In this
condition, the men in and about the fort were compelled to be inefficient
spectators of the scene that was taking place around the
"Heathcote-house," as the dwelling of old Mark was commonly called.
The fortified building had been erected for the protection of the village
and its inhabitants, an object that its position rendered feasible; but it
could offer no aid to those who dwelt without the range of musketry. The
only piece of artillery belonging to the settlement, was the culverin
which had been discharged by the Puritan, and which served for the moment
to check the advance of his enemies. But the exclamations of the stranger,
and the appeal to his men, with which the last chapter closed,
sufficiently proclaimed that the attack was diverted from the house, and
that work of a bloody character now offered itself to those he and his
companion led.
The ground around the dwelling of the Heathcotes admitted of closer and
more deadly conflict than that on which the other portions of the combat
had occurred. Time had given size to the orchards, and wealth had
multiplied and rendered more secure the inclosures and out-buildings.
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