There was none to give warning of danger.

Suddenly and silently as ghosts they must have filed from out the forest.

We were already surrounded and helpless before the first wild war whoop broke upon our ears!" Charles put up his hands as though to shut out that awful yell, the echoes of which rang so long in the ears of those who had heard it.
Humphrey shivered, and his hands clinched themselves nervously together.
"Why was I not here to fight and to die ?" "Better to live--and to avenge their blood!" answered Charles, with a gleam lighting his sunken eyes.

He was silent awhile, and then went on with his narrative.
"It was not a fight; it was only a slaughter! The children rushed screaming from the house, escaping the first rush of the painted savages when they burst in upon us.

But there were others outside, who hacked and slashed them as they passed.