The slope of the fatal hill now presented a melancholy scene to the British army. More than 200 of the Grenadiers had fallen; the track of the rash advance and disastrous retreat was marked by the dying and the dead. Some red coats lay almost under the enemy's parapets, where a few of these impetuous men had won their way; others were seen dragging their maimed limbs to seek shelter behind rocks or trees from the vindictive fire which the French still poured upon their fallen foes. Among the wounded lay Captain Ochterlony and Ensign Peyton, of the second battalion of the Royal Americans: they had refused the proffered aid of their retreating soldiers, and, being bound by ties of the closest friendship, determined to meet together the desperate chances of the field. They sat down side by side, bade each other farewell, and awaited their fate. In a few minutes a Frenchman and two Indians approached, plundered the wounded officers, and were about to murder Ochterlony, when Peyton shot one of the savages with a double-barreled gun which he still held; the other then rushed upon him, and, although receiving the contents of the second barrel, closed in mortal struggle. The Englishman succeeded, after a moment, in drawing a dagger, and with repeated stabs, brought the Indian to the ground. In the mean time, the French soldier had carried Ochterlony as a prisoner to his lines.[178] Peyton now started up, and, although his leg was broken, ran for forty yards toward the river; there he sank exhausted. Presently a crowd of Indians, reeking from their work of butchery, approached him from the extreme left. Peyton reloaded his musket, leaned upon his unwounded limb, and faced the savages; the two foremost hesitated before this resolute attitude, when, to the deep disgrace of the French, they opened a fire of musketry and even cannon from their breast-works upon the maimed and solitary officer. However, at this desperate moment relief was nigh; the Indians, who before had hesitated, now turned and fled like scared vultures from their prey. A detachment of the gallant 78th Highlanders, undismayed by the still murderous fire, chased the marauders from the field, and bore the wounded Englishman in safety to the shore. This extraordinary scene occurred in full view of both armies.