midnight
Henry and his comrades had heard the second shot and they had seen the man whose shoulder had been pierced by the bullet , run toward the others leaving a red trail behind him , but they were not alarmed this time , as nobody left the camp . Evidently the warriors , stout-hearted though they were , did not care to trail the shiftless one once more , and in the growing dusk , too , when they would be at the mercy of his rifle . `` He 's got 'em stirred up a lot , '' said Henry , `` and if they come again he will surely be a host on our side . '' Another attack was made that night , but it did not come until late , halfway between midnight and morning , and , as Henry had suspected , it was not an assault , but an attempt by sharpshooters , hidden in the dark brush , to pick off watchers at the opening . The bullets of the besiegers were fired mostly at random and did nothing but chip stone . The besieged fired at the flash of the rifles and were not sure that they hit an enemy , but believed that they succeeded more than once . Then , as the night before , came the report of the lone rifle in the thicket , and a warrior , throwing up his hands , uttered his death cry , making it apparent to the defenders that the shiftless one was neither idle nor afraid .