They rushed in a crowd into the interior of the fort, massacring and scalping the enemies whom they encountered in their passage.
Four American soldiers only were left standing; the others were dead.
The captain entrenched himself in the middle of the staircase which led to the platform.
"My friends," he said to his comrades, "die without regret, for I have killed the man who betrayed us."
The soldiers replied by a shout of joy to this novel consolation, and prepared to sell their lives dearly. But at this moment an incomprehensible thing took place.
The cries of the Indians ceased, as if by enchantment.
The attack was suspended.
"What are they about now?" the captain muttered; "What new devil's trick have these demons invented?"
Once master of all the approaches to the fort, Eagle Head ordered the fight to cease.
The colonists who were made prisoners in the village were brought, one after another, into his presence: there were twelve of them, and four were women.