Suddenly I heard a shot. In a moment a thousand voices raised a yell in
the village; again the cry rose on the night air, and was followed by
broken shouts as of scattered parties of men bounding into the woods.
Then I heard another shout loud and close at hand. It was the voice of
the captain cursing the man who had fired the premature shot. Then came
the order, "Forward!" followed by a wild hurrah of our men as they
charged the savages. Shots now rang in quick succession, and at last a
loud volley startled the echoes of the woods. It was followed by a
multitude of wild shrieks, which were immediately drowned in another
hurrah from the men; the distance of the sound proving that they were
driving their enemies before them towards the sea.
While I was listening intently to these sounds, which were now mingled
in confusion, I was startled by the rustling of the leaves not far from
me. At first I thought it was a party of savages who had observed the
schooner, but I was speedily undeceived by observing a body of natives
--apparently several hundreds, as far as I could guess in the uncertain
light--bounding through the woods towards the scene of battle. I saw at
once that this was a party who had outflanked our men, and would
speedily attack them in the rear. And so it turned out; for in a short
time the shouts increased tenfold, and among them I thought I heard a
death-cry uttered by voices familiar to my ear.
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