1763, June.] ATTACK ON THE SCHOONER. 289 



Hours wore on, and nothing had broken the 

 deep repose of the night. The current gurgled 

 with a monotonous sound around the bows of the 

 schooner, and on either hand the wooded shores 

 lay amid the obscurity, black and silent as the 

 grave. At length, the sentinel could discern, in 

 the distance, various moving objects upon the dark 

 surface of the water. The men were ordered up 

 from below, and all took their posts in perfect 

 silence. The blow of a hammer on the mast was 

 to be the signal to fire. The Indians, gliding 

 stealthily over the water in their birch canoes, 

 had, by this time, approached within a few rods 

 of their fancied prize, when suddenly the dark side 

 of the slumbering vessel burst into a blaze of can- 

 non and musketry, which illumined the night like 

 a flash of lightning. Grape and musket shot 

 flew tearing among the canoes, destroying several 

 of them, killing fourteen Indians, wounding as 

 many more, and driving the rest in consternation 

 to the shore. ^ Recovering from their surprise, they 

 began to fire upon the vessel from behind their 

 breastwork ; upon which she weighed anchor, and 

 dropped down once more beyond their reach, into 

 the broad river below. Several days afterwards, 

 she again attempted to ascend. This time, she met 

 with better success ; for, though the Indians fired 

 at her constantly from the shore, no man was hurt, 

 and at length she left behind her the perilous chan- 

 nels of the Islands. As she passed the Wyandot 

 village, she sent a shower of grape among its yelp- 



1 Pontiac MS. 

 19 



