61 THE BATTLE OF BUSHY RUN. [1763, Aug. 



awaited them ; while even victory would not ensure 

 their safety, since any great increase in their num- 

 bers would render it impossible for their comrades 

 to transport them. Nor was the condition of those 

 who had hitherto escaped an enviable one. Though 

 they were about equal in number to their assailants, 

 yet the dexterity and alertness of the Indians, 

 joined to the nature of the country, gave all the 

 advantages of a greatly superior force. The enemy 

 were, moreover, exulting in the fullest confidence 

 of success ; for it was in these very forests that, 

 eight years before, they had nearly destroyed twice 

 their number of the best British troops. Through- 

 out the earlier part of the night, they kept up a 

 dropping fire upon the camp ; while, at short inter- 

 vals, a wild whoop from the thick surrounding 

 gloom told with what fierce eagerness they waited 

 to glut their vengeance on the morrow. The camp 

 remained in darkness, for it would have been dan- 

 gerous to build fires within its precincts, to direct 

 the aim of the lurking marksmen. Surrounded by 

 such terrors, the men snatched a disturbed and 

 broken sleep, recruiting their exhausted strength 

 for the renewed struggle of the morning. 



With the earliest dawn of day, and while the 

 damp, cool forest was still involved in twilight, 

 there rose around the camp a general burst of those 

 horrible cries which form the ordinary prelude of 

 an Indian battle. Instantly, from every side at 

 once, the enemy opened their fire, approaching 

 under cover of the trees and bushes, and levelling 

 with a close and deadly aim. Often, as on the pre- 



