With the prospect of such fatal issue--so proximate as to seem already present--no wonder that our hearts were dismayed at sight of the waggon moving towards us. As the inhabitants of a leaguered city behold with fear the advance of the screened catapult or mighty "ram," so regarded we the approach of that familiar vehicle--now a very monster in our eyes. We were not permitted to view the spectacle in perfect security. As the waggon moved forward, those who carried the muskets drew still nearer under cover of their horses, and once more played upon us their uncertain but dangerous shower. With the bullets hissing above and around us, we were forced to lie low--only at intervals raising our heads to note the progress of the party proceeding to storm. Slowly but surely the machine moved on--its wheels turning under the impulse of brawny arms--and impelled forward by pressure from behind. To fire upon it would have been of no avail: our bullets would have been thrown away. As easily might they have pierced through a stockade of tree-trunks. Oh! for a howitzer! but one discharge of iron grape to have crashed through those planks of oak and ash--to have scattered in death, that human machinery that was giving them motion! Slowly and steadily it moved on--stopping only as some large pebble opposed itself to the wheel--then on again as the obstacle was surmounted--on till the intervening space was passed over, and the triumphant cheer of our savage foemen announced the attainment of their object. Risking the straggling shots, we looked over. The waggon had reached the base of the butte; its tongue was forced up among the trees--its body stood side by side with the granite prisms. The storming party no longer required it as a shield: they would be sufficiently sheltered by the great boulders; and to these they now betook themselves--passing from one to the other, until they had completely surrounded the butte. We observed this movement, but could not prevent it. We saw the Indians flitting from rock to rock, like red spectres, and with the rapidity of lightning flashes! In vain we attempted to take aim; before a barrel could be brought to bear upon them, they were gone out of sight. We ourselves, galled by the leaden hail, were forced to withdraw behind our ramparts.