they and the whole group of scouts were just behind Henry. But they
now took breath, reloaded their rifles, and, throwing themselves down
in Indian fashion, opened a deadly fire upon their antagonists. Their
bullets searched all the thickets, drove out the Iroquois, and compelled
them to retreat anew.

The attack was now pressed with fresh vigor. In truth, with so much that
the bravest of the Indians at last yielded to panic. Thayendanegea and
Timmendiquas were carried away in the rush, and the white leaders of
their allies were already out of sight. On all sides the allied red and
white force was dissolving. Precipitate flight was saving the fugitives
from a greater loss in killed and wounded-it was usually Indian tactics
to flee with great speed when the battle began to go against them-but
the people of the Long House had suffered the greatest overthrow in
their history, and bitterness and despair were in the hearts of the
Iroquois chiefs as they fled.

The American army not only carried the center of the Indian camp, but
the heavy flanking parties closed in also, and the whole Indian army
was driven in at every point. The retreat was becoming a rout. A great,
confused conflict was going on. The rapid crackle of rifles mingled with
the shouts and war whoops of the combatants. Smoke floated everywhere.
The victorious army, animated by the memory of the countless cruelties
that had been practiced on the border, pushed harder and harder. The
Iroquois were driven back along the Chemung. It seemed that they might
be hemmed in against the river, but in their flight they came to a ford.
Uttering their cry of despair, "Oonali! Oonali!" a wail for a battle
lost, they sprang into the stream, many of them throwing away their
rifles, tomahawks, and blankets, and rushed for the other shore. But the
Scouts and a body of riflemen were after them.

Braxton Wyatt and his band appeared in the woods on the far shore, and
opened fire on the pursuers now in the stream. He alone among the white
men had the courage, or the desperation, to throw himself and his men
in the path of the pursuit. The riflemen in the water felt the bullets
pattering around them, and some were struck, but they did not stop. They
kept on for the bank, and their own men behind them opened a covering
fire over their heads.

Henry felt a great pulse leap in his throat at the sight of Braxton
Wyatt again. Nothing could have turned him back now. Shouting to the
rif