ounds, broke their fastenings and galloped into the
forest. But the kilted Highlanders and the red-coated
Royal Americans gallantly fought on. Their ranks were
being thinned; the fatiguing work of the previous day
was telling on them; their throats were parched and their
tongues swollen for want of water. Bouquet surveyed the
field. He saw his men weakening under the terrible strain,
and realized that something must be done promptly. The
Indians were each moment becoming bolder, pressing ever
nearer and nearer.

Then he conceived one of the most brilliant movements
known in Indian warfare. He ordered two companies, which
were in the most exposed part of the field, to fall back
as though retreating within the circle that defended the
hill. At the same time the troops on the right and left
opened their files, and, as if to cover the retreat,
occupied the space vacated in a thinly extended line.
The strategy worked even better than Bouquet had expected.
The yelling Indians, eager for slaughter and believing
that the entire command was at their mercy, rushed
pell-mell from their shelter, firing sharp volleys into
the protecting files. These were forced back, and the
savages dashed forward for the barricade which sheltered
the wounded. Meanwhile the two companies had taken position
on the right, and from a sheltering hill that concealed
them from the enemy they poured an effective fire into
the savages. The astonished Indians replied, but with
little effect, and before they could reload the Highlanders
were on them with the bayonet. The red men then saw that
they had fallen into a trap, and turned to flee. But
suddenly on their left two more companies rose from ambush
and sent a storm of bullets into the retreating savages,
while the Highlanders and Royal Americans dashed after
them with fixed bayonets. The Indians at other parts of
the circle, seeing their comrades in flight, scattered into
the forest. The defiant war-cries ceased and the muskets
were silent. The victory was complete: Bouquet had beaten
the Indians in their own woods and at their own game. About
sixty of the enemy lay dead and as many more wounded. In
the two days of battle the British had fifty killed, sixty
wounded, and five missing. It was a heavy price; but this
victory broke the back of the Indian war.

Many horses had been killed or had strayed away, and it
was impossible to transport all the stores to Fort Pitt.
What could not be carried wit