"No. The bloody event which gave the brook its name happened during the same war but not during an attack on the town itself. September 18, 1675, I believe, was the date. A company of young men, commanded by Captain Lothrup, marched out of the town and along a road leading toward the brook. They were acting as guard and teamsters for a number of loaded carts, which were being taken to some settler's home. It was a beautiful day and everything seemed as peaceful as it does now. All were happy and there was no thought of danger. Some had even placed their guns in the carts and were walking unarmed. "At the brook a band of Indian warriors lay in ambush, waiting. On came the young men, laughing and whistling and chatting with one another. They stopped occasionally to gather some wild grapes, which grew along the way. Concealed in the long grass, on each side of the road, lay the painted savages, motionless and unseen. Their eyes gleamed with hatred and exultation as they watched their victims approach. Their eager hands tightly grasped their weapons. Impatient for the slaughter to begin, they awaited the signal." "Great snakes!" whispered Bill. "Snakes is the word. Like snakes in the grass they lay, as silent as the grave. At last the signal was given. With fierce cries they sprang upon the surprised whites, and the little brook ran red with blood. Sixty-four men in all, from the various settlements, were killed that day. Of seventeen young men, who went out from Deerfield that morning, not one returned. "Too late, another company of men came to the rescue. They found nobody left to rescue. The Indians then were plundering the wagons. The savages outnumbered the rescuing party ten to one, but the little band did not hesitate. They fought desperately for five or six hours. They were unable to drive the savages away, however, and were just going to retreat, when some soldiers from Northampton, down the river, appeared and put the Indians to flight. There was sadness in Deerfield that day." "I don't believe I want to play Indian any more," said Benny, drawing closer to the fire and looking around as if he might see some savages hiding in the grass. It made us all feel scary. "We hardly can imagine it now," Mr. Norton went on, "after more than two hundred years. Later there were other wars and many attacks by Indians. The Deerfield people built a stockaded fort, into which all would run at the first alarm. These later attacks by the savages were a part of the fight between England and France for the possession of America. The French induced the Indians to help them drive the English out, but Englishmen do not drive worth a cent, and at last, as you know, France was obliged to give up Canada to England, in whose possession it has remained ever since. "First came King William's war, in which Deerfield was attacked several times; then Queen Anne's war, and during that the town was captured and a great part of it burned."