rdice or
treachery.

Henrich and Jyanough approached the guard, who had thus thoughtlessly
left their post, and desired them immediately to return to their duty.
But while the men remonstrated on the uselessness of so strictly
keeping a watch, now that no present attack could be expected, they
were startled by the loud and furious barking of Rodolph, who had
wandered to the open gate, and thus gave ominous warning of approaching
danger. The terrified guard now reached to the gate, accompanied by
Henrich and Jyanough, when, to their dismay, they beheld in the faint
moonlight a large body of men approaching close to the fort.

They easily discerned that the foremost of the troop were Europeans;
and they raised a loud cry of 'Owannux! Owannux!'--Englishmen!
Englishmen!--which quickly aroused the sleepers, and brought them
towards the gate. In the next minute the fort was thickly hemmed in by
the British force, and a second dense ring was formed beyond them by
their Indian allies.

The main entrance was soon forced by the swords and muskets of the
vigorous assailants; and, though the Pequodees fought with all the fury
of despair, they were driven back, and compelled to retreat towards the
wigwams. They were closely pursued by their foes; and, at length, threw
themselves into the huts, which contained the terrified women and
children, and resolved to defend them to the last gasp. While the
murderous strife continued, the light of day began to dawn; and soon
the full glow of the rising sun revealed the work that had been done in
darkness. The ground was strewed with dead and dying Indians; but the
band of English warriors was yet unbroken, and was fiercely bearing
onward towards the wigwams. Their numbers were small, indeed, when
compared with those of their opponents; but the latter had no
firearms, and a panic seemed to have struck them from the force and
suddenness of the attack. Still they defended the lines of wigwams with
desperation, until Mason, with amazing boldness, entered one of them,
and, seizing a brand from the hearth, set fire to the roof of reeds. An
Indian warrior was in the act of levelling his arrow at him, when an
English officer sprang forward, and cut the string of the bent bow with
his sword.

This officer caught the eye of Henrich; and, though he knew not why,
riveted it by a strange and unaccountable attraction. He was a noble-
looking man; and, though his dark hair was slightly tinged with grey