e had singled out his victim before he turned round to take the
musket from me.

As yet none of our people had been killed, though some of the enemy's
shot had found their way through the loopholes in the windows and doors.
Growing, however, more desperate at the loss of their companions, and
burning for revenge, they rushed up closer to the house, pouring in
their fire, which searched out every hole and cranny. Some of the
slaves who incautiously exposed themselves were the first to suffer. A
poor fellow was standing at the window next to me. A bullet struck him
on the breast. It was fired from a tree, I suspect. Down he fell,
crying out piteously, and writhing in his agony. It was very dreadful.
Then the blood rushed out of his mouth in torrents, and he was quiet. I
sprang forward, intending to help him. The pale light of the lantern
fell on his countenance. He looked perfectly calm. I thought he was
resting, and would get up soon and fire away again. My glance was but
momentary, for the captain called me back to my post.

The fire on this became hotter and hotter. Two more negroes were
struck. They did not fall, but cried out most piteously. One of the
English gentlemen was next shot. He fell without a groan. The captain
told me to run and see where he was hurt. I tried to lift him up, but
his limbs fell down motionless. There was a deep hole in his forehead,
through which blood was bubbling. I suspected the truth that he was
dead. I told the captain that he was hit on the head. "Leave him,
then, Jack," said he; "you can do him no good."

On my return, I looked at the negro who had been first hit. He, too,
was motionless. I tried to place him in a sitting posture, but he fell
back again.

"Let him alone, Jack," cried the captain; "his work is done; he's no
longer a slave."

I thus found that the negro also was dead. It seemed very dreadful to
me; I burst into tears.

I cried heartily as I knelt loading the muskets, forgetting that in a
short time the captain, and I, and every one in the house, might be in
the same state. Had not the whites shown great determination, all must
before this have fallen victims to the rage of the Maroons. Numbers of
our enemies were shot, but still they rushed on, resolved to destroy the
house and all in it.

While the uproar they made was at its height, a loud battering was heard
at one of the doors. The enemy had cut down the trunk of a young tree,
an