ly blazes.
In one of these illuminations,
Dunlap saw the foe approaching,
Coming 'round to flank the columns
Of the bold midnight invaders.
Then he ordered forth his platoon,
To cut off the brave Militia,
To arrest the flanking Cornstalks,
When pell-mell fell all together,
In the hard-contested battle.
But the weak, outnumbered Guardsmen,
--Some among the twenty-seven--
Soon were caught and held in capture,
Soon were dragged within the circle
Of the annual encampment.
All the others scampered swiftly,
Scampered off in each direction,
Struggling, seeking to escape them,
Fleeing from the Regimentals.
Dunlap found himself confronted
By a single Lincoln Cornstalk,
(Dr. Huffman, a "Militia,")
Who essayed at once to take him.
Hand-to-hand in duel comic,
They careered with flintlocks rusty,
They embraced with bayonets blunted,
Dunlap all the while retreating,
Huffman all the while pursuing,
Till a wide ravine arrested,
Stopped their wild, ferocious progress.
Not for long the pause, however;
Dunlap, lithe of limb and active,
Sprang across the yawning chasm,
Huffman, chasing, fell within it,
Rolling down the steep embankment.
Then young Dunlap, still escaping,
Running from his checked pursuer,
Saw before him in the pathway
Another hand-to-hand encounter.
It was Stein, the burly Colonel
Of the conquering Militia;
It was Stein disarming Paddy,
Irish Paddy of the Guardsmen;
Stein disarming Surgeon Buford,
Of the Lancaster Battalion.
Lucky moment for the Guardsmen,
All their men were lost but fourteen,
Fourteen men of twenty-seven;
But the man that sent the challenge,
The bold Colonel of the Cornstalks,
Was divided from his soldiers,
Was a helpless prey before them.
Taking in the situation,
Gaming courage with good fortune,
Dunlap plunged at once to aid them,
Aid the surgeon and the private,
And when three to one in number,
To arrest the burly Colonel.
Then they clinched and fell and struggled,
Then they fought and rolled and rallied,
And arose but ne'er released him,
Till the man that sent the challenge
Was compelled to cry surrender.
"I surrender, _but don't duck me_,"
Pleaded hard the gallant Colonel.
And the victors, showing mercy,
Gathered up the scattered Guardsmen,
Fourteen men of twenty-seven,
And proceeded home in triumph,
Took their captive to the city,