tion was a very dangerous one. With the main body of his
command on the other side of the river, where it could give him no help,
Dale had to face a large body of Indians with only a dozen men, and, as
only one canoe remained on his side of the river, it was impossible for
the whole of the little party to escape by flight, as the canoe would
not hold them all.

Concealing his men in the bushes, behind trees, and under the
river-bank, he replied to the fire of the Indians, and kept them at bay.
But it was certain that this could not last long. The Indians must soon
find out from the firing how small the number of their adversaries was;
and Dale knew that as soon as the discovery was made, they would rush
upon him, and put the whole party to death.

He called to the men on the other side of the river to come over and
help him, but they were panic-stricken, probably because they could see,
as Dale could not, how large a body of Indians was pressing their
commander. The men on the other bank did, indeed, make one or two slight
attempts to cross, but those came to nothing, and the little party on
the eastern shore seemed doomed to destruction.

Bad as matters were with Dale, they soon became worse. An immense canoe,
more than thirty feet long and four feet deep, came down the river,
bearing eleven warriors, who undertook to land and attack Dale in the
rear. This compelled the party to fight in two directions at once. Dale
and his companions kept up the battle in front, while Jerry Austill,
James Smith, and one other man fought the warriors in the canoe to keep
them from landing. One of the eleven was killed, and another swam ashore
and succeeded in joining the Indians on the bank.

Seeing how desperate the case was, Dale resolved upon a desperate
remedy. He called for volunteers for a dangerous piece of work, and was
at once joined by Jerry Austill, James Smith, and a negro man whose name
was Caesar. With these men he leaped into the little canoe, and paddled
towards the big Indian boat, meaning to fight the nine Indians who
remained in it, although he and his canoe party numbered only four men
all told.

As the two canoes approached each other, both parties tried to fire, but
their gunpowder was wet, and so they grappled for a hand-to-hand battle.
Jerry Austill, being in front, received the first attack. No sooner did
the two canoes touch than an Indian sprang forward, and dealt the youth
a terrible blow with a war-clu