excitedly: “Look yonder! Look at the mouth of the gulch!”

The others turned their eyes in that direction, and saw a sight that made them all give vent to exclamations of astonishment. They saw, indeed, an avalanche of water at least ten feet in height coming sweeping down the gulch, foaming and, as it neared the end of the gulch, roaring at a great rate.

The Indians heard the sound, and leaped to their feet and turned, and when they saw the wall of water rushing toward the mouth of the gulch, they gave utterance to wild yells and started to run, to get out of the path of the flood.

They could not succeed, however, for the torrent came pouring out of the mouth of the gulch and dashing on across the level, spreading as it came, and before they could get out of reach, the water was upon them, and had them in its swirling embrace.

Some of them were struck by the logs and knocked senseless, and two or three were drowned. Others were swept onward and landed against the stockade-wall around the fort, while others still were carried past and went on across the valley, with the waters.

The settlers and the women and children, had watched this strange happening with wondering eyes, and with a kind of pleasure, too, for it had put an end to a problem that had been bothering them, had put the Indians to utter rout, at least for the time being.

“There must have been a cloud-burst up the gulch,” said one of the men.

“Yes, that was what happened,” said Holden. “Well, it was a good thing for us, for it has put the redskins to flight.”

“It has put some of them to death,” said Perkins. “I see three bodies, yonder.”

“They were hit by the logs, and then drowned afterwards,” said another.

“Yas. Well, it saved us the trouble of shooting them.”

“So it did,” said Holden.

“But, our houses are burned down!” murmured one of the women. “They have burned our homes, and the flood has spoiled the ground that had been fixed for planting.”

“Oh, well, we can do the work over again,” said Perkins. “And we can build new houses.”

“Yes, that’s so,” said Holden. “I’m mighty glad the flood happened along and drowned a few of the redskins and scared the others away.”

By the middle of the afternoon the ground was dry again, the sun having come out and shone brightly, and the settlers went out and buried the three dead Indians. Then they returned to the fort, and when nightfall came, they placed two men on guard, for they thought it possible that the Indians might come back again.

CHAPTER III

Riding the Flood

When the flood of foaming, seething water swept over Dick, Tom and Ben and engulfed them, they thought at first that their time had come; but Dick shouted; “Grab hold of a log and stick to it if possible.” Each managed so to do and by holding to the logs tightly, they were born along with the rushing flood. They swallowed a good deal of water but escaped being drowned. As the boys disappeared beneath the onrush of the torrent, the Indians standing on the edge of the precipice, gazed down with a look of awe on their bronzed faces.

Onward down the gulch the boys were carried, however, with great speed, and when they had gone what seemed like two or three miles from the point where they had been overtaken by the flood, they came to a point where the gulch split, becoming two gulches, one going off at right angles while the other turned slightly to the left. As the one leading to the right was wider, had lower banks and the water was not swirling at such a terrible rate, the three youths were able to guide the logs into the gulch on that side, and were soon being borne onward at a more moderate pace.

Onward they were swept, until finally they suddenly shot out from the mouth of the gulch and found themselves in a good-sized river.

They let go now their holds on the logs, swam to the shore and clambered out upon the bank, which was low and sloping, and dropping down on the sand, they lay there, panting and resting.

“Well, didn’t that beat any experience that we have ever had since we joined the patriot army?” cried Tom, presently, when he had become rested and was breathing normally again.

“It wasn’t a very pleasing experience,” said Dick.

“I should say not,” remarked Ben.

“That torrent certainly carried us away from the vicinity of the redskins very quickly,” said Tom.

“Yes, it did that much good, anyhow,” agreed Dick.

“I wonder where we are,” said Ben, presently.

“In the land of the living,” replied Tom, with a laugh. “And that is more than I expected would be the case, an hour ago, when that torrent struck us.”

The youths now doffed their outer garments, wrung them out and spread them out to dry. By the time they were ready to wear, they themselves were rested, and putting the clothing on again, they set out through the forest, heading in a direction that would take them to about the same point they were aiming for before they ran into the Indians.

Till evening they tramped along, and they were beginning to think they would have to sleep out in the woods, when they caught sight of a light ahead of them. The next moment they emerged into open country, and made their way toward the light.

Presently they came to what looked like a fort, as seen in the starlight, and they made out that there was a high stockade-wall around the building.

“Well, I’m glad we’ve found some place to stay for the night, anyhow,” suggested Tom.

“Who comes there?” cried a voice, from above their heads.

“Friends,” replied Dick. He did not know that the inmates of the fort were friends, but he thought it likely they were patriots, and hoped that such was the case.

“How many are there of you?” was the next question.

“Three.”

“Who are you? You are not British, and of course not Indians?”

“No, we are strangers, who were caught in the torrent from the cloud-burst and have had a terrible time. Will you kindly let us in?”

There was the sound of low conversation, and then the voice spoke up again:

“Yes, we’ll let you in.”

Then a few moments later they heard the squeaking of the gate as it was opened and they hastened around there and entered the stockade.

The man that had admitted them, Mr. Holden, fastened the gate and then said: “Come with me.”

He led the way into the fort, where the youths found themselves the center of interest. The men, women and children of the families of the settlers looked at the youths wonderingly and inquiringly.

“You are strangers, sure enough,” said Mr. Holden.

“Yes,” said Dick. “Are you folks patriots?”

Holden nodded. “We are,” he said.

“Good. I’m glad of that. We are patriots also, and members of the army of General Greene, who is about one hundred miles north of here.”

“Ah, we are glad to hear that,” said Holden. “I wish that General Greene would come down here and give the Indians a thrashing.”

“That is what he is figuring on doing if there is need,” said Dick.

“He sent us to do some scouting and reconnoitering,” put in Tom. “He had heard that there were lots of Indians down here, and that they were murdering patriots and burning their homes, and if we learned that this was the case, he would come down here and put a stop to their work.”

“Well, you can return to him and tell him that his presence in this part of the country is sorely needed. The Indians are pillaging and burning homes, and they have committed a number of murders. They attacked us, here in Peaceful Valley, this afternoon, and drove us to the shelter of this fort and then burned our houses.”

“That was bad,” said Dick.

“Yes, but they were overtaken by the flood, while they were