Push your men forward and draw their fire, Major." There came a low order; the soft shuffle of many mocassined feet; silence.

Presently, ahead of us, a single rifle-shot shattered the stillness.
Instantly a mighty roar of Tory musketry filled the forest; and their Indians, realizing that the ambuscade had been discovered, came leaping down the wooded ridge, yelling and firing all along our front; and our rifles began to speak quicker and quicker from every rock and tuft and fallen log.
"Are we to miss this ?" said Boyd, restlessly.

"Listen to that firing! The devil take this fellow Amochol and his Eries! I wish we were yonder with our own people.

I wish at least that I could see what our New Yorkers are about!" Behind us, Boyd's twenty riflemen stood craning their sunburnt necks; and my Indians, terribly excited, fairly quivered where they crouched beside us.

But all we could see was the rifle smoke sifting through the trees, and early sunshine slanting on the misty river.
The fierce yelling of the unseen Mohawks and Senecas on the wooded ridge above us had become one continuous and hideous scream, shrill and piercing above the racket of musketry and rifle fire; sometimes the dreadful volume of sound surged nearer as though they were charging, or showing themselves in order to draw us into a frontal attack on their pits and log breastworks; but always after a little while the yelping tumult receded, and our rifle fire slackened while the musketry from the breastworks grew more furious, crashing out volley on volley, while the entire ridge steamed like a volcano in action.