Indians were, they were thrown into a panic, and fled
precipitately into the town.

In the retreat from the town, about twenty of the Spaniards had been
cut off from their comrades, and had taken refuge in the house
assigned to the Governor. Here they valiantly defended themselves
against fearful odds. The bold storming of the place by the Spanish
troops rescued them from their perilous position. But now all the
warriors of both parties crowded together in the public square, fought
hand to hand with a ferocity which could not be surpassed. Though the
natives were far more numerous than their foes, and were equally brave
and strong, still the Spaniards had a vast superiority over them in
their bucklers, their impenetrable armor, and their long, keen sabres
of steel.

De Soto, conscious that the very existence of his army depended upon
the issue of the conflict, was ever in the thickest of the battle,
notwithstanding the severity of the wound from which he was suffering.
At length, to drive his foes from the protection of their houses, the
torch was applied in many places. The timber of which they were built
was dry almost as tinder. Soon the whole place was in flames, the
fiery billows surging to and fro like a furnace. All alike fled from
the conflagration. The horsemen were already upon the plain, and they
cut down the fugitive Indians mercilessly.

The sun was then sinking; Mobila was in ruins, and its flaming
dwellings formed the funeral pyre of thousands of the dead. The battle
had lasted nine hours. To the Spaniards it was one of the most
terrible calamities. Eighty-two of their number were slain. Nearly all
the rest were more or less severely wounded. Forty-five horses had
been shot--an irreparable loss which all the army deeply mourned.

In entering the city, they had piled their camp equipage against the
walls. This was all consumed, consisting of clothing, armor,
medicines, and all the pearls which they had collected. The disaster
to the natives was still more dreadful. It is estimated that six
thousand of their number perished by the sword or the flames. The fate
of the chieftain is not with certainty known. It is generally supposed
that he was slain and was consumed in the flames of his capital.

The situation of the Spanish army that night was distressing in the
highest degree. They were hungry, exhausted, dejected, and seventeen
hundred dangerous wounds demanded immediate attention. There was but
one