midnight
Despite the danger , he rejoiced to be there ; rejoiced that he and his comrades should help in the saving of all these people . The spiritual exaltation that he felt at times swept over him . Nevertheless , all the pictures faded , his excited nerves sank to rest , and , with his face still upturned to the cloