Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

256
ANNALS OF OUR ANCESTORS
no riders in evidence. It was afterward decided that the
"packs" were Indians lying flat on their saddles scouting to
learn if the white settlers were preparing to resist them.
At last the settlers were inside the fort they had constructed.
Few of the adults remain to tell the story of those thrilling
days, but I remember some of the accounts. A family had
come in from Melrose or near there, a place southeast of
father's, and they became homesick and thought that as all
seemed quiet they would get in their wagon and drive over to
their home. Their way led along near the shore of Pearl Lake
among the heavy brush. All went well until they came
opposite father's barn, when they heard some one inside
rattling chains — the chains belonged to some well buckets
which father had bought for a new well he was digging. They
stopped and looked about. The road turned at this point,
and they discovered to the west on the bluffs Indians on their
ponies riding in the direction of the fort, completely heading
off the possibility of a retreat to the fort. At this they
turned their oxen about with all haste to seek the shelter of
father's house. At this turn a number of Indians sprang out
from their ambush of thick brush, and one of the white men
took deliberate aim and fired at one of the savages, who threw
up his hands and fell back. As the front gate to father's yard
was open, they urged the oxen on through until they fell exhausted
at the front door.
When they had broken into our mother's kitchen they
built a fire and molded bullets. In this party was a man and
his wife and children and a bachelor; the latter volunteered
to go to the fort and return with an armed force. The poor,
frightened man went down to the shore of our Lake Pearl and
slipped along among the overhanging bushes till he came within
sound of harvesters, who were reaping the grain in companies
under guard. When the reapers saw the man they
knew without a word what had happened, as he stood speech-
less, pale, and trembhng. They asked him if he had seen
Indians, and he nodded. The farmers were soon upon the
scene, and found the party quite ready to return to the fort
and remain there until the leaves fell in October. They looked