 | CHAPTER XIII. The doomed chief, or, Two hundred years ago |  |
13. CHAPTER XIII.
To freeze the blood, in one discordant jar,
Rung to the peeling thunderbolts of war,
Wooop after whoop with rack the ear assail'd;
As if unearthly fiends had burst their bar;
While rapidly the marksman's shot prevail'd,
And age, as mark'd for death, some stricken warrior wailed.”
For nearly two hours, after they reached the foot of the
tall dry pine before designated as the appointed rendezvous,
had Noel and his companions in arms anxiously awaited the
return of their adventurous leader. And as the slow minutes
passed away, and he did not make his appearance within the
time he had specified for so doing, their anxiety began to rise
to feelings of lively apprehension for his personal safety. Noel,
from knowing better than the rest, perhaps, the exactness
with which his superior was accustomed to keep his appointments,
became particularly uneasy; and having agreed with
his men on a signal for his recall, if any thing suddenly occurred
to require it, he left the spot and went down to the
borders of the pond as a more favorable place for distant views
and for detecting distant sounds, which might reach his ear
over the level of the water, indicating the approach of the
enemy, or any commotion there might have been created in
their camp. Here, after running his eye round the borders
of the pond and seeing nothing suspicious, he lay down on the
edge of the water, and brought his ear near to the motionless
surface, knowing from previous observations, that any weak
surface of water more than double the distance at which it
could be heard on land, and especially a forest covered land,
where such masses of objects continuously intervene to disturb
and break up the undulations of sound. Here, for some time
not the slightest murmur of a sound became perceptible to his
strained senses. Soon, however, some distant noise, as if a
sudden outbreak of human voices, came wafting in the disturbed
air from the quarter to which his attention was directed.
And, in a minute more, a similar, but much louder sound
came so distinctly to his ear, that he could no longer doubt,
that it was some uproarious shouting of a numerous assemblage
of men; while that peculiar shrillness of the mingling tones,
which so remarkably distinguish the voices of the American
aboriginals, from those of the European people, in all cases of
loud outcry, at once convinced the listener that the noise
must have proceeded from the camp of the enemy, who perhaps
had sent up that fierce shout as one of exultation on detecting
and seizing the spy, who had so boldly ventured among
them. A boding chill ran over the feelings of Noel; and
almost despairing for the fate of his friend, he rose to his feet,
again sent a searching gaze round the borders of the pond,
and then again fell to listening; when the report of a gun,
rising as he thought very near, but a little to the west of the
other sounds, came pealing through the forest. There was
yet hope, he thought; for a gun would not have been likely to
be fired under the circumstances, except at an escaping fugitive.
And if Captain Willis was that fugitive, as he suspected,
and had not been brought down by the shot, his chance of an
escape was by no means a foregone conclusion for one so well
known for his fleetness, especially in the forest. With this
view of the case, Noel instantly hastened back to his men, and
having stated to them his suspicions, and the reasons he had
for entertaining them, took two of his most reliable men, leaving
rapidly through the forest, in the direction in which he
thought his friend would be most likely to come, that, in case
of a pursuit, he might aid in a rescue. After proceeding
about a quarter of a mile, in this manner, with his two men
keeping pace with him, at short distance on his right and
left, he gave the signal for a momentary halt, with the view
of listening and reconnoitering for indications betokening the
approach and direction of the pursuers; when if any discoveries
were made, they would govern themselves accordingly, and if
not, move on, but now slower and with more caution.
“Hark! hark, there!” exclaimed Noel, to his nearest companion.
“Ay, ay; but what did you think you heard?” returned
the other.
“The yells of approaching Indians, not more than a half a
mile in front; and if so, they are probably on the trail of
your captain, who must now be near us. Keep a keen look-out
for his approach, and see to it that you don't mistake
him in his disguise, and fire on him for a foe.”
The caution, as the event of the next moment showed, was
not unnecessary, and even with it, the same man came near
falling into the fatal error, against which he had been just so
particularly warned; for the next instant he was seen cocking
his piece, and bringing it to an aim, as a quick, stealthy step
was heard approaching in the bushes, and glimpses of a human
form in an Indian dress were caught by the beholders.
