While in the act of striking for the third time,
the Umbiqua on the eastern door staggered and fell down the ladder; his
breast had been pierced by an arrow. At the same moment, a loud scream
from the other tower showed that there also we had had the same success.
The Umbiquas retired precipitately with their dead, uttering a yell of
disappointment and rage, to which three of our boys, being ordered so to
do, responded with a shrill war-whoop of defiance. This made the
Umbiquas quite frantic, but they were now more prudent. The arrows that
had killed their comrades were children-arrows; still there could be no
doubt but that they had been shot by warriors. They retired behind a
projecting rock on the bank of the river, only thirty yards in our
front, but quite protected from our missiles. There they formed a
council of war, and waited for their men and canoes, which they expected
to have arrived long before. At that moment, the light fog which had
been hovering over the river was dispersed, and the other shore became
visible, and showed us a sight which arrested our attention. There, too,
the drama of destruction was acting, though on a smaller scale.
Just opposite to us was a canoe, the same in which our two Indians had
gone upon their expedition the day before.
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