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Show Page 195 "Rawhunt," I whispered. "You were my friend." I fainted. ******************** I awoke, scarce believing I yet lived. My heart thudding within my breast, I forced myself to look down to the ground where I had last seen Margaret and the Indians. There was no one there. I listened but heard no screams. Smoke still billowed about the settlement. The company compound, the company barn, most of the houses were smoking rubble. Part of the church still stood. Richard's new house seemed untouched. The fort was unharmed. The only white people I could see were the few inside the fort, standing upon the earthen platform behind its palisade walls. Every few minutes someone would fire at an Indian that chanced to come within range, but for the most part the natives paid the defenders no heed. They were busy sorting through their plunder and completing their butchery. Not content with having killed the settlers, they were now hacking up the bodies. They had tied John Boys' body to the tree in his palisade yard. I recognized him by his shredded green dowlas shirt, for only his torso remained. |