“Hold, there—it is your captain!” sharply cried Noel.
“God forgive me!” said the man, lowering the muzzle of
his gun, with a look of horror, at the thought of what he
came so near doing.
“A thousand welcomes to you, Captain Willis!” exclaimed
the overjoyed lieutenant, now stepping out from his concealment,
as the other, with flushed looks, came swiftly gliding
your account for the last half hour, and now thank heaven to
see you here in a whole skin.”
“Ah!” said Willis, enquiringly, but with his usual calmness.
“Then you have guessed out something of the state of
the case, Noel?”
“Yes, in listening closely, distinguished a great shout—
then soon after heard a gun —suspected what was to pay, and
with these two men came forward to this place to help cover
your retreat, and here, a few minutes ago, heard their yells
in pursuit—read it all right, didn't I, captain?”
“We shall find it so, I fear.”
“How many do you think are on your trail?”
“Not a large number in the nearest gang—probably, not
more than fifteen or twenty; but others are continually
coming up from the aroused camp and falling into the
chase.”
“How near are those in the lead, do you imagine?”
“A hundred rods, perhaps.”
“So near! The last time they yelled, I thought they must
be nearly a half mile from us.”
“They were. They raised an outcry on discovering the
trail which they had lost, to apprise all other pursuers it was
found, and attract them to the spot. I know where I had
balked the greedy hounds, and before they gave the yell you
heard, indicating that they had again discovered the trail, I
had pulled on nearly a quarter of a mile further, where luckily
I came upon a succession of fallen trees, lying in different
directions, and so newly fallen and hard, as to leave no impression
of my foot steps, and having run some distance on
these, I jumped off on to a rock, on one side entirely out of
the line of my course. It is at this place, as I judge from
their long silence, that they are now finding themselves so
no time to spare.”
“Let us on then to the company instantly.”
“Yes; for we must all get out of the vicinity as far as possible
before we make a stand, least the sound of our guns soon
bring down upon us the whole of King Philip's forces,
which I found posted where we supposed them to be, not
much over a mile from this spot.”
“I have thought of all that, too, Captain Willis, and accordingly
ordered the company, before I left them, to prepare
themselves, and stand ready to march at a moment's warning.”
“That is fortunate, for we may not have a moment to lose
in keeping clear of them till it will be safe to give them battle.
There!” continued the speaker, motioning the others to
silence, as a shrill yell of exultation, rising from a point of
alarming proximity, rang through the forest, — “there! did you
hear that? They have found the trail, and are hot on the
chase. Now let each put his best foot forward for our company.”
With the rapid pace at which the officers and their men
now set forward, a few minutes sufficed to bring them to the
spot where the main body of their companions stood eagerly
awaiting their expected arrival. The eyes of the men sparkled
with joy at the appearance of their heroic young leader, and,
but for his forbidding gestures, would have given vent to their
feelings in the shout of exultation which seemed rising to
their lips.
“Thank you, my boys, just as much as if you had,” hastily
interposed the captain, with an appreciating glance; “but we
have those not far behind us, who would discover our position
much quicker by our voices than our trail. And I deem it
important to keep good our distance before them, some time
longer.”
He then, in a few direct words, informed them of their position
in relation to that of the enemy, explained the importance
of a rapid retreat, and, bidding them scatter into the woods
for separate, but parallel routs, directed them to make their
way with all the speed of which they were master, for the
southern point of a long narrow cove, which made in from the
bay two or three miles of the southwest of them, and which
they would be sure to reach by steering three or four points
to the right of the then noon-day sun. With these orders,
and with the general understanding, that if they were overtaken
by the pursuers before reaching their destination, they
should all stop, and rally towards the place where the first gun
should be heard, they instantly started on their race through
the forest. The policy of Captain Willis in scattering his
men widely into the woods, was destined to subserve even
more purposes than the ordinary ones for which it was intended,—those
of facilitating flight, and confusing the enemy, in
case of being overtaken. For the Indians, on reaching the
place where the company had been posted, and from which
they had just started, and on finding such a multitude of distinct
or separate trails leading off from the spot, supposed the
whites to number as many hundreds as in reality they did
tens, and that the apparent flight was only a ruse to draw them
into an ambuscade. This led to a delay till reinforcements
could be brought up, and then to a caution and tardiness in
pursuit, which afforded ample time to the pursued to reach
their destination and concentrate, before their pursuers arrived
in the vicinity. The head of the cove, at which the
company, coming in one by one from their rapid march, had
now collected, curved round to the south within half a mile
of the bay, so as to form with it a narrow neck of land, embracing
rough and rocky elevations in the centre, and extending
about a mile and a half northward. Here gathering on
the shaded bank of a small brook, they sat down to cool themselves,
and take a little refreshment, having first posted, at a little
distance in the rear, a few trusty pickets to guard against the
surprise, by which they were sadly conscious they were every
moment liable to be overtaken.
