As they approached the dwelling of the Heathcotes, better opportunity of
observing the condition of things, in and around the house, was of course
obtained. The position of the building would have rendered any attempt, on
the part of those in it, to gain the fort ere the arrival of assistance,
desperately hazardous, since the meadows that lay between them were
already alive with the ferocious warriors of the enemy. But it was evident
that the Puritan, whose infirmities kept him within doors, entertained no
such design; for it was shortly apparent that those within were closing
and barring the windows of the habitation, and that other provisions for
defence were in the course of active preparation. The feelings of
Content, who knew that the house contained only his wife and father, with
one female assistant, were excited to agony, as the party he commanded
drew near on one side, at a distance about equal to that of a band of the
enemy, who were advancing diagonally from the woods, on the other. He saw
the efforts of those so dear to him, as they had recourse to the means of
security provided to repel the very danger which now threatened; and, to
his eyes, it appeared that the trembling hands of Ruth had lost their
power, when haste and confusion more than once defeated the object of her
exertions.
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