Hannah of Kentucky - James Otis |
Just before break of day the savages made a rush, bringing with them great armfuls of dry wood in the hope of setting fire to the stockade. The men in the watch-houses gave the alarm, and in an instant every one of us inside the stockade was moving here and there to learn where it was possible to aid in the defense.
What was done from daybreak until sunrise I can hardly say. I only know that I carried powder and bullets to the men who cried out that their supply of ammunition was running low, and that I cleaned rifles which had grown so hot that the barrels nearly blistered my fingers, while the owners were loading and firing the spare weapons as quickly as possible. It seemed to me that I worked like one in a dream, doing whatever my hands found to do, and all the while asking myself whether I would be brave enough to endure through it all.