“I am not without hope,” observed Noel, after the demands
of appetite had been measurably satisfied by copious draughts
of water from the limpid stream at their feet, and portions of
food drawn from their knapsacks—“I am not without strong
hope, that we have so far outran the red devils that they have
given up the chase, and left us exempt from further molestation.
What is your opinion, Captain Willis?”
“My opinion is, that you will soon find yourself mistaken.
Metacom, now he knows his enemies have penetrated this
wilderness, where he doubtless supposed himself secure against
their intrusion, will never permit us to get away without an
attack, or, at least, without knowing our numbers and how we
came here. And I regret to say I have reasons for believing
it will be a desperate attack.”
“What are those reasons, captain?”
“They grow out of the fact which I think the old fox must
have discovered for the first time, in consequence of my visit
to his camp to-day; for while I made many discoveries there
which I deem of great consequence to the public to be known,
and which at the first leisure hour I will unfold to you, I
think he must have made one which I had much rather he
should not have known.”
“He must have discovered, of course, that there had
been a spy in his camp; but what further could he have
learned?”
“Who that spy was. Did I not tell you how I came to be
detected?”
“No; you told me nothing but to confirm my conjectures
that you were detected and pursued.”
“True; you are right. I had not time when we first met,
and this is the first oportunity we have since had to speak
together. Well, the only cause of my detection arose from a
provoking oversight of my own, in taking my rifle along with
me.”
He then briefly related the incidents connected with his
detection and escape, and resumed—
“Now, Metacom, who well knows who the owner of the
only gun like his own is, and who also knows how well
acquainted that owner is with the ways of the Indians, their
secret forest haunts, and almost every thing that relates to
them, will understand at a glance the importance of ridding
himself of such a foe. So you now see the force of my
reasons for expecting an attack.”
“I do; and I think we should lose no time in looking up
the place where we can defend ourselves to the best advantage.
Have you any such position in view?”
“I have several that would do. But, by way of best providing
for all contingencies, I think we had better make for
the northern point of this neck of land, where the advantages
for making a stand are as good, perhaps, as those of any other
place, and where, at least, we cannot be surrounded.”
At that instant, two muskets burst in quick succession from
the woods in the direction of their outposts, significantly apprising
the startled company that the enemy were at hand.
Every man, grasping his gun, hied to the nearest tree, and,
with cocked piece, awaited in watchful silence for the first
appearance of a foeman as a mark for his ready bullet. In
two or three minutes, the pickets came rushing in, and
reported that the Indians, in large numbers, had reached the
near vicinity, and appeared to be stealthily extending their
line across the neck about a furlong in the rear. And this
intelligence was the next moment confirmed by the appearance
of seemingly hundreds of painted warriors rapidly passing
and streaming along down the western slope, and throwing
themselves into a line extending from the hill across the entrance
of the neck to the bay beyond, with the evident intention
of cutting off all retreat for their intended victims along
the shore to the south.
“The red rascals really think they have got us now, to a
dead certainty, I suppose,” cheerily sung out Captain Willis to
his men, whom he noticed watching with uneasy looks this
movement of their foes; “but the labor of that cunning
manœuvre is lost, at least, I can tell them; for I had no
notion, as they seemed to have supposed, of proceeding along
the shore south to give them a chance to surround us on
three sides, instead of one, as they can only do in the place
to which we will now betake ourselves. So, courage, boys,
all will come out as safely for us yet, as it will fatally for our
foes, if they presume to pursue us.”
