When the inmates of the house sallied forth, the scene was again quiet.  After clearing away the enormous masses of snow from the palisade, they looked out from the inclosure through the loophole on the east, and all was stillness and silence.  But the view was changed.  Instead of the level and smooth surface, they now beheld a concave formation of snow, beginning at the earth, which was laid bare where the powder had been deposited, and widening, upward and outward, till the ring of the extreme angle reached a height of fifteen or twenty feet, and measured a circumference of fifty paces.  But they did not discover a single dead body.  On the contrary, they soon distinguished the sounds of the savages afar off, in fiendish and fearful yells, as they retreated in great precipitation.

“Dod! none of ’em’s killed!” exclaimed Sneak, looking about in disappointment.

“Hang it all, how could they expect to kill any, without putting in some lead?” replied Joe, standing at his elbow, and evincing no symptoms of illness.

“What’re you a doing out here?  You’d better go in and finish dying,” said Sneak.

“No, I thank you,” said Joe; “my time’s not come yet; and when it does come, I’ll know what to do without your instructions.  I’m well now—­I never felt better in my life, only when I was eating.”

“Go to the horses, Joe, and see if they have suffered any injury,” said Glenn.  “I don’t believe a single Indian was killed by the explosion,” he continued, addressing Boone.

“The snow may have preserved them,” replied Boone; “and yet,” he continued, “I am sure I saw some of them flying up in the air.”

“I saw them too,” said Glenn, “but I have known instances of the kind, when powder-mills have blown up, where men were thrown a considerable distance without being much injured.”

“It answered our purpose, at all events,” said Boone, “for now, no inducement whatever can ever bring them back”

“If I were sure of that,” replied Glenn, “I would not regret the bloodless result of the explosion.”

“You may rely upon it implicitly,” said Boone; “for it was a surprise they can never understand, and they will attach to it some superstitious interpretation, which will most effectually prevent them from meditating another attack”

“Goodness gracious alive!” exclaimed Joe, nimbly springing past Boone and Glenn, and rushing into the house.

“What can be the matter with the fellow, now?” exclaimed Glenn.

“He was alarmed at something in the stable—­see what it is, Sneak,” said Boone.

“I’ve got you, have I?  Dod! come out here!” exclaimed Sneak, when he had been in the stable a few moments.

“Who are you talking to?” asked Glenn.

“A venimirous Osage smutty-face!” said Sneak, stepping out of the stable door backwards, and dragging an Indian after him by the ears.