hit them all three; to which purpose, the
man who was to fire put three or four bullets into his piece, and having
a fair loop-hole, as it were, from a broken hole in the tree, he took a
sure aim, without being seen, waiting till they were within about thirty
yards of the tree, so that he could not miss.

While they were thus waiting, and the savages came on, they plainly saw,
that one of the three was the runaway savage that had escaped from them;
and they both knew him distinctly, and resolved that, if possible, he
should not escape, though they should both fire; so the other stood
ready with his piece, that if he did not drop at the first shot, he
should be sure to have a second. But the first was too good a marksman
to miss his aim; for as the savages kept near one another, a little
behind in a line, he fired, and hit two of them directly; the foremost
was killed outright, being shot in the head; the second, which was the
runaway Indian, was shot through the body, and fell, but was not quite
dead; and the third had a little scratch in the shoulder, perhaps by the
same ball that went through the body of the second; and being dreadfully
frightened, though not so much hurt, sat down upon the ground, screaming
and yelling in a hideous manner.

The five that were behind, more frightened with the noise than sensible
of the danger, stood still at first; for the woods made the sound a
thousand times bigger than it really was, the echoes rattling from one
side to another, and the fowls rising from all parts, screaming, and
every sort making a different noise, according to their kind; just as it
was when I fired the first gun that perhaps was ever shot off in
the island.

However, all being silent again, and they not knowing what the matter
was, came on unconcerned, till they came to the place where their
companions lay in a condition miserable enough. Here the poor ignorant
creatures, not sensible that they were within reach of the same
mischief, stood all together over the wounded man, talking, and, as may
be supposed, inquiring of him how he came to be hurt; and who, it is
very rational to believe, told them that a flash of fire first, and
immediately after that thunder from their gods, had killed those two and
wounded him. This, I say, is rational; for nothing is more certain than
that, as they saw no man near them, so they had never heard a gun in all
their lives, nor so much as heard of a gun; neither knew they anythi