“Ay, I can testify to all that,” responded Noel, in the same
animated tones, as he glanced around to the company. “The
captain and myself had just been talking over the matter before
we heard the firing, and decided on marching to the
point where there is an open field, which Indians are always
shy about entering, and where there are plenty of large stones
to protect us, if they did. So let them follow us there, if
they like, and we will spot their red pictures for them as sure as
they try it.”
“There, my lads,” rejoined Willis, “you see that your
lieutenant is of the same opinion with me. Then let us put
ourselves in motion for the point. Take to the right of yonder
central ridge in front, for that is the most direct route—
move on lively there, my boys—no trouble in that direction.
All the danger will be in the rear, and that is a post I will
take myself.”
Starting off with eager alacrity, under the new impulse
cool and self-possessed young leader and his second in command
had given their sinking hearts, the men all hurried forward,
and, in their haste to reach the favoring location ahead,
to which they had been ordered to proceed, soon left their two
first officers considerably behind them.
“I thank you,” said Willis, as soon as he found himself
and friend fairly beyond the hearing of any of the men—“I
sincerely thank you, Noel, for backing me with those cheering
words. They were timely, and, as you saw, I presume,
much needed. The sight of the enemy in such unexpected
numbers and frightful appearance, had evidently struck the
men with dismay. And I don't much blame them for trembling
at our prospect, neither; for, though I would say it to
only you, Noel, it is as I feared. We have got to face a desperate
onset. But to suffer any misgivings to take possession
of the company, would only enhance the danger. Our salvation
must depend on our coolness and courage!”
The company, in the meanwhile, hurrying along in a close,
irregular column, had entered the long, rocky defile, formed
by the sharp central ridge before named, and the steep, ledgy
shore of the cove. Having here proceeded about a quarter of
a mile in this manner, they were diligently making their
difficult way over the fallen trees and rough, briar-clad rocks,
when their ears were suddenly assailed by a strange concatenation
of sounds, which seemed every where springing up all
at once, around and in front of them. It was a peculiar,
shrill, quavering noise, or rather combination of similar noises,
varied only by the different distances from which they came;
here, low and indistinct—there, loud and sharp; but all
maintaining the same unearthly, abhorrent tone—a tone resembling
something between a hiss and a whistle. With an
instinctive shudder, the men all stopped short in their tracks,
and exchanged quick glances of inquiry and apprchension.
“What was that?” exclaimed one, with a recoiling motion.
“What, in the name of heaven, was that?”
“Yes, what was it? What is it? Oh, what is it?”
quickly responded half a dozen others, in the same breath, as
the strange music burst forth afresh, and in fast and far
spreading chorus, at the sound of their voices.
They all now, with one accord, began to peer in among the
rocks and bushes from which the sounds seemed to proceed,
when first one, then another, then all who were in front, suddenly
started and leaped wildly back among their advancing
comrades, at the sight that had greeted their horrified senses.
They were in a den of countless rattlesnakes! All along the
front, from the insurmountable ledge on the left to the no less
precipitous descent of the rocks into the water on the right,
scores of the crawling monsters were seen lifting their gray,
menacing heads, and brandishing their forked tongues, as if
gathered to give battle to the intruders; while the commotion
of the leaves, as far back as the eye could reach, told that the
whole area of the pass, to an unknown distance in the rear,
was alive with the horrid progeny. And it was seen at once
that there was no way of getting by or round them, and that
the only alternative that remained was to retreat from the
defile in the way it was entered, or incur the hazard of the
almost certain death of many, if not all the company, by
rushing through the frightful array. But the men were not
long in deciding on what course they should pursue in the
unexpected emergency. One and all declared they had rather
face a thousand Indians than run the gauntlet through such a
congregated host of death-dealing reptiles, and accordingly
the whole company turned and rushed tumultuously back
toward the mouth of the pass.
While this singular scene was transpiring among the men,
their two officers, whom we left leisurely following on behind,
had noticed indications of the movements of their foes in the
a speed that soon brought them far into the defile, in which
they were vigorously pushing forward, when, to their utter astonishment,
they met their company in full retreat from the place.
