But the contest will
be fierce and bloody."
A young man, at the order of Adam Colfax, sounded a trumpet, a low
thrilling call that aroused the men from their brief sleep, and the word
was quickly passed that they were blockaded in the bayou, and that the
hordes were advancing to a new attack. They grumbled less now than at the
storm. Here was a danger that they knew how to meet. Battle had been a
part of all their lives, and they did not fear it.
The moonlight increased, the forest was dripping, but there was a noise
now of bullet clinking against bullet, of the ramrod sent home in the
rifle barrel, and of men talking low.
Adam Colfax called a conference in his boat. His best lieutenants and the
five were present. Should they await the attack or advance to meet it? In
any event, the fleet must escape from the bayou, and the nearer they were
to the river when the battle occurred the better it would be for them.
"Ef we know thar's a danger," said Tom Ross, "the best thing fur us to do
is to go to it, an' lay hold uv it."
The vote on Tom's suggestion was unanimous in its favor, and the fleet
once more began to move. A small force of riflemen marched on either bank
in order to uncover possible skirmishers.
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