Only the recorded word of the
general in command makes this fact credible. He also says, to be sure,
that the soldiers "would have been called in two minutes more;" but he
admits that they had not been called when the red army made the attack,
without waiting till the white army woke of its own accord to begin
fighting at leisure by daylight, without even waiting those two minutes
for the general's convenience. What happened to the helpless sleepers
then, when the waking warriors thus fell upon the sleeping soldiers, may
be most eloquently told in the general's own words. "Such of them as
were awake or easily awakened, seized their arms and took their
stations, others, more tardy, had to contend with the enemy at the doors
of their tents." Turning the yellowed pages of this most amazing report,
the reader can only wonder that the furious tide of battle which set so
overwhelmingly against the soldiers in the beginning, ever could have
been turned by all the brave blood poured out before its turning.
On the eighth anguished day of suspense Ruth went to the door to welcome
Philip Alston, and looking toward the forest path, saw Father Orin and
Toby approaching.
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