“Halt!” thundered Captain Willis, to whom the unexpected,
and as he now particularly considered it, most unlucky
retreat, was wholly incomprehensible. “What in the
name of heaven does all this mean?”
The cause was at once explained to the surprised and irritated
officer by his shuddering followers, who described the
position and the numbers of the rattlesnakes to be such, that
no further progress in that direction could be undertaken except
at the imminent peril of all their lives. At first, both
Willis and Noel were incredulous, and tried to remonstrate with
the men, believing their accounts at least to have been much
exaggerated by their fears, and confidently asserting the opinion
that two or three persons going forward with long, light poles,
could easily clear the way, so that a passage could be effected
with entire safety. But with one accord, the men all resolutely
demurred; and when further pressed, absolutely refused
to return to renew the hazardous experiment, unitedly declaring
that they had far rather face the savage foe, whatever
their number, than again attempt to force a passage
among the myriads of venomous reptiles that so thickly environed
the only accessible way in that direction, and concluded
by offering to follow wherever their captain should
dare to lead them.
“So be it, then,” said the captain, his countenance now
changing from the look of mingled disappointment and anxiety
it had worn, to one of stern determination. “You shall
have your choice; but I cannot insure you an unmolested
march to the point in the only other way now left for us.
The red skins, I fear, have before this advanced and taken
possession of this long, woody ridge, separating us from the
passage to the point which we were to have reached by proceeding
on this side of the hill. Throw yourselves into a
scattering file, then, boys, and come on. Let not another
word or sound of footstep be heard, not a single gun be fired
unless to anticipate a shot from an enemy in your path.
When we get out to the thick woods, at the southern point
of the hill, where we must wind round to the opposite shore,
I will plunge on ahead. Follow, and keep up who can.”
Noel now falling into the rear, and Willis leading the way,
they all, with hurrying steps, silently made their way out of
the luckless defile, which had caused them a delay, that at
this juncture, they felt, was fraught with especial danger. The
moment the captain gained the border of the dense forest, where
he had apprised the men they were to double the southerly extremity
of the hill, he turned to them, mutely beckoned them
on, hastily pointed in the direction he was about to take,
glided into the thicket, and closely followed by his whole
company, sped his way, with many an uneasy glance around
him towards the yet comparatively distant position, which it
was now their great object to gain before their change of
movements should be detected by their wary foes, who were
doubtless looking for them in another direction. Fortunately
for these dangerously environed rangers, the trees were so
large and thickly planted, and the undergrowth so impervious
to the sight in this part of the woods, that they could be seen
only at the shortest distance. Favored by this circumstance,
and the fact that the attention of their enemies was turned
from them, they passed nearly through their whole reach of
woods, without the least molestation, or discovering any indications
of danger, either before or around them. And, as the long
sought opening was now in plain view before them, they began
to grow sanguine in the hope that they should entirely escape
the open assault or secret ambuscade, for which they
through the woods. But from their pleasing dream of escaping
this peril, they were destined to be the next moment most
fearfully awakened. Suddenly, and as unexpectedly as a
crash of thunder from an unthreatening sky, simultaneously
burst the reports of an hundred muskets from a line of low,
thick evergreen, within pistol shot on the right, on the astonished
band, as, totally unconscious of the vicinity of their
silent and secreted foe, they were moving along in close file
towards the opening. Captain Willis, who had already
reached the edge of the woods, amazed but undisturbed by
the perfect shower of bullets, which pierced his clothes, or
whistled over his head, gave the first thought for the fate of
his men, half of whom, at least, he supposed must have been
swept away by the terrible volley. But with a joy equalled
only by his surprise, he beheld every man on his feet, and
apparently unharmed.
“Not a gun! not a single gun!” he shouted as he saw several
of his men raising their pieces to return the fire,—“Give
God the thanks for this miracle if you escape under such a
volley as that, and follow me through the field to the point of
the neck as fast as your legs can carry you!”
“On! on, there!” thundered Noel, from the rear,—“Run!
for your lives, run! before the lifting smoke of their guns shall
give the balked devils another sight of you!”
