A parting volley was let loose upon the enemy, and then the two paleface chiefs led back their band quickly, and rejoined the victorious warriors of the Iroquois chief, who had driven the Algonquins across the river with great slaughter. Only two were wounded, and none were missing, as Jack looked at his dusky warriors, but of the French quite twenty had been killed and wounded.
CHAPTER XII
THE WIGWAMS OF THE IROQUOIS
"The Algonquins are reeds that bend, but my paleface brothers are like the oak-tree!" exclaimed the Iroquois chief, as soon as he beheld the youths.
Thus briefly did the savage warrior pay a graceful tribute to the skill and courage of his friends who had held back the French, and at the same time refer modestly to his own victory.
"There is no time to lose!" exclaimed Jack. "The soldiers from the fort are close upon our heels, we did but delay their approach till we heard your signal. What is to be done? They are in a mood for vengeance."
"Ugh! Let the boats be burnt!"
The howl of the wolf, repeated twice, was given, and the next moment a column of smoke was observed in the direction of the canoes, followed by several loud explosions, as the kegs of gunpowder, which formed part of the lading, blew up.
The next instant the head of the French column appeared through the trees, and White Eagle, seeing the uselessness of continuing the fight against such overwhelming odds, withdrew across the stream with his warriors.
"The Wacondah calls us to our wigwams," he said; and now, lightened of their loads, and carrying only their rifles and scalps, the Iroquois struck across the forest in a south easterly direction, and soon put several leagues between themselves and the French, who arrived soon afterwards, only to find the ashes of the fire and the fragments of the canoes strewn around.