Further the experienced eye
of the borderer saw he could not follow. Many of his men were bleeding,
and growing weaker as their wounds still flowed. The protection of the
trees gave the enemy too great an advantage for their position to be
forced, and destruction would have been the inevitable consequence of the
close struggle which must have followed a charge. In this stage of the
combat, Dudley began to cast anxious and inquiring looks behind him. He
saw that support was not to be expected, and he also saw, with regret,
that many of the women and children were still busy, transporting
necessaries from the village into the fort. Falling back to a better line
of covers, and to a distance that materially lessened the danger of the
arrows, the weapons used by quite two-thirds of his enemies, he awaited,
in sullen silence, the proper moment to effect a further retreat.
It was while the party of Dudley stood thus at bay, that a fierce yell
rung in the arches of the forest. It was an exclamation of pleasure,
uttered in the wild manner of those people; as if the tenants of the woods
were animated by some sudden and general impulse of joy.
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