Part 16 (1/2)
In vain, however, I looked No huuish, either on thethe trees in the distance The day drew on; perhaps, if our friends had discovered the vicinity of the Indians, they ht wait under cover till dark, but if they had not seen them they would make at once for the fort Still they did not coht before us of anxiety and watchfulness The saht, and Alick and I, assisted by Martin, were continually ht have the whole horde of savages upon us; yet, in theto defend ourselves, except to keep our h we could tell the direction in which the Indians had retreated, there was no use in firing into the empty air
The silence we reater effect on our enemies than the loudest shouts we could have raised
”I wish they would come on,” exclaimed Martin; ”the fellows, after all, are but arrant cowards Theyto have things all their oay I suspect they are far enough off by this time”
”We must not depend too much upon that,” I observed ”If they think that they can surprise us they will try again Perhaps they fancy that we suppose we have driven the till our eyes are fast closed”
”I wonder what o'clock it is,” said Martin
”Notsee the light breaking in the eastern sky”
Scarcely had I uttered the words when Martin, who had gone back to his loophole, whispered, ”There they are again, but co on very differently to the first ti round the whole front and side of the fort I hurried down to Alick, warning the men in a low voice to be on the alert We went over to the opposite side Fro nearer and nearer
It was very evident that the Indians had surrounded the fort, and intended to attack us simultaneously on every side Alick immediately distributed the men in equal parties round the stockade, and directed them as before to await his order to fire The hoop the eneh Suddenly the air was rent by the loudest andfrom every side of us, and the next instant showers of arrows, and a few bullets, ca above our heads, and directly afterwards the Indians appeared elooh for every bullet to take effect
Most of our men were tolerable shots, but the Indians, instead of rushi+ng straight forward, kept leaping froh we had our second ed on by their for forward at so rapid a rate that before we could fire a large nu pieces of light timber, with notches in theaged in throwing these down as fast as they were placed against the palisades, while the rest by Alick's orders kept firing rapidly away, taking up musket after musket
Active as ere, several of the enemy climbed to the top of the palisades, but were hurled backwards, or, being shot as they appeared, fell down into the fort In spite of the fate which had overtaken their coet in Should two or three succeed, they, with their toht keep a space clear for a sufficient tiht be taken Now they made a desperate assault on one side, now on another, but were each ti a platform on which we could run rapidly from place to place as ere required, while the eneh palisade to climb before they could reach the top This enabled us to defend ourselves in a e could not otherwise have done; still the Indians vastly outnumbered us, and seemed determined not to abandon their enterprise Several of our men had been wounded, but not severely, while nu thehisat an Indian who had cli a broadshich he had secured to his side, all the tih! Doith the spalpeens Arrah!
now you're co in, are you? Just take that thin, and find out that you've made a mistake”
The last sentence he uttered as he ran an Indian through the shoulder and hurled him back into the ditch
Eachfor his life No mercy could be expected should the fort be taken; still, in spite of the courage and activity displayed by our people, there seemed too much probability that the eneht likely that they would attack the towers, but Alick considered it necessary to keep a man in each, as ordered to fire ahile he watched to give notice should the enemy attempt to attack that part of the fort
The darkness prevented us fro theout that I saw a considerable nu froh perhaps with less energy than before
So hts of arroere continually shot at us, and our ears were assailed with theout on the west side, I saw a dense loom, and tolarge fagots
I told Alick what I had seen, and he immediately summoned six of our best men to that side of the fort, for its defence
It was clearly the intention of our eneainst the walls, so as to fill up the ditch and form a path up which they could climb, or to set them on fire and burn down the stockades
Alick, supported by Pat with half a dozen men, stood ready to receive them; while others in the towers, which enfiladed the walls, kept up a hot fire which struck down several of the Indians as they rushed up to place their fagots
It being necessary, of course, to defend the walls on the other side, Martin and I were hurrying here and there asthe ene
”Here they come,” I heard Alick shout out
At the same moment a terrific hoop sounded in our ears