ed to follow up the fire
and assault his men while blinded by the smoke. Yet he was not
dismayed. He urged his men to stand firm in the face of this new
danger.

"If the worst comes, my men," said he, "if this fire reaches us, we
will charge through it, meet the redskins in the open ground, and send
them to a hotter place than they have prepared for us." The fire burned
fiercely until within a few yards of the intrenchments, and the men
were blinded and nearly suffocated by the smoke. But again the fortunes
of war were with the beleaguered band, for just before the fire reached
them the wind shifted squarely about, came down off the hills from the
west, and the fire, blown back upon its own blackened embers, faltered,
flickered, and died out. At this lucky turn in their fortunes the
soldiers cheered wildly, and the Indians cursed savagely.

The men had left the wagons in the forenoon of the previous day with
one day's rations, but in the charge across the river many of their
haversacks had been filled with water, and the scant supply of food
that remained in them destroyed. Others, more fortunate, had divided
their few remaining crackers with their comrades who were thus
deprived, so that all were now without provisions and suffering from
hunger. The gulch in which they had taken cover was dry and rocky, and
as the August sun poured his scorching rays upon the men they suffered
for water. True, the river flowed within a few hundred yards of them,
but the man who attempted to reach it did so at the risk of his life,
and there were no more lives to spare. Not until nightfall did the
commanding officer deem it prudent to send out a fatigue party for
water. Then three men volunteered to go, and under cover of darkness,
and of a firing party, they made the trip safely, filling and bringing
in as many canteens as they could carry.

The men cut up Lieutenant Woodruff's horse (which the Indians had
conveniently killed within the lines), and as they dared not make
camp-fires, devoured full rations of him raw. The night was cold, and
again the men suffered greatly for bedding. The Indians kept firing
into the woods occasionally, even after dark, so that the soldiers were
unable to rest. Once or twice they charged up almost to Gibbon's lines
and delivered volleys on the men, but were speedily repulsed in each
case by a fusilade from the intrenchments.

General Gibbon had heard nothing from his wagon-train since leaving it,
an