The "fight ahead" was over quickly enough, for less than half a dozen Indians had clambered swiftly down to hide behind logs and rocks, and try to check the advance of the train. It was getting light enough for them to use their rifles, but so could the miners, and that was bad for that squad of "Wallopies," as Pat called them. Only two of them climbed up the rocks again, and all the harm they did was to wound three of the mules, and send a ball through the arm of a driver. Their friends on the heights were fairly driven to cover again by the storm of rifle-bullets sent after them, and Charlie Adams's carbine cracked as loudly as if he had been six feet high and weighed two hundred pounds.
"I wonder if I hit any of them?" he said to Rube, after they reached an open place and halted the train.
"Dunno 'bout that. Most likely. I kinder hope we barked some on 'em. But that there was a leetle the tightest squeeze I ever hed in Union Pass. All because I didn't muffle the bray of that mule."
"Did ye know," added Pat, "the big stone that kim into the ambylance mashed in the molasses kag? It's a swate mess they've made of it."
[LILY'S BALL.]
Lily gave a party,
And her little playmates all,
Gayly dressed, came in their best
To dance at Lily's ball.
Little Quaker Primrose
Sat and never stirred,
And, except in whispers,
Never spoke a word.
Tulip fine and Dahlia
Shone in silk and satin;
Learned old Convolvulus
Was tiresome with his Latin.
Snowdrop nearly fainted
Because the room was hot,
And went away before the rest
With sweet Forget-me-not.
Pansy danced with Daffodil,
Rose with Violet;
Silly Daisy fell in love
With pretty Mignonette.
But when they danced the country-dance,
One could scarcely tell
Which of these two danced it best—
Cowslip or Heather-bell.
Between the dances, when they all
Were seated in their places,
I thought I'd never seen before
So many pretty faces.
But of all the pretty maidens
I saw at Lily's ball,
Darling Lily was to me
The sweetest of them all.
And when the dance was over,
They went down stairs to sup,
And each had a taste of honey-cake,
With dew in a buttercup.
And all were dressed to go away
Before the set of sun;
And Lily said "Good-by!" and gave
A kiss to every one.
And before the moon or a single star
Was shining overhead,
Lily and all her little friends
Were fast asleep in bed.
[THE PIRATE KIDD.]
The tumult in New Amsterdam when, in August, 1664, English men-of-war appeared in the bay was excessive. An embassy was sent to the English commander, Nichols, at Gravesend Bay; it was composed of the Dutch clergyman and his brother, a physician. The English refused to hear of anything but submission, and brave Governor Stuyvesant yielded to the storm. No blood was shed, no gun fired; the town submitted peacefully to the invader, and its name was changed from New Amsterdam to New York.