Whether this proceeded from policy, an idea that he
might gain some advantage by making a sudden and unexpected assault,
or was the fruit of irritation and his undying hatred of an Indian,
it is impossible to say. His onset was furious, however, and at
first it carried all before it. He seized the nearest Huron by the
waist, raised him entirely from the platform, and hurled him into
the water, as if he had been a child. In half a minute, two more
were at his side, one of whom received a grave injury by the friend
who had just preceded him. But four enemies remained, and, in a
hand to hand conflict, in which no arms were used but those which
nature had furnished, Hurry believed himself fully able to cope
with that number of red-skins.
"Hurrah! Old Tom," he shouted - "The rascals are taking to the
lake, and I'll soon have 'em all swimming!" As these words were
uttered a violent kick in the face sent back the injured Indian,
who had caught at the edge of the platform, and was endeavoring
to raise himself to its level, helplessly and hopelessly into the
water. When the affray was over, his dark body was seen, through
the limpid element of the Glimmerglass, lying, with outstretched
arms, extended on the bottom of the shoal on which the Castle stood,
clinging to the sands and weeds, as if life were to be retained by
this frenzied grasp of death.
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