He at once landed a portion of his army and some cannon on the river bank, and on some nearby islands, and began that very day to cannonade Fort Lévis with vigor.
“What a noise!” said Dave, and he was right; the din was terrific, for the French replied with vigor. The fort was composed principally of logs and dirt, which the cannon balls sent flying in all directions. The soldiers had but little to do, and Dave sat in the top of a tall tree watching proceedings.
The bombardment of the fort continued for three days, when the stronghold was more than half battered to pieces. Pouchot, seeing he could not hold out, at last surrendered, and he and his brave men became prisoners.
The Indians under General Johnson had waited patiently for the surrender of the French, and when they saw the flag go down many of them rushed for their canoes, their intention being to visit the fort, and kill and scalp Pouchot and those around him. But Sir William Johnson would not allow this.
“You must stay back; there will be no scalping here,” he said.
“No scalping!” cried a hundred voices at once. “We must have scalps or we will not fight,” said others; and thereupon more than half of the Indians withdrew from the expedition in disgust.
Dave was glad to see that White Buffalo had not taken part in the attempted rush on the French after the surrender. But when he spoke of it to the chief the Indian hardly knew how to answer.
“White Buffalo cannot understand,” he said at last. “Ten of his braves have left. The French are our bitter enemies—then why not kill and scalp them? The great Sir William must know what is best—but the poor Indian cannot understand.”
“It isn’t Christian-like, that’s why, White Buffalo. After an enemy gives in we ought to treat him fairly and squarely.”
“The French would let their Indians kill and scalp you, David.”