A shout of exultation rose from the supply fleet, which was now slowly
moving forward. Flames suddenly burst from the schooner and ran up the
stumps of her masts and spars, reaching out long arms and laying hold at
new points. The cannon shots had also reached the inside of the ship as
fire began to spout from the port holes, and there was a steady stream of
men leaping from the schooner into the water of the bayou and making for
the land.
The American shout of exultation was repeated, and the forest gave back
the echo. The Indians answered it with a fierce yell of defiance, and the
forest gave back that, too.
But Adam Colfax had been watching shrewdly.
In his daring life he had been in more than one naval battle, and when he
saw the schooner wrapped and re-wrapped in great coils and ribbons of
flame he knew what was due. Suddenly he shouted in a voice that could be
heard above the roar of the battle:
"Back! Back, all! Back for your lives!"
It reached the ears of everybody in the American fleet, and whether he
understood its words or not every man understood its tone. There was an
involuntary movement common to all. The fleet stopped its slow advance,
seemed to sway in another direction, and then to sit still on the water.
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