They uttered yells and whoops, and half the caps were riddled with bullets. But half a hundred red skins were in the open now in front of my marksmen.
“Let them have it all together!” I cried. “In the name of the King and Elizabeth! Fire!”
There was a burst of fire and a hail of lead into the half naked ranks, and the screeches that followed told us we had done some scath. Ere they had time to recover from their surprise my men let them have the contents of the second guns right in their midst.
When the smoke blew away we counted twenty-three dead bodies, while several more were desperately wounded. We had struck them a hard blow with no loss to ourselves, and they retreated to cover again.
“Ha, that was well done; most excellently done,” I heard a voice behind me say.
I turned about.
“Traitor, or no traitor, that was as prettily planned and executed as I could do myself,” and Carteret stood beside me.
“I am no traitor,” I said sternly, but, when I would have said more he stopped me.
“They have learned a lesson that will serve them for some time,” the Captain went on. “But, Amherst, grave matters press on the two sides I command. I have lost three men killed, and the rest seem afraid to fight, saying there is some mischief in the air. I think the devils are massing to rush the place. At least there is something afoot, for they have not fired a shot for the last five minutes. That is why I came here.”
I went with the Captain to the south side and looked from a loop. There was not an Indian in sight, nor were there any of the wicked puffs of smoke to tell where they hid. It was puzzling.