The frontiersmen

by Gustave Aimard

Scarcely was the resolution formed and the party arranged ere the door received another shock, and was immediately thrown wide open by Barton. There were gathered before it ten or twelve Indians, four of whom held in their hands a log of five or six inches in thickness and about twelve feet in length, with which they were endeavoring to force the door. Immediately the five rifles inside were discharged, and two of the Indians fell. The remainder, surprised at this sudden attack, for a moment seemed paralysed. The Tuscarora, no longer to be restrained, but impelled not only by his Indian instincts, but by his hatred of the Senecas, leaped from the door, with his knife in his hand, upon one of the prostrate Indians.

At this sudden appearance of the Tuscarora, the Senecas filled the air with shrieks, and rushed towards him. But ere they had reached him, he rose erect with the scalp of the Seneca in his hand, and waving it over his head, uttered his defiance with a ferocious scream. Ichabod and Ralph, in a moment, were by his side; and now commenced a hand-to-hand combat, most desperate, indeed, on the part of the besieged. Barton and the negro, who had again loaded their rifles, once more discharged them upon the Senecas, and then sprang to the assistance of their friends. Another Indian had fallen, so that now there was no such fearful disparity of odds as when the strife commenced. Had it not been for the impulse of the Tuscarora, the ruse of Ichabod would have been completely successful; but Ralph, although engaged warmly in the melee, saw the unfortunate position in which they were now placed. There were at least a dozen more of the Senecas about the cottage, who would be immediately attracted hither by the noise of the conflict, while the cottage was now entirely undefended, and Ruth exposed to the hostility of any savage who might take advantage of the conflict to force his way into the building.

"To the door!" cried he; "retreat towards the door at once."

The darkness added to the terror and difficulty of the conflict. Ichabod found himself, at first, engaged with Snake-tongue; but a blow from the butt-end of his rifle ended the unequal conflict, and the Seneca lay disabled. "Take that, you infarnal slanderer," he cried, as he dealt the blow. "Learn to use your cussed snake's tongue with more moderation, when speaking of respectable females." But Deersfoot now rushed upon him, and a strife commenced, more equal; both strong and powerful in frame, they were well matched. Ichabod caught the first blow of the tomahawk upon his rifle, and then, ere the Indian could use his knife, his long, muscular arms were about him. For a moment they wavered, as in an equal struggle, when both fell to the ground. At the same moment, a number more of the enemy came leaping to join the conflict.

"To the door, for your lives!" shouted Ralph. The contest was now desperate; and slowly retreating, they reached the door, the Tuscarora, being last to cross the threshold. The Indians followed, leaping into the doorway; but the Tuscarora, with the sweep of his rifle, for a moment drove them backwards, then springing within, the door was closed.

None of the party had escaped without injury; and it was not until the door was closed, and the air rang with triumphant yells from the Senecas, that it was discovered that Ichabod was missing. The first impulse was again to open the door, and rescue him, at any odds; but a moment's reflection taught Ralph, that such a course, now that the Senecas were reinforced, would only put their own lives in the utmost jeopardy, without their being able to assist their friend.

"No good for you to open door," said Eagle's-Wing, "I go and save friend."

"No, no, Eagle's-Wing," exclaimed Barton, "you cannot save him now; and you will only lose your own life, and peril ours. They will not take his scalp, but they will yours."

"That true—won't kill him to-night, any way. He great warrior—they like to torture great warriors. We save him to-morrow, some way."

It was with a feeling of sorrow that Ralph acknowledged their inability to do anything for the rescue of Ichabod. Willingly would he have risked his own life; but there was Ruth—who together with the others, might be sacrificed by the imprudent attempt. With a feeling of deep grief, he was obliged to leave him to his fate.