eath.

In the meantime, the fearful Prophet is filled with doubt. Now that the
hour of destiny is at hand, his heart fails him. He counsels caution
and a postponement of the fight. He urges that a treaty be entered into;
a compliance made with the demands of the Governor, and that the
Potawatomi murderers be surrendered up. The army must be thrown off its
guard and a treacherous attack made on its return home. But the young
men and warriors think otherwise. Has not the Prophet told them that the
white man's bullets are harmless, and that his powder will turn to sand?
Why hesitate? The army is now asleep and will never awake. Let the Magic
Bowl be produced, the sacred torch and the "Medean fire." Let there be
death to all!

At a quarter past four o'clock in the morning the Governor arises to
pull on his boots. The moon is now obscured, and a drizzly rain is
falling. The camp fires are still burning, but beyond the lines of
sleeping men, all is darkness and gloom. The sentinels out there in the
night are listening to strange sounds. Through the tall grass of the
swamp lands terrible forms are creeping, like snakes on their bellies,
towards the camp. The painted and feather-bedecked warriors of the
Prophet are surrounding the army.

In two minutes more an aide is to awake the drummer and have him ready
by the fire to beat the reveille, when all at once the attack begins. A
sentinel, standing on the bank of Burnet's Creek near the northwestern
angle of the camp, sees an object crawling on the ground. He fires and
runs toward the line--the next moment he is shot down. With demon yells
the savages burst upon the ranks of Captain Barton's company and
Geiger's riflemen.

In an instant the camp is alive and the men spring to arms, but there is
no disorder or confusion. In Barton's company a sergeant and two
privates are up renewing the fires, and immediately give the alarm. Two
savages penetrate the camps but are killed within twenty yards of the
line. A corporal in Barton's company is shot as he steps to the door of
his tent. Another corporal and a private are killed and a sergeant
wounded as the lines are forming, but immediately afterwards a heavy
fire is opened and the charging red skins are driven back. The attack on
the Kentuckians is particularly ferocious. A hand to hand fight ensues.
One of Geiger's men loses his gun and the captain runs to his tent to
get him another. He finds some savages there "ransacking its con