60 The Winning of the West 



standing buffalo. Watching their chance, they 

 charged again and again with the tomahawk, glid- 

 ing into close quarters while their bewildered foes 

 were still blindly firing into the smoke-shrouded 

 woods. The men saw no enemy as they stood in 

 the ranks to load and shoot; in a moment, without 

 warning, dark faces frowned through the haze, the 

 war-axes gleamed, and on the frozen ground the 

 weapons clattered as the soldiers fell. As the com- 

 rades of the fallen sprang forward to avenge them, 

 the lithe warriors vanished as rapidly as they had 

 appeared; and once more the soldiers saw before 

 them only the dim forest and the shifting smoke 

 wreaths, with vague half glimpses of the hidden 

 foe, while the steady singing of the Indian bullets 

 never ceased, and on every hand the bravest and 

 steadiest fell one by one. 



At first the army as a whole fought firmly ; indeed 

 there was no choice, for it was ringed by a wall of 

 flame. The officers behaved very well, cheering and 

 encouraging their men; but they were the special 

 targets of the Indians, and fell rapidly. St. Clair 

 and Butler by their cool fearlessness in the hour of 

 extreme peril made some amends for their short- 

 comings as commanders. They walked up and down 

 the lines from flank to flank, passing and repassing 

 one another ; for the two lines of battle were facing 

 outward, and each general was busy trying to keep 

 his wing from falling back. St. Clair's clothes 

 were pierced by eight bullets, but he was himself 

 untouched. He wore a blanket coat with a hood; 



