Beyond he saw the vanishing forms of the Royal Greens and the Rangers in full flight.But the Wyandots and the best of the Iroquois still stood fast until the pressure upon them became overwhelming.When the line of bayonets approached their breasts they fell back.Skilled in every detail of ambush, and a wonderful forest fighter, the Indian could never stand the bayonet.Reluctantly Timmendiquas, Thayendanegea and the Mohawks, Senecas, and Wyandots, who were most strenuous in the conflict, gave ground.Yet the battlefield, with its numerous trees, stumps, and inequalities, still favored them.They retreated slowly, firing from every covert, sending a shower of bullets, and now and then tittering the war whoop.
Henry heard a panting breath by his side.He looked around and saw the face of Heemskerk, glowing red with zeal and exertion.
"The victory is won already!" said he."Now to drive it home!""Come on," cried Henry in return, "and we'll lead!"A single glance showed him that none of his comrades had fallen.
Long Jim and Tom Ross had suffered slight wounds that they scarcely noticed, and they and the whole group of scouts were just behind Henry.But they now took breath, reloaded their rifles, and, throwing themselves down in Indian fashion, opened a deadly fire upon their antagonists.Their bullets searched all the thickets, drove out the Iroquois, and compelled them to retreat anew.
The attack was now pressed with fresh vigor.In truth, with so much that the bravest of the Indians at last yielded to panic.
Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were carried away in the rush, and the white leaders of their allies were already out of sight.On all sides the allied red and white force was dissolving.
Precipitate flight was saving the fugitives from a greater loss in killed and wounded-it was usually Indian tactics to flee with great speed when the battle began to go against them-but the people of the Long House had suffered the greatest overthrow in their history, and bitterness and despair were in the hearts of the Iroquois chiefs as they fled.
The American army not only carried the center of the Indian camp, but the heavy flanking parties closed in also, and the whole Indian army was driven in at every point.The retreat was becoming a rout.A great, confused conflict was going on.The rapid crackle of rifles mingled with the shouts and war whoops of the combatants.Smoke floated everywhere.The victorious army, animated by the memory of the countless cruelties that had been practiced on the border, pushed harder and harder.The Iroquois were driven back along the Chemung.It seemed that they might be hemmed in against the river, but in their flight they came to a ford.Uttering their cry of despair, "Oonali! Oonali!" a wail for a battle lost, they sprang into the stream, many of them throwing away their rifles, tomahawks, and blankets, and rushed for the other shore.But the Scouts and a body of riflemen were after them.
Braxton Wyatt and his band appeared in the woods on the far shore, and opened fire on the pursuers now in the stream.He alone among the white men had the courage, or the desperation, to throw himself and his men in the path of the pursuit.The riflemen in the water felt the bullets pattering around them, and some were struck, but they did not stop.They kept on for the bank, and their own men behind them opened a covering fire over their heads.
Henry felt a great pulse leap in his throat at the sight of Braxton Wyatt again.Nothing could have turned him back now.
Shouting to the riflemen, he led the charge through the water, and the bank's defenders were driven back.Yet Wyatt, with his usual dexterity and prudence, escaped among the thickets.
The battle now became only a series of detached combats.Little groups seeking to make a stand here and there were soon swept away.Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas raged and sought to gather together enough men for an ambush, for anything that would sting the victors, but they were pushed too hard and fast.A rally was always destroyed in the beginning, and the chiefs themselves at last ran for their lives.The pursuit was continued for a long time, not only by the vanguard, but the army itself moved forward over the battlefield and deep into the forest on the trail of the flying Iroquois.
