When Running Fox and his companions returned to the camp they found everything in readiness for an attack. As there was no stockade about the village, the Delawares had hastily thrown up a number of barricades made of logs and stones. Inside of the camp were several large brush-piles to be lighted if the Mohawks attempted to enter the camp under cover of the darkness. Water had been brought from the river, and two boys had been selected to climb to the roof of each lodge as soon as the fighting began to watch for fire-arrows.
Running Fox went to Black Panther and gave him a full account of the fight with the Mohawks. The Delaware chief seemed much pleased, and said that if the Mohawks had not been intercepted and held up they would have reached the village before he had a chance to prepare for defense.
“My son, you have done a good thing,” he told Running Fox.
Soon afterward the scouts who had been sent across the river came into the camp, and said that they had seen nothing of their foes.
“That is good,” declared Black Panther. “Now we know that the Mohawks are all together.”
The Delawares had little fear that the Mohawks would begin their attack before dark, still they determined to be ready for any emergency. Therefore, as the sun sank slowly toward the hilltops they gathered in the center of the camp to receive their final instructions from the war-chief.
“My brothers, I have little to tell you,” said Black Panther. “You know what has happened. Now the Mohawks have come to fight us. Running Fox has broken the power of their great chief, Standing Wolf. I believe we will be able to overcome him. We must all be brave. We must keep our enemies outside of the camp. Pretty soon our brothers, the Minsi, will come to help us. No matter what happens we must keep fighting until they get here. Do not let anything make you afraid. If we win this great battle, the Mohawks will never trouble us again. I have finished.”
When Black Panther finished speaking the Delawares stationed themselves along the edge of the camp to watch for their foes. The night was well advanced, however, before they heard anything to rouse their suspicions. Then they heard the Mohawks signaling on two sides of the camp. It was evident, therefore, that there were either two distinct war-parties, or else the Mohawks had separated to attack the village on two sides.
The Delawares waited calmly at their posts, each man grimly determined to avenge the long list of tribesmen who had died at the hands of those fierce and implacable foes. The signals soon ceased, and then for a long time all was still. The Delawares waited in trying suspense. A little group of warriors huddled behind each barricade, and between them, at the edge of the camp, were others to close the gaps. Black Panther and the war-leaders moved back and forth between them.
The stillness was suddenly broken by a piercing yell, and a moment later it was answered by another on the other side of the camp. Then the Mohawks began their attack. They rushed toward the village shouting fiercely, but the Delawares faced them without a tremor. They waited until their foes were within a few bow-lengths of them, and then they rose and met them with such a deadly volley of arrows that the astounded Mohawks recoiled in confusion.