Four fires had been lighted directly they attacked to enable us to
keep 'em from scaling the stockade, but they showed us to the enemy,
of course.

"The redskins took possession of the houses which we had wanted to
pull down, and precious hot they made it for us. Then they shot such
showers of burning arrows into the village that half of the houses
were soon alight. We tried to get our men to sally out and to hold
the line of stockade, when we might have beaten 'em off if all the
village had been burned down; but it were no manner of good; each man
wanted to stick to his wife and family till the last. As the flames
went up every man who showed himself was shot down, and when at last
more than half our number had gone under the redskins brought up
fagots, piled 'em against the stockade outside, and then the hull
tribe came bounding over. Our rifles were emptied, for we couldn't
get the men to hold their fire, but some of us chaps as knew what was
coming gave the redskins a volley as they poured in.

"I don't know much as happened after that. Jack Robins and Bill
Shuter, who were old pals of mine, and me made up our minds what to
do, and we made a rush for a small gate that there was in the
stockade, just opposite where the Injuns came in. We got through safe
enough, but they had left men all round. Jack Robins he was shot
dead. Bill and I kept straight on. We had a grapple with some of the
redskins; two or three on 'em went down, and Bill and I got through
and had a race for it till we got fairly into the forest. Bill had a
ball in the shoulder, and I had a clip across the head with a
tomahawk. We had a council, and Bill went off to warn some of the
other settlements and I concluded to take to the water and paddle
back to you, not knowing whether I should find that the redskins had