Seizing the weapon which was leaning against the foundation of
the block, he hurried past the mistress of the family, and, in another
minute, his voice and his musket were again heard ringing in the uproar.
"Does he bring tidings from the palisadoes?" repeated Ruth, too anxious
that the young man should return to his post, to arrest his retreat. "What
saith he of the onset?"
"The savage hath suffered for his boldness, and little harm hath yet come
to our people. Except that yon block of a man hath managed to put arm
before the passage of an arrow, I know not that any of our people have
been harmed."
"Hearken! they retire, Ruth. The yells are less near, and our young men
will prevail! Go thou to thy charge among the piles of the fuel, and see
that no lurker remaineth to do injury. The Lord hath remembered mercy, and
it may yet arrive that this evil shall pass away from before us!"
The quick ear of Ruth had not deceived her. The tumult of the assault was
gradually receding from the works, and though the flashings of the muskets
and the bellowing reports that rang in the surrounding forest were not
less frequent than before, it was plain that the critical moment of the
onset was already past.
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