third; so that if the outer wall were
gained, the garrison could retreat behind one and the other.

De Soto very carefully reconnoitred the fort. He judged that the
slightest appearance of timidity, on his part, would so embolden the
savages as to expose him to great peril. Should he avoid the conflict,
to which he was challenged, and endeavor to escape, by fleeing before
his enemies, he would draw them down upon him with resistless fury.
Thus again he found himself impelled to rouse all the energies of his
army for the slaughter of the poor savages.

He formed his attacking force in three columns, to seize the three
entrances. The Indians, carefully noting these preparations, made a
simultaneous rush upon the Spaniards, pouring in upon them an
incessant volley of flint-pointed arrows. Notwithstanding the armor,
many of the Spaniards were wounded, the savages taking careful aim at
those parts which were least protected. The three storming columns
pressed vigorously on, while two bands of horsemen, twenty in each,
De Soto leading one of them, attacked the tumultuous foe on each
flank. The assault was resistless. The panic-stricken savages fled to
the fortress. The entrances were clogged by the crowd, and horsemen
and footmen, with their long sharp sabres cut down their foes with
enormous slaughter.

In the heat of the conflict an arrow, thrown by the sinewy arm of an
Indian, struck the steel casque of De Soto with such force that it
rebounded some sixteen feet in the air. The blow was so severe that it
almost unhorsed the Governor, and seemingly caused, as he afterwards
said, the fire to flash from his eyes. As the savages rushed pell-mell
into the fortress, their pursuers were at their heels, cutting them
down. The Spaniards were exasperated. They had sought peace, and had
found only war. De Soto had wished, in a friendly spirit, to traverse
their country, and they were hedging up his way and pursuing him with
relentless ferocity. He assumed that it was necessary, for the
salvation of his army, to teach them a lesson which they would not
soon forget.

The carnage within the fortress was dreadful. All was inextricable
confusion. It was a hand-to-hand fight. Wooden swords fell harmless
upon helmet, cuirass and buckler. But the keen and polished steel of
the Spaniards did fearful execution upon the almost naked bodies of
the Indians. Some climbed the palisades and leaped down into the
plain, where they were instantly