The Nipmucks kept up their attacks through the rest of the night, the next day and the night which followed that. It seems a miracle how the defenders held out for so many hours. The men took turns in snatching a few minutes' sleep and swallowing a mouthful of food, but not for one minute were they off their guard. The roof caught fire again and again, but holes were cut through the shingles, and water dashed upon the twists of flame, until after a time the charred, jagged openings showed in almost every square yard of surface, presenting a most desperate appearance. On the third day, the Nipmucks piled a wagon frame with hemp, flax, wood and hay, set fire to it and backed it up against the house. By keeping it between them and the garrison, they were shielded against the rifles of the defenders, who, without the power of harming one of them, saw with despairing hearts the blazing mass surge against the end of the building, and the smoke pour through windows and loopholes in a stifling cloud. There was no way of rushing out and dragging the blazing stuff away, for before the lumbering vehicle could be budged, the hostiles would destroy the whites. Among the men, women and children, there was not one who saw a ray of hope or the faintest chance of escape. And yet every one was saved! At the critical moment, the windows of heaven were opened, and the rains descended so that the flames were put out, and all the stuff so wetted that it could not be kindled again. But it looked as if the saving of the poor defenders was only for a time, since the Nipmucks had but to press their siege to bring success. But throughout the hours of the first night and a part of the day, the runner who dodged unseen into the surrounding woods was speeding toward Boston. He reached the town and found Major Simon Willard, a veteran of three-score and ten, as eager as the most youthful officer to rush to the rescue of Brookfield. Leaping into the saddle, he led fifty horsemen at a gallop for the settlement. They swooped down like a cyclone, just as night was closing in, and attacked the Nipmucks with the utmost fury. Back and forth dashed the horsemen, shouting, striking and crushing down whenever a chance offered. The few who were quick enough to leap into the woods and get away left fourscore stretched lifeless on the ground, many of whom had fallen under the guns of the garrison.