savages when the first action happened, which I have spoken of,
where the Indians fought with one another; and the women had
hatchets too.
The chief Spaniard, whom I described so often, commanded the whole;
and Will Atkins, who, though a dreadful fellow for wickedness, was
a most daring, bold fellow, commanded under him. The savages came
forward like lions; and our men, which was the worst of their fate,
had no advantage in their situation; only that Will Atkins, who now
proved a most useful fellow, with six men, was planted just behind
a small thicket of bushes as an advanced guard, with orders to let
the first of them pass by and then fire into the middle of them,
and as soon as he had fired, to make his retreat as nimbly as he
could round a part of the wood, and so come in behind the
Spaniards, where they stood, having a thicket of trees before them.
When the savages came on, they ran straggling about every way in
heaps, out of all manner of order, and Will Atkins let about fifty
of them pass by him; then seeing the rest come in a very thick
throng, he orders three of his men to fire, having loaded their
muskets with six or seven bullets apiece, about as big as large
pistol-bullets. How many they killed or wounded they knew not, but
the consternation and surprise was inexpressible among the savages;
they were frightened to the last degree to hear such a dreadful
noise, and see their men killed, and others hurt, but see nobody
that did it; when, in the middle of their fright, Will Atkins and
his other three let fly again among the thickest of them; and in
less than a minute the first three, being loaded again, gave them a
third volley.
Had Will Atkins and his men retired immediately, as soon as they
had fired, as they were ordered to do, or had the rest of the body
been at hand to have poured in their shot continually, the savages
had been effectually routed; for the terror that was among them
came principally from this, that they were killed by the gods with
thunder and lightning, and could see nobody that hurt them. But
Will Atkins, staying to load again, discovered the cheat: some of
the savages who were at a distance spying them, came upon them
behind; and though Atkins and his men fired at them also, two or
three times, and killed above twenty, retiring as fast as they
could, yet they wounded Atkins himself, and killed one of his
fellow-Englishmen with their arrows, as they did afterwards one
Spaniard, and one of the Indian slaves who came with the women.
This slave was a most gallant fellow, and fought most desperately,
killing five of them with his own hand, having no weapon but one of
the armed staves and a hatchet.
Our men being thus hard laid at, Atkins wounded, and two other men
killed, retreated to a rising ground in the wood; and the
Spaniards, after firing three volleys upon them, retreated also;
for their number was so great, and they were so desperate, that
though above fifty of them were killed, and more than as many
wounded, yet they came on in the teeth of our men, fearless of
danger, and shot their arrows like a cloud; and it was observed
that their wounded men, who were not quite disabled, were made
outrageous by their wounds, and fought like madmen.
When our men retreated, they left the Spaniard and the Englishman
that were killed behind them: and the savages, when they came up
to them, killed them over again in a wretched manner, breaking
their arms, legs, and heads, with their clubs and wooden swords,
like true savages; but finding our men were gone, they did not seem
inclined to pursue them, but drew themselves up in a ring, which
is, it seems, their custom, and shouted twice, in token of their
victory; after which, they had the mortification to see several of
their wounded men fall, dying with the mere loss of blood.
The Spaniard governor having drawn his little body up together upon