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158 leave them completely exposed to their enemies. One of the cords was shot through with which the slabs of the shield were fastened, and it appeared more than probable that the whole fabric would fall to pieces; a sudden jerk, when lifted, would have been sufficient to ensure its complete destruction, and the bullets which now rattled upon it like hail, gave but too painful an illustration of the probable fate of those behind it, if deprived of its friendly shelter.

Mr. Robberson had all this time been ensconced in safety, but as there appeared a probability that the affair was growing to a climax, he occasionally ventured from his shelter for a moment to notice the turn events were taking. As the flames spread and the firing from the hut grew slack, he became proportionably valiant, and evinced a disposition to share in the conclusion of the fray, which was now evidently approaching. But an unerring eye was upon him, and a heart made callous by years of crime, misery, and degradation, was only intent in that hour of peril to consummate its deadly revenge, made doubly bitter by a sense that it was founded in wrong and injustice. Mr. Robberson had turned to give some instructions to one of his troopers, when he uttered a groan and fell forward upon his face, at the same moment a cry (it might have been of agony,) was heard to proceed from the hut and rang through the woods, mingling in the din and turmoil of the fight. The flames spread and crackled through the building, notwithstanding its defenders had succeeded in displacing parts of the roof. The capacious chimney, which carried off volumes of smoke, alone enabled them to hold their ground. To add to the confusion of the scene, the parched grass near had taken fire which spread with alarming rapidity, and many of the besiegers were forced to retreat before it. A clump of tea-tree scrub checked its progress, but only for a moment, for a breeze