Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustration. See 42894-h.htm or 42894-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42894/42894-h/42894-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42894/42894-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/shadowofvictory00reedrich [Illustration: "An arrow sang past her, then another just missed her, and she leaned forward, close to the horse." (_page 374_)] THE SHADOW OF VICTORY A Romance of Fort Dearborn by MYRTLE REED [Illustration] G. P. Putnam's Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press 1903 Copyright, 1903 By Myrtle Reed Published, September, 1903 The Knickerbocker Press, New York CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I.--THE PROPHECY 1 II.--NEW ACQUAINTANCES 21 III.--THE SECOND IN COMMAND 37 IV.--RONALD'S VIEWS OF MARRIAGE 54 V.--THE FIRST FLOWER OF SPRING 69 VI.--COUSINS 85 VII.--THE ALARM 102 VIII.--THOROUGHBREDS 118 IX.--ON THE FORT WAYNE TRAIL 134 X.--A GLEAM AFAR 150 XI.--A JUNE DAY 165 XII.--IN THE NORTH WOODS 182 XIII.--GIFTS 198 XIV.--HEART'S DESIRE 216 XV.--RIVALS 234 XVI.--THE WORM TURNS 251 XVII.--A COUNCIL OF WAR 268 XVIII.--"IF I WERE IN COMMAND" 285 XIX.--SAVED FROM HIMSELF 300 XX.--RECONCILIATION 318 XXI.--THE LAST DAY IN THE FORT 336 XXII.--THE RED DEATH 359 XXIII.--RESCUE 380 XXIV.--THE REPRIEVE 397 THE SHADOW OF VICTORY CHAPTER I THE PROPHECY It was a long, low room, with a fireplace, roughly built of limestone, at one end of it. The blazing logs illuminated one corner and sent strange shadows into the others, while the winter wind moaned drearily outside. At the right and left of the fireplace were rude counters, hewn from logs, resting on stumps of unequal height, and behind them were shelves, packed with the sordid miscellany of a frontier trading-post. A closed door on either side seemingly led to other apartments, but there was no sound save the wind and the crackle of the flames. A candle, thrust into the broken neck of a bottle, gave a feeble light to a little space around one end of the counter on which it stood. The rafters were low--so low that a tall man, standing on tiptoe, might easily unhook the smoked hams and sides of bacon that hung there, swaying back and forth when the wind shook the house.