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The
soldiers on guard, who had been lounging in the shade of a tree,
started to their feet at the sound of the pistol; but, alas! too late,
for they found themselves surrounded by a crowd of dusky forms, who
bound them hand and foot, before they had time to resist.
In
the room upstairs was the sturdy general, standing resolutely at the
door, with gun in hand, while his black slaves were gathered about
him, each with a weapon. At
the other end of the room the women were huddled together, some
weeping and some praying.
Suddenly
a deafening crash was heard. The
Indian band had broken into the house.
With loud shouts they began to pillage and to destroy
everything in sight. While
they were yet busy downstairs, Mrs. Schuyler sprang to her feet and
rushed to the door; for she had suddenly remembered that the baby, who
was only a few months old, was asleep in its cradle in a room on the
first floor.
The
general caught his wife in his arms, and implored her not to go to
certain death, saying that if any one was to go he would.
While this generous struggle between husband and wife was going
on, their young daughter, who had been standing near the door, glided
by them, and descended the stairs.
All
was dark in the hall, excepting where the light shone from the
dining-room in which the Indians were pillaging the shelves and
fighting over their booty. How
to get past the dining-room door was the question, but the brave girl
did not hesitate. Reaching
the lower hall, she walked very deliberately forward, softly but
quickly passing the door, and unobserved reached the room in which was
the cradle.
She
caught up the baby, crept back past the open door, and was just
mounting the stairs, when one of the savages happened to see her.
``WHIZ''--and
his sharp tomahawk struck the stair rail within a few inches of the
baby's head. But the
frightened girl hurried on, and in a few seconds was safe in her
father's arms.
As
for the Indians, fearing an attack from the near-by garrison, they
hastened away with the booty they had collected, and left General
Schuyler and his family unharmed.
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