This decision quickly caused
a change in the manner of the advance. The Indians took to covers, in
their turn, and the struggle assumed that desultory but dangerous
character, in which the steadiness and resources of the individual are put
to the severest trial. Success appeared to vacillate; the white men at one
time widening the distance between them and their friends in the dwelling,
and, at another, falling back as if disposed to seek the shelter of the
palisadoes. Although numbers were greatly in favor of the Indians, weapons
and skill supported the cause of their adversaries. It was the evident
wish of the former to break in upon the little band that opposed their
progress to the village, in and about which they saw that scene of hurried
exertion which has already been described--a spectacle but little likely
to cool the furious ardor of an Indian onset. But the wary manner in which
Dudley conducted his battle, rendered this an experiment of exceeding
hazard. However heavy of intellect the Ensign might appear on other
occasions, the present was one every way adapted to draw out his best and
most manly qualities.
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