exploding gunpowder.

"It cannot be Mexicans who are besieging the cabin," said Ned. "They
would shout or make some kind of a noise. We have not heard a thing but
the rifle shots."

"Your argyment is good," whispered the Panther. "Look! Did you see that
figure passin' between us an' the cabin?"

"I saw it," said Davy Crockett, "an' although it was but a glimpse an'
this is night it did not seem to me to be clad in full Christian
raiment. I am quite sure it is not the kind of costume that would be
admitted to the galleries of Congress."

"You're right, doubly right," said the Panther. "That was an Injun you
saw, but whether a Comanche or a Lipan I couldn't tell. The boys are
besieged not by Mexicans, but by Injuns. Hark to that!"

There was a flash from the cabin, a dusky figure in the woods leaped
into the air, uttered a death cry, fell and lay still.

"An', as you see," continued the Panther, in his whisper, "the boys in
the house are not asleep, dreamin' beautiful dreams. Looks to me as if
they was watchin' mighty sharp for them fellers who have broke up their
rest."

Crack! went a second shot from the house, but there was no answering
cry, and they could not tell whether it hit anything. But they soon saw
more dark figures flitting through the bushes, and their own position
grew very precarious. If a band of the Indians stumbled upon them they