As the gentlemen approached the stockade, the captain gave a loud hem, and clapped his hands.  At the signal the gate flew open, and they found themselves in company with their friend the chaplain once more.  A few words of explanation told all they had to say, and then the three passed into the court, and separated; each taking the direction towards his own room.  The major, fatigued with the toils of a long march, was soon in a soldier’s sleep; but it was hours before his more thoughtful, and still uneasy father, could obtain the rest which nature so much requires.

Chapter XV.

——­“I could teach you, How to choose right, but then I am forsworn; So will I never be; so may you miss me; But if you do, you’ll make me wish a sin That I had been forsworn.”——­

  Portia.

Captain Willoughby knew that the hour which preceded the return of light, was that in which the soldier had the most to apprehend, when in the field.  This is the moment when it is usual to attempt surprises; and it was, in particular, the Indian’s hour of blood.  Orders had been left, accordingly, to call him at four o’clock, and to see that all the men of the Hut were afoot, and armed also.  Notwithstanding the deserted appearance of the valley, this experienced frontier warrior distrusted the signs of the times; and he looked forward to the probability of an assault, a little before the return of day, with a degree of concern he would have been sorry to communicate to his wife and daughters.

Every emergency had been foreseen, and such a disposition made of the forces, as enabled the major to be useful, in the event of an attack, without exposing himself unnecessarily to the danger of being discovered.  He was to have charge of the defence of the rear of the Hut, or that part of the buildings where the windows opened outwards; and Michael and the two Plinys were assigned him as assistants.  Nor was the ward altogether a useless one.  Though the cliff afforded a material safeguard to this portion of the defences, it might be scaled; and, it will be remembered, there was no stockade at all, on this, the northern end of the house.

When the men assembled in the court, therefore, about an hour before the dawn, Robert Willoughby collected his small force in the dining-room, the outer apartment of the suite, where he examined their arms by lamp-light, inspected their accoutrements, and directed them to remain until he issued fresh orders.  His father, aided by serjeant Joyce, did the same in the court; issuing out, through the gate of the buildings, with his whole force, as soon as this duty was performed.  The call being general, the women and children were all up also; many of the former repairing to the loops, while the least resolute, or the less experienced of their number, administered to the wants of the young, or busied themselves with the concerns of the household.  In a word, the Hut, at that early hour, resembled a hive in activity, though the different pursuits had not much affinity to the collection of honey.