Oh! how shall I write down the sight we saw? Naked from their waists upwards, their bodies painted and tattooed with rings and circles, bars and hoops; their faces coloured partly vermilion, partly white and partly black; their long coarse hair streaming behind them, their hands brandishing tomahawks or grasping guns and pistols, which they discharged into the room, they rushed in, while when they saw our white faces their demoniacal howls and yells were awful to hear. Yet, at first, all was not to succumb to them. Of those who first entered, four were instantly torn to the ground by the mastiffs who seized each a savage, and, having pulled them down, pinned them there as they gored their throats. Also, of those who came on behind these, many were shot or cut down ere they could leap over their prostrate comrades' forms. My lord and Mr. Kinchella by a hasty arrangement made with the others, fired only to the left of the window, Lamb and Buck taking those who came in on the right side, while O'Rourke, his sword flashing unceasingly through the smoke and the light of the room, fought hand to hand with those Indians who passed between the shots of the others, he being ably backed up by the remainder of the bondsmen and convicts. "Steady! steady!" called out my lord. "Easy. Not too fast. Ere long there will be a barricade of their dead carcasses so that none can leap over them. Joice, my darling, shelter yourself behind the spinet; so, 'tis well. Miss Mills, how goes it with you." "Give it to 'em, noble captain," roared Buck as, firing at a savage who came near him, he brought him down, exclaiming, "fair between the eyes. Fair." Then again, "At 'em, captain, at 'em, skin 'em alive; lord! this beats the best fight we ever had with any of the Bow Street crew; at 'em, lop 'em down, captain; ah, would you!" to an Indian who had advanced near enough to aim a blow at him with his tomahawk which would have brained him had it reached its mark, "would you!" and with that he felled the other with the butt end of his gun. "Heavens," he cried, "how I wish one of these redskins was the judge who sentenced me!" It had become a mêlée now, in which all were fighting hand to hand--O'Rourke was down, lying prone, yet still grasping his sword; Mr. Kinchella standing before me and Mary still kept off those who endeavoured to seize us; my lord, Buck, and Lamb, side by side, fought yet unharmed; and of the others some were slain, some wounded, and some still able to render assistance. And now, oh! dreadful sight! I saw the blood spurt from my beloved one's forehead; I saw him reel and stagger, and, with a shriek, I rushed forth and caught him in my arms as he fell; his blood dyeing my white satin evening dress and mantua.