No hesitation was possible; the daring force must be dislodged at any cost from the post where they had so rashly ambushed themselves.
The Captain formed his resolve.
Collecting some twenty resolute men, while the others guarded the palisades, he had the drawbridge lowered, and rushed out.
The enemies then met face to face.
The medley became terrible; the White men and Redskins intertwined like serpents, drunk with rage and blinded by hatred, only thought of killing each other.
All at once an immense glare illumined the scene of carnage, and cries of terror rose from the colony.
The Captain turned his head, and uttered a shriek of despair at the horrible sight that met his terror-stricken gaze.
The tower and principal buildings were on fire; in the light of the flames the Indians could be seen bounding like demons in pursuit of the defenders of the colony, who, grouped here and there, were attempting a resistance which had now become impossible.
This is what had occurred:—
While Black-deer, Blue-fox, and the other principal Pawnee Chiefs attempted an attack on the front of the colony, Tranquil, followed by Quoniam, and fifty warriors, on whom he could depend, had got into the buffalo-hide canoes, silently descended the river, and landed in the colony itself, before the alarm was given, for the very simple reason that the Americans did not at all apprehend an attack from the side of the Missouri.