had time to load. One
of the most conspicuous of the chiefs who fought in the
battle of Miami assured the writer, that the red men could
not fight the warriors with "long knives and leather
stockings"; meaning the dragoons with their sabers and
boots.

"This is a subject that might better be discussed at another time,"
returned Heyward; "shall we charge?"

"I see no contradiction to the gifts of any man in passing his breathing
spells in useful reflections," the scout replied. "As to rush, I little
relish such a measure; for a scalp or two must be thrown away in the
attempt. And yet," he added, bending his head aside, to catch the sounds
of the distant combat, "if we are to be of use to Uncas, these knaves in
our front must be got rid of."

Then, turning with a prompt and decided air, he called aloud to his
Indians, in their own language. His words were answered by a shout;
and, at a given signal, each warrior made a swift movement around his
particular tree. The sight of so many dark bodies, glancing before their
eyes at the same instant, drew a hasty and consequently an ineffectual
fire from the Hurons. Without stopping to breathe, the Delawares leaped
in long bounds toward the wood, like so many panthers springing upon
their prey. Hawkeye was in front, brandishing his terrible rifle and
animating his followers by his example. A few of the older and more
cunning Hurons, who had not been deceived by the artifice which had been
practiced to draw their fire, now made a close and deadly discharge of
their pieces and justified the apprehensions of the scout by felling
three of his foremost warriors. But the shock was insufficient to repel
the impetus of the charge. The Delawares broke into the cover with the
ferocity of their natures and swept away every trace of resistance by
the fury of the onset.

The combat endured only for an instant, hand to hand, and then the
assailed yielded ground rapidly, until they reached the opposite
margin of the thicket, where they clung to the cover, with the sort of
obstinacy that is so often witnessed in hunted brutes. At this critical
moment, when the success of the struggle was again becoming doubtful,
the crack of a rifle was heard behind the Hurons, and a bullet came
whizzing from among some beaver lodges, which were situated in the
clearing, in their rear, and was followed by the fierce and appalling
yell of the war-whoop.

"There speaks the Sagamore!