Several of the little garrison,
careless, or too impatient to fire only through the roughly made
loopholes, lost their lives in this way; and some others were picked off
by Indians who had managed to get into the high branches of neighbouring
trees, and thence, concealed behind thick foliage, fired on the
garrison, for a time with impunity, till by chance it was discovered
from where the fatal shots were coming.
Meantime, for the white men it was almost like letting off their rifles
into the night; seldom could a Redskin be seen, and men fired only at
the spots where the smoke of Indian muskets hung about the undergrowth,
or where they saw a spirt of flame.
And so the fight went on, hour after hour, till many of the defenders
had fallen, and the necessity of husbanding ammunition slackened the
fire of Kerr and his comrades. Then the Indians, knowing that the white
men were few, abandoning caution tried to rush the breastwork. But now
necessarily they exposed themselves, and as the white men had reloaded
the empty rifles of their dead and wounded comrades, and thus had at
least two apiece ready, heavy toll was taken of the stormers, and the
Redskins were beaten back. Time and again was this repeated, once even
during the night--just before dawn.
Pages:
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177