ont, turned in panic flight,
leaving their comrades to their fate. No one can regret to
hear that they were pursued by the Indians, and suffered
more than if they had stood their ground.

As for the remainder of the force, flight was impossible.
They had entered a trap. It was fight or fall. Bullets,
arrows, war-axes hurtled through their ranks. Frightful
yells still filled the air. Many fell where they stood.
Herkimer was severely wounded, his horse being killed and
his own leg shattered. But, with a composure and cool
courage that have rarely been emulated, he ordered the
saddle to be taken from his horse and placed against a large
beech-tree near by. Here seated, with his men falling and
the bullets of the enemy whistling perilously near, he
steadily gave his orders while many of those who had called
him coward were in full flight. During the heat of the
action he took his tinder box from his pocket, calmly
lighted his pipe, and sat smoking as composedly as though by
his own fireside. A striking spectacle, that old man,
sitting in the midst of hottest battle, with the life blood
oozing from his shattered leg, smoking and giving his orders
with the quiet composure of one on dress-parade! It is one
of the most imposing pictures in the portrait-gallery of
American history.

The battle went on. If it was to be fight or fall, the brave
frontiersmen decided it should be fight. Great confusion
reigned at first, but courage soon returned, and though men
fell in numbers, the survivors stood their ground like
veterans. For nearly an hour the fierce affray continued.
The enemy surrounded the provincials on all sides, and were
pressing step by step closer. The whole force might have
been slain or captured, but for a wise suggestion of one of
their number and an admirable change in their line of
battle. Each small group was formed into a circle, and thus
they met the enemy at all points. This greatly increased
their defensive powers. So destructive now became their fire
that the British soldiers rushed upon them in rage, seeking
to break their line by a bayonet charge. They were boldly
met, and a hand-to-hand death-struggle began.

At this moment a heavy thunder-peal broke from the darkening
skies. Down poured the rain in drenching showers. Lightning
filled the air. Crash after crash of thunder rolled through
the sky. Checked in their blood-thirst by the fury of the
elements, the combatants hastily separated and ran for