"Scarcely had he answered 'Collins,' and commenced a few
words of explanation of the cause of his being there and
alone, when the forms of two Indians, which I fancied I
had before detected creeping along the shore, regulating
their stealthy progress by that of the boat, started into
full height, and silently bounded towards me--one a little
in advance of the other. The moment was critical. They
were not twenty paces from me, and I have often since
wondered at the presence of mind I preserved. It occurred
to me that they would not commit the imprudence of using
firearms so near the Fort, and that steel only would be
resorted to by them. This suggested my own course. Throwing
my rifle upon the beach in order that Collins, who was
now pulling for the shore, might seize and use it as
occasion should require, I grasped the scalping-knife in
my left hand, and with my tomahawk in my right, did not
wait for the attack, but rushed upon the foremost Indian,
for I knew that my only chance of success lay in the
killing or disabling of one before his comrade could come
up.
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