ey dimly discerned the wigwams of
the savages. Concealing themselves within musket shot, they waited
patiently for the light to reveal their foes. The Indians were in a
very dead sleep from a great debauch in which they had engaged during
the early part of the night. The night had been warm, and they were
sleeping upon the ground around their wigwams. At an appointed signal,
every gun was discharged upon the slumberers, and a storm of bullets
fell upon them and swept through their wigwams. Many were instantly
killed, and many wounded. The survivors, in a terrible panic, men,
women, and children, sprang from the ground and rushed to the river,
attempting to escape to the other shore.

They were just above some rapids, where the current was very swift and
strong. Numbers attempted to swim across the stream, but were swept by
the torrent over the falls. Some sprang into canoes and pushed from
the shore. They presented but a fair mark for the bullets of the
colonists. Wounded and bleeding, and whirled by the eddies, they were
dashed against the rocks, and perished miserably. Many endeavored to
hide in the bushes and among the rocks upon the shore. Captain Holyoke
killed five with his own hand under a bank. About three hundred
Indians were slain or drowned in the awful tumult of these midnight
hours. Several of the most conspicuous of the Indian chiefs were
killed. Only one white man lost his life. In the midst of the
confusion the wigwams of the Indians were set on fire, and the black
night was illumined by the lurid conflagration. The flashing flames,
the dark billows of smoke, the rattle of musketry, the shouts of the
assailants, the shrieks of women and children, and the yells of the
savage warriors, presented a picture of earthly woe which neither the
pen nor the pencil can portray.

At last the morning dawned. The sun of a serene and beautiful May day
rose over the spectacle of smouldering ruins and blood. The victors,
weary of sleeplessness, of their night's march, and of the carnage,
sat down among the smoking brands and amid the bodies of the slain to
seek refreshment and repose in this exultant hour of victory.

But disaster, all unanticipated, came upon them with the sweep of the
whirlwind. It so happened that Philip himself was near with a thousand
warriors. A captured Indian informed them of this fact, and instantly
the victors were in a great panic. They were but one hundred and fifty
in number. Their only r