l, and the cannon. He felt prouder still when the general turned to
him and said:

"You have done well, Mr. Ware; you have shown us exactly where the enemy
lies, and that will save us many men. Now bigger voices than those of
the rifles shall talk."

The army stopped. The Indian position could be plainly seen. The crest
of the earthwork was lined with fierce, dark faces, and here and there
among the brown Iroquois were the green uniforms of the Royalists.

Henry saw both Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, the plumes in their hair
waving aloft, and he felt sure that wherever they stood the battle would
be thickest.

The Americans were now pushing forward their cannon, six three-pounders
and two howitzers, the howitzers, firing five-and-a-half-inch shells,
new and terrifying missiles to the Indians. The guns were wheeled into
position, and the first howitzer was fired. It sent its great shell in
a curving line at and over the embankment, where it burst with a crash,
followed by a shout of mingled pain and awe. Then the second howitzer,
aimed well like the first, sent a shell almost to the same point, and a
like cry came back.

Shif'less Sol, watching the shots, jumped up and down in delight.

"That's the medicine!" he cried. "I wonder how you like that, you
Butlers an' Johnsons an' Wyatts an' Mohawks an' all the rest o' your
scalp-taking crew! Ah, thar goes another! This ain't any Wyomin'!"

The three-pounders also opened fire, and sent their balls squarely into
the rifle pits and the Indian camp. The Iroquois replied with a shower
of rifle bullets and a defiant war whoop, but the bullets fell short,
and the whoop hurt no one.

The artillery, eight pieces, was served with rapidity and precision,
while the riflemen, except on their flanks, where they were more closely
engaged, were ordered to hold their fire. The spectacle was to Henry and
his comrades panoramic in its effect. They watched the flashes of fire
from the mouths of the cannon, the flight of the great shells, and the
bank of smoke which soon began to lower like a cloud over the field.
They could picture to themselves what was going on beyond the earthwork,
the dead falling, the wounded limping away, earth and trees torn by
shell and shot. They even fancied that they could hear the voices of the
great chiefs, Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, encouraging their men,
and striving to keep them in line against a fire not as deadly as rifle
bullets at close qua