“Hurry an’ fetch on yez dirn Sooz!” was the cry sent after Brady, and that request voiced the spirit of the gang.

In an hour they had piled a fence of railroad ties, six feet high, around the engineers’ quarters.  This task had scarcely been done when Anderson was discovered riding recklessly down the slope.  Baxter threw up his hands.

“We’re going to have it,” he said.  “Neale, I’m not so young as I was.”

Anderson rode in behind the barricade and dismounted.  “Sioux!”

The graders greeted this information with loud hurrahs.  But when Anderson pointed out a large band of Sioux filing down from the hilltop the enthusiasm was somewhat checked.  It was the largest hostile force of Sioux that Neale had ever seen.  The sight of the lean, wild figures stirred Neale’s blood, and then again sent that cold chill over him.  The Indians rode down the higher slope and turned off at the edge of the timber out of rifle-range.  Here they got off their mustangs and apparently held a council.  Neale plainly saw a befeathered chieftain point with long arm.  Then the band moved, disintegrated, and presently seemed to have melted into the ground.

“Men, we’re in for a siege!” yelled old Baxter.

At this juncture the women came running out, badly frightened.

“The Indians!  The Indians!” cried Mrs. Dillon.  “We saw them—­behind the cabin—­creeping down through the rocks.”

“Get inside—­stay in the cabin!” ordered Baxter.

Allie was the last one crowded in.  Neale, as he half forced her inside, was struck with a sudden wild change in her expression.

“There!  There!” she whispered, trying to point.

Just then rifle-shots and the spattering of bullets made quick work urgent.

“Go—­get inside the log walls,” said Neale, as he shoved Allie in.

Excitement prevailed among the graders.  They began to run under cover of the inclosure and some began to shoot aimlessly.

“Anderson, take some men!  Go to the back of the cabin!” shouted Baxter.

The scout called for men to follow him and ran out.  So many of the graders essayed to follow that they blocked the narrow opening between the inclosure and house.  Suddenly one of them in the rear sheered round so that he looked at Neale.  It was but a momentary glance, but Neale sensed recognition there.  Then the man was gone and Neale sustained a strange surprise.  That face had been familiar, but he could not recall where he had ever seen it.  The red, leering, evil visage, with its prominent, hard features, grew more vivid in memory, as Neale’s mind revolved closer to discovery.

“Inside with you, Neale,” yelled Baxter.