HOW A GIRL SAVED A FORT

Wherein we see how a brave girl risked her own life to save that of others.

Betty Zane moved with her parents to the Ohio country. The new home was in a western wilderness, but all the settlers were full of hope and courage. They lived in a big square fort with a high fence of logs on every side, and at each corner a strong-house with loop holes for guns.

Betty liked the place and soon began to do her share of the work, for everybody was busy at Fort Henry, as the place was called. All around were thick woods where the Indians lived, and Betty could hear the wolves howling in the depths of the forest. Soon other settlers came to live with the first comers, for in those days the strength of the white men depended on their numbers.

The Revolutionary War began just about this time. The Indians were treacherous and savage. The English wanted their help, and offered a good price for the scalp of every settler. One day a message came in great haste to Fort Henry. It was that the Indians were on the war path and traveling rapidly toward Fort Henry. The alarm was given and all the settlers hurried into the fort to make ready for the attack.

Betty peeped through a crack in the wall and saw the Indians sneaking through the woods. Soon they were everywhere, dodging and hiding in the underbrush. The leader of the band held a flag of truce. He was a white man. All the settlers knew Simon Girty. He hated the white people and willingly led the Indians against them.

He told the people in the fort that if they would surrender no harm would befall them, but that if they resisted the fort would be destroyed and every man, woman and child would be put to death. Colonel Sheppard answered that as long as there was one person alive in the fort it would be defended.

Then the fighting began. The yells of the Indians filled the air, and the bullets whistled through the trees. Colonel Sheppard was dismayed to find his powder nearly all gone. A keg of it had been left outside in one of the cabins, and they must have it if they were to win. He called for a volunteer to go after the powder. The cabin was so far away that it was almost certain death to try to reach it.

Then Betty Zane came forward. She was a brave girl, and told them that she would go for the powder. The gate was opened before any one could stop her. The men cried, “Come back and we will go,” but she ran all the faster. She seized a bag of powder and started back. The Indians fired upon her, but not a bullet touched her. Into the gate she ran and gave the powder to the men, while they cheered her for her bravery. With the powder that Betty had brought the men kept the savages at bay. Soon some hunters came to aid the settlers, and together they drove the Indians into the woods and away from the fort. Colonel Sheppard told the newcomers how “brave Betty Zane” had saved Fort Henry and the settlers from the savage Indians.