He and his men got the deer and replenished their stores; but the wily leader of the Indian hostiles, Marin, heard the report, and came with his men in search of the cause of it.

He came at night, so cautiously and silently that some of the canoes which held his men, about five hundred in number, were abreast the fort before the sentinels discovered them.
The creek at this point was scarcely a hundred feet in width, the banks about fifteen or twenty feet in height.

A full moon was shining in the heavens, illumining spaces of water here and there, so that the oncoming Indians were plainly visible to the men behind the parapet, there awaiting, with fast-beating hearts, the signal to fire.

At a critical moment, one of the nervous soldiers accidentally struck his firelock against a stone, and the sound being heard by the foe, in an instant came the watchword for silence and caution--"Owish." The canoes in the van halted, and the others coming up, they were soon huddled together right in front of the breastwork.

This was the moment awaited by Putnam, who gave the signal for his men to fire by setting the example with his own musket.
The plunging fire, directed into the midst of the canoes, committed terrible execution.