_coup de main_. At the
latter the savages were expert enough, and on it they had mainly relied;
but, disappointed in this respect, they found themselves thrown back on
resources that were far from being equal to the emergency.

Tired of inactivity, Waally finally decided on making a desperate
effort. The ship-yard was still kept up as a place for the repairing of
boats, &c., and it always had more or less lumber lying in, or near it.
Selecting a party of a hundred resolute men, and placing them under the
orders of one of his bravest chiefs, Waally sent them off, on the run,
to bring as much timber, boards, planks, &c., as they could carry,
within the cover of the cliffs. Now, Betts had foreseen the probability
of this very sortie, and had levelled one of his carronades, loaded to
the muzzle with canister, directly at the largest pile of the planks. No
sooner did the adventurers appear, therefore, than he blew his match.
The savages were collected around the planks in a crowd, when he fired
his gun. A dozen of them fell, and the rest vanished like so much dust
scattered by a whirlwind.

Just at that moment, the cry passed along the Summit that the Rancocus
was in sight. The governor must have heard the report of the gun, for he
discharged one in return, an encouraging signal of his approach. In a
minute, a third came from the westward, and Betts saw the sails of the
Mermaid over the low land. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the
reports of the two guns from a distance, and the appearance of the two
vessels, put an end at once to all Waally's schemes, and induced him to
commence, with the least possible delay, a second retreat from the spot
which, like Nelson's frigates, might almost be said to be imprinted on
his heart.

Waally retired successfully, if not with much dignity. At a given signal
his men rushed for the water, plunged in and swam across the basin
again. It was in Betts's power to have killed many on the retreat, but
he was averse to shedding blood unnecessarily. Fifty lives, more or
less, could be of no great moment in the result, as soon as a retreat
was decided on; and the savages were permitted to retire, and to carry
off their killed and wounded without molestation. The last was done by
wheeling forward the planks, and crossing at the bridge.

It was far easier, however, for Waally to gain his canoes, than to know
which way to steer after he had reached them. The Mermaid cut off his
retreat by t