es,
the assailants would be upon us; and we should be engaged in the last
struggle of our lives--without the slightest probability of being able
to save them!

CHAPTER FIFTY NINE.

THE ASSAULT.

With the prospect of such fatal issue--so proximate as to seem already
present--no wonder that our hearts were dismayed at sight of the waggon
moving towards us. As the inhabitants of a leaguered city behold with
fear the advance of the screened catapult or mighty "ram," so regarded
we the approach of that familiar vehicle--now a very monster in our
eyes. We were not permitted to view the spectacle in perfect security.
As the waggon moved forward, those who carried the muskets drew still
nearer under cover of their horses, and once more played upon us their
uncertain but dangerous shower. With the bullets hissing above and
around us, we were forced to lie low--only at intervals raising our
heads to note the progress of the party proceeding to storm.

Slowly but surely the machine moved on--its wheels turning under the
impulse of brawny arms--and impelled forward by pressure from behind.
To fire upon it would have been of no avail: our bullets would have been
thrown away. As easily might they have pierced through a stockade of
tree-trunks. Oh! for a howitzer! but one discharge of iron grape to
have crashed through those planks of oak and ash--to have scattered in
death, that human machinery that was giving them motion! Slowly and
steadily it moved on--stopping only as some large pebble opposed itself
to the wheel--then on again as the obstacle was surmounted--on till the
intervening space was passed over, and the triumphant cheer of our
savage foemen announced the attainment of their object.

Risking the straggling shots, we looked over. The waggon had reached
the base of the butte; its tongue was forced up among the trees--its
body stood side by side with the granite prisms. The storming party no
longer required it as a shield: they would be sufficiently sheltered by
the great boulders; and to these they now betook themselves--passing
from one to the other, until they had completely surrounded the butte.
We observed this movement, but could not prevent it. We saw the Indians
flitting from rock to rock, like red spectres, and with the rapidity of
lightning flashes! In vain we attempted to take aim; before a barrel
could be brought to bear upon them, they were gone out of sight. We
ourselves, galled by the lea