d as he had been bidden, moving to and fro without fear
of exposing himself, for the downpour was so great that no man could have
loaded a musket with dry powder, and even while the storm continued the
circle was contracted until the commander was enclosed by a living hedge.

Then it was that orders were given for the men to take their stations in
couples, and, when one had discharged his rifle, the other was to wait
until the Indians came up to kill the supposedly defenceless soldier, when
a second bullet would be ready for them.

Much to my surprise, I heard General Herkimer say that a full hour had
elapsed from the time the first volley had been fired, and it stiffened
the courage of all to learn that we had been able to hold the foe in check
so long.

Immediately the summer storm had so far sub-sided that the weapons could
be loaded, the battle was continued, raging with even more fury than
before, as the enemy tried to overwhelm us by a sudden rush, and in a very
few seconds the painted fiends came to understand that it was no longer an
easy matter to tomahawk a man immediately after he had fired a shot.

When the savages found that their tactics were guarded against, it seemed
as if they lost courage, and gradually fell back a little, having had
quite as much of Whig marksmanship as was pleasing.

Because we could no longer see as many targets before us, the fire was
slackened considerably, and then some one on the outer lines of our
defensive circle shouted:

"They are bringin' up the Tories! Here come the Johnson Greens!"

Although I was standing well in the centre of our force, it was possible
to see the uniforms of that band of renegades which Sir John had armed and
equipped that they might kill their neighbors, as the men came up to take
the place of the retreating redskins, and, if anything had been needed to
stiffen the backs of our people, surely they got it when seeing those whom
they had once called friends, moving into line to compass their death.

I had thought that the men under General Herkimer's command fought bravely
after the cowards were weeded out, and those who were left understood
that, but for the mutiny in camp, the ambush would not have been
successful; but now they seemed like veritable tigers as the Tories came
into the battle.

There was no longer any thought of fighting from behind trees, but each
man pushed forward intent only on vanquishing the renegades, until none
save Serg