"Men to your square!" shouted the stranger, disregarding cover and
life, together, in such a pressing emergency; "to your square,
Christians and be firm!"
The command was repeated by Content, and echoed from mouth to mouth. But
before those on the flanks could reach the centre, the shock had come. All
order being lost, the combat was hand to hand one party fighting fiercely
for victory, and the other knowing that they stood at the awful peril of
their lives. After the first discharge of the musket and the twang of the
bow, the struggle was maintained with knife and axe; the thrust of the
former, or the descent of the keen and glittering tomahawk, being answered
by sweeping and crushing blows of the musket's but, or by throttling
grasps of hands that were clenched in the death-gripe. Men fell on each
other in piles, and when the conqueror rose to shake off the bodies of
those who gasped at his feet, his frowning eye rested alike on friend and
enemy. The orchard rang with the yells of the Indians, but the Colonists
fought in mute despair.
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