When we had fired a second volley of our fusees, we thought they
stopped a little, and I hoped they would have gone off, but it was
but a moment, for others came forward again; so we fired two
volleys of our pistols; and I believe in these four firings we had
killed seventeen or eighteen of them, and lamed twice as many, yet
they came on again. I was loth to spend our shot too hastily; so I
called my servant, not my man Friday, for he was better employed,
for, with the greatest dexterity imaginable, he had charged my
fusee and his own while we were engaged - but, as I said, I called
my other man, and giving him a horn of powder, I had him lay a
train all along the piece of timber, and let it be a large train.
He did so, and had but just time to get away, when the wolves came
up to it, and some got upon it, when I, snapping an unchanged
pistol close to the powder, set it on fire; those that were upon
the timber were scorched with it, and six or seven of them fell; or
rather jumped in among us with the force and fright of the fire; we
despatched these in an instant, and the rest were so frightened
with the light, which the night - for it was now very near dark -
made more terrible that they drew back a little; upon which I
ordered our last pistols to be fired off in one volley, and after
that we gave a shout; upon this the wolves turned tail, and we
sallied immediately upon near twenty lame ones that we found
struggling on the ground, and fell to cutting them with our swords,
which answered our expectation, for the crying and howling they
made was better understood by their fellows; so that they all fled
and left us.
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