"Good!" yelled Barringford. "That's the trick to play. Now we are goin' to show 'em a thing or two, by George!"
"If only it works," came anxiously from Dave.
"I don't understand it," said Rodney. "Are those companies going to retreat?"
"Jest far enough to deceive the redskins, Rodney."
With wild yells the two companies of Highlanders retreated on the road, and the others scattered as previously mentioned. Seeing the companies going back, the Indians raised a blood-curdling din.
"The English are retreating! The white dogs cannot withstand our fire! Forward, and slay them all!" came from the throats of the red men, and without stopping to think twice they rushed forward, poured into the road, and made after the soldiers who were on the run.
The dust was kicked up on all sides, and in the general confusion of this and gun smoke, added to the wild stampede of many horses, some of the regulars slipped away, made a double-quick march through some timber, and came up on the outside of the Indians. The red men were now caught from without and within, and realized only too late how they had been tricked.
"Fire!" was the command given, and a deadly volley was poured into the Indians. Then the regulars and sharpshooters began to pick off the chiefs. The Indians tried to break away, and in a twinkling fierce hand-to-hand encounters were in progress on all sides. The red men used their tomahawks and the rangers their hunting knives.
Side by side the Morrises and Barringford fought as gallantly as ever. A big Indian chief leaped upon Rodney and hurled him backward, but ere the red warrior could do further harm, there came a lightning-like stroke from Barringford's hunting knife and the chief fell, struck to the heart. Then another warrior threw his tomahawk at the old frontiersman, but Dave put up his rifle and the hatchet merely hit the barrel of the weapon.
Finding they could not hope to hold their own, the Indians began to retreat on both sides of the road. They broke through the troops as best they could and ran in a dozen different directions. The soldiers were ordered to go after them, and some were chased for the best part of half a mile. Finding themselves pursued so far, they hid among the trees and rocks, where they remained until nightfall made it safe for them to retreat still further.