| OCR Text |
Show 398 TIIE ).ILY AND THE TOTEN. ment to lose. Our comrades arc in danger ! On ! Fools! they have delivered nearly or quite all their pieces; and if the snva.ge be not fled in terror, they arc at the mercy of l1is arrows. Onward, my brave Gascons! Let us save our brethren." The young captain led the advance, but though pushing forward with all industry, he did not forego the proper precautions. His men were already taught to sc:~.ttcr themselves, Indian fn.shion, through the forests, and at little intervals to pursue a parallel course to each other, so as to lessen the chances of surprise, and to offer as small a mnrk as possible to the shafts of the enemy. The shouts and clamor increased. They could distinguish the cries of the savages from those of the Frenchmen. Of the latter, they fancied they could tell particular voices of individuals. They could hear the flight of arrows, and sometimes the dull, heavy sounds of blows ns from a macann. or a clubbed arquebuse ; and a few moments sufficed to show them the savages darting from tree to tree, and here and there a Frenchman apparently bewildered with the number and agile movements of his foes, but still resolute to seek his victim. At this moment Alphonse D'Erlach stumbled upon a wounded man. lie looked down. It 'tns the Sergeant, J~e Caille himself. lie was stuck full of arrows; more than a dozen having penetrated his body, and one was yet quivering in his check just below his eye. Still he lived, but his eyes wore glazing. They took in the form of D'Erlach. The lip11 parted. " Le Grand Copal, Monsieur-ch !" was all ho said, when the death-rattle foUowed. He gasped, turned over with a single convulsion, and his concern ceased wholly for that golden city, in the search for which he bad forgotten every otllCr. D'Erlach gave but a. moment's heed to the dying man, then pushed forward for A.LPIIO!'iSJ,: D1J,;RLACH. 399 the rescue of those who might be living. TIJCy were .surrounded by more than fifty savages, and among the~ were scattered groups of 'vomen and even children. In fact, Le Cnille, in his pursuit of the Indian wounded by Rotrou, had happened upon 3 village of the Apalaehians. It was fortunate for D'Brla.ch that the savages were quite too busy with the first, to be conscious of the second pnrty. They had been brought on quietly, and, scattered as t!:ey had been in the approach, they were enabled to deliver their fire from an extensive range of front. It appalled the Indians, even 3..'! n thunder burst from heaven. They had gathered around tlJC few Frenchmen surviving of Lc Caillc's p..'l.rty, and were prepared to finish their work with hand-javelins and stone hatchets. The Frenchmen were not suffered to reload their pieces, and were reduced to the necessity of using them ns clubs. They were about to be overwhelmed when the timely fire of the nine pieces of D'Edach's party, the shout and the rush which followed it, struck death and consternation into the souls of their assailants, and drove them from their prey. With howls of fright and fury the red-men fled to deeper tl1ickets, till they should ascertain the mature and number of their new enemies, and provide themselves with fresh weapons. Dut D'Erlaeh was not disposed to afford them respite. IIis pieces were reloaded; those of the Frenchmen of Le Cuille-nll indeed who were able-jo\ncd themselves to his party, and the Indians were pressed through the thicket and upon their ,.illnge. To this they ~ed as to n place of refuge. Our Frenchmen stormed it, fired It over the heads of the inmates, and terrible was the slaughter wliich follo,vcd. The object of D'Erlach was obtnincd. He hnd struck such a panic into the souls of the savages, that he was permitted to draw off his people without molestation i but the in- |