Rallying from their dismay at the startling command of
their officers, as well as at the conviction, which now flashed
over their minds, of the extreme peril to which they would
be the next moment exposed, the men bounded forward with
a swiftness which the instincts of self-preservation could have
only imparted, and were quickly too far distant in the long
narrow field, through which their race for life led them, to be
harmed by the scattering volleys which their disappointed and
enraged foe continued to send after them.
The narrow bushy field, through which the devoted band
were now speeding their way before their hotly pursuing foes,
opened at length into a rough, stony piece of ground of several
acres, from which the forest had been cleared, scattering
stumps, a few old logs with an occasional tuft of bushes,
only remaining to screen an approaching foe. And it was
this open space which constituted the extreme point of the
neck, and the position selected by Captain Willis for making
his final stand against his savage pursuers; the nearest woods
being some hundred yards from the spot he proposed to occupy,
and the abundance of loose stones lying near it being
capable, with a little labor, of forming a tolerable breast-work
for the men. On reaching the point, the captain hastily
glanced over the ground, selected the spot he deemed the
most favorable for his purpose, and directed his followers, as
fast as they came up, to throw down their guns and fall to
work with might and main in throwing the stones into an irregular
wall, or, as they best could, into a line of heaps, each
large and high enough to protect at least two or three of the
men. Having put about half the company on this work, he
ordered the rest to scatter and throw themselves down behind
the best screening objects they could find along the field in
front, to watch and fire upon the enemy the moment they
should make their appearance. And the event soon showed,
that these movements had not been made, nor these precautions
taken any too promptly for their safety. For scarcely
had that division of the company ordered in front for the protection
of those engaged on the breast-work become fairly settled
behind the different screening objects, to which they had
betaken themselves, before a hideous yell of mingled wrath
and exultation fiercely burst from every point along the border
of the forest, telling the startled rangers that their far
out-numbering foes had arrived, formed a line from one side
of their destruction.
“Courage, my boys,” exclaimed Willis, fearing the dampening
effect of that terrific shout on the minds of his men—
“Courage! keep up brave hearts. The same Providence that
turned away that shower of bullets that were half an hour ago
poured upon you, will still protect your lives and bring you
off victorious.”
At that moment there was a visible movement of hasty
preparation among the low-lying and before motionless and
silent men all along the irregular line of the outpost; and with
the sharp clicking of cocking fire-locks, several voices, from
the more advanced positions, were heard in low, eager tones
announcing—
“They are coming! They are creeping in whole swarms to
the very edge of the woods! See! See! they are fixing for
a sudden rush! Aye, some of them have already worked
themselves along into plain sight!—Shall we fire, captain!”
“Not yet—keep cool a moment longer, boys,” returned the
captain, in sharp measured, half suppressed accents, while cocking
his own piece and carefully raising it to an aim through
the small bush behind which he was lying—“Not quite yet,
we want to give them a telling volley at the outset. Lie still
as mice, all of ye; and they will soon enough of them be out
in sight to give each of you a fair mark. Then make sure
of good and certain aims. There! I have got mine! Ready
all! fire!”
With the word, the air was rent by the sound of twenty
exploding muskets; and the men eagerly peering out from
their coverts, exultingly witnessed the effect of their well
directed volley, in the wild commotion of the savages who,
with yells of rage, were seen hastily dragging back their dead
and wounded into the recesses of the forest.
Three loud and quickly succeeding cheers spontaneously
of the death and discomfiture which their fire had carried into
the ranks of their hated foes.
“Ho! there, my men!” shouted Noel, who had taken
charge of those engaged on the breastwork—“Spring, now,
every man of you, to the work of tumbling up the stones,
while the smoke of your comrades' fire shall screen you from
the aim of the red skins. For the next five minutes, you are
safe; so on with work with a will!”
And they did so to the letter. If ever men were seen to
put forth desperate physical energies, it was on this emergency;
when all felt deeply and tremblingly conscious that if
their ruthless, and now highly exasperated enemy, outnumbering
more than five to one, probably their own feeble band
could not be deterred from an open charge and hand to hand
fight, their whole company were doomed to inevitable destruction.
