The Streets Were So Crowded With
Enemies, And We Were So Incessantly Attacked In Front And Rear, And From
The Roofs, That For A Long While He Was Unable To Force His Way.
Neither
the effect of our fire-arms, nor the most efficacious use of our other
arms could deter the natives from closing in upon us hand to hand, and
foot to foot; but at length Ordas forced his way back, having lost in all
twenty-three of his men.
Our quarters were attacked by prodigious
multitudes at the same moment that the attack on Ordas began, and they
poured in such incessant discharges of missile weapons, that they soon
wounded above forty-six of our men, of whom twelve afterwards died. Even
after the retreat of Ordas, the enemy continued their attacks, and at
length set fire to various parts of the buildings forming our quarters,
thinking to burn us alive or to stifle us with smoke; and we were reduced
to the necessity of tearing down some parts of the building, and to throw
earth upon other parts, to extinguish the fire. All the courts and open
places of our quarters were thickly strewed with arrows, stones, and darts,
which had been thrown at us; and we were occupied the whole day and night,
in repelling the incessant assaults, repairing the breaches in our
defences, dressing our wounds, and preparing for future assaults. At dawn
of the ensuing morning, we sallied out with our whole force, determined to
conquer or to impress them with respect.
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