minds to come in there was nothing to prevent them, death seemed so very near that it shut out every thought of life beyond the next assault. And that came even before we had anticipated.