And being equally conscious too, that their companions
in front must soon be driven back from the imperfectly screening
objects, which they now occupied, and which as those
objects became larger and more frequent towards the woods,
would enable the foe to advance with equal, or greater security,
the eager band now assisted by many of those who had
taken post with their arms in front, scrambled, lifted, and
toiled on, as men never toiled before, in perfecting their rocky
defenses. It was not many minutes, however, before their
open movements were detected through the dissolving clouds
of smoke by their vigilant enemies, who had mostly either
retained their old posts, or darted forward to others more in
advance. And quickly a shower of bullets, falling closely
around, and some even striking the very stones they were
grappling in their arms, was sent in among them, and drove
them behind their works to remain till an answering volley
from their outlying companions gave them another chance to
resume their labors, with no other danger than what necessarily
fired in that direction. In this manner, the men alternately
toiling and desisting, as the smoke of the firing screened, or
its absence exposed them, the work and the battle proceeded
together for the next two hours; when the swarming foe,
growing more determined and desperate every moment, and
beginning to work their way among the nearer coverts of the
open field, the beleagered little band, all except Captain Willis
and a few of bis best marksmen, occupying good positions on
the right and left wings, retired behind the works, now sufficiently
raised and extended to afford a comparatively good
protection to the whole company.
The battle now became general, and soon the whole field
was enshrouded in smoke, and the surrounding woods and the
distant shores of the bay resounded with the rattling reports
of incessant discharges of musketry, and the hideous yells of
the savage foe. The latter, however, for all their terrible outcries,
seemed in no haste to attempt the open encounter which
their opponents alone dreaded. But having already received
enough fatal lessons to teach them the sacrifice of life which
such an encounter would cost them, and now feeling sure of
their victims without incurring the sacrifice, they made only
the most cautious advances, and never exposed their persons
except when rising to fire, or dodging from one covert to another.
The gallant little band of rangers, in the meantime, greatly
encouraged in being thus unexpectedly enabled to keep their
bloodthirsty assailants at bay, and especially in their own
miraculous exemption from either death or wounds, from the
scores of hostile bullets which were almost incessantly whistling
immediately over their heads, or rattling like hail against
the stones of their defences, continued, with unflinching
hearts, to ply the work of loading their pieces, and discharging
them whenever they could catch a glimpse of a flitting
odds at which they were contending, to hope on, seemingly
against all hope, through the slowly succeeding hours of that
portentous evening.
With them it had been literally a day of hairbreadth
escapes and providential deliverances. And hour after hour
after that dread panic of the heart which all more or less feel,
it is said, in the first moments of battle, had subsided, they
fought on in the faith that in some way or other, though no
one could pretend to see how, they should still be delivered
from the terrible fate that to all human appearance was now
their unescapable doom. But as the sinking sun began to dip
on the western horizon, reminding them of the near approach
of darkness, for which the now more and more closely pressing,
and the more and more fiercely exulting foe, were evidently
only waiting to rush on for the bloody work of the
tomahawk—as their ammunition was nearly exhausted; and
finally as no prospect of succor, nor any earthly avenue of
escape from the impending destruction yet appeared to greet
their anxious gaze, both their faith and firmness gave way,
and soon, in spite of all the arguments of their still unwavering
young leader, a look of blank despair settled on every
countenance, while
“We are lost! we are lost!” rose in low, sad accents from
many a mouth along the line.
“We are not lost!” exclaimed Captain Willis, in tones
that roused every sinking heart to hope and expectation, as,
after anxiously running his eye over the bay, he eagerly
pointed towards a small vessel bearing down from the narrows
above, in full sail directly towards them. “We are not lost!
we are saved! I know that sloop and her brave master. See!
the crew are armed—they are throwing up planks for a breast-work,
and preparing to fire on our foe, by way of covering our
embarkation. Three cheers, my boys, for the welcome aid,
providential rescue.”
Like a flash of light scattering the darkness of midnight,
the announcement and the confirming sight of the fast approaching
vessel, changed everything in an instant. The
cheers were given with a will. The air was rent with the
redoubled fire, which, mingling with that of the ship's crew,
now coming to anchor near the shore, and sending out their
boat, effectually screened the embarkation; and within twenty
minutes, the last man of the rangers was on board, and the
sloop was moving triumphantly away, followed by the yells of
rage which burst from the balked savages on shore.
| CHAPTER XIII. The doomed chief, or, Two hundred years ago | |