I saw and heard, and yet it was all a confused medley, in which I bore active part while scarcely realizing its significance.

I saw men reel stumbling back, some falling heavily; I heard shouts, oaths, cries of pain, the piercing shrieks of stricken animals; there was the crunch of blows, a wild, inhuman cheer, a gruff order yelled above the uproar, the rush of bodies hardly distinguishable.
The thin line of Hessians were flung aside as though they were paper men; eager hands gripped the astounded Rangers, and dragged them from their saddles.

It was a fierce hand-to-hand _melee_ so swiftly fought as to be over with almost in a minute, and yet so desperate the narrow roadway was strewn with bodies.

Frightened horses whirled and ran; wagons were overturned; hemmed in against the high walls, Germans and British made one mad effort to extricate themselves; the advance guard came spurring back, pushing blindly into the ruck, the boyish voice of their young lieutenant sounding above the uproar.

But our men were between the two, a compact body, each borderman fighting independently, but knowing the game.