"The fire was set on the outside," he said. "It was no
carelessness of our men. Some enemy has done this!"
"It is true!" exclaimed Wyatt furiously. "Out, everybody! The
house burns fast!"
There was a rush for the door. Already ashes and cinders were
falling about their heads. Flames leaped high, were caught by
the roaring winds, and roared with them. The shell of the house
would soon be gone, and when Tories and Iroquois were outside
they saw the remainder of their band pouring forth from the other
house, which was also in flames.
No means of theirs could stop so great a fire, and they stood in
a sort of stupefaction, watching it as it was fanned to greatest
heights by the wind.
All the remaining outbuildings caught, also, and in a few moments
nothing whatever would be left of the tiny village. Braxton
Wyatt and his band must lie in the icy wilderness, and they could
never use this place as a basis for attack upon settlements.
"How under the sun could it have happened?" exclaimed Wyatt.
"It didn't happen. It was done," said Coleman. "Somebody set
these houses on fire while we slept within. Hark to that!"
An Iroquois some distance from the houses was bending over the
snow where it was not yet melted by the heat.
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