“I shall never forget the morning of the 7th of September. Captain Swift was asleep in his tent when Mr. Armitage arrived. He wanted one of the large canoes we had seized, and I had to go three times to the captain’s tent before I could wake him. He was usually a light sleeper, but it was different on this occasion. It did not strike me much at the moment, but I have often thought of it since. Well, Mr. Armitage left, and nothing unusual happened till about eleven o’clock. I was down at the landing-place superintending some work, when all at once I heard the report of several shots. I stood and listened. The shots were followed by successive volleys, which gradually subsided into the regular, or rather irregular, firing of a smart skirmish. This went on for about a quarter of an hour. I knew from the direction of the sound that the fighting was going on at Camerontown. I hurried to the captain, and told him I was sure the rebels had attacked Mr. Armitage’s party. While I was speaking, all at once we saw a large volume of smoke curling up in the air close to the pa. We both came to the conclusion that the rebels had set fire to a house which had been recently built for Mr. Armitage. “About half an hour after this we saw a canoe, paddled by four natives, coming up the river. We knew from the way they used their paddles that something was wrong. Their faces were as green as the French Emperor’s at Solferino, and their teeth were chattering with terror. They were so panic-struck that it took some time before we learned from them that the rebels had formed an ambuscade, and attacked them while off their guard. Mr. Armitage and two white men had been killed, and all the friendly natives dispersed or slain; these four only survived to tell their fate. Thirty or forty men, women, and children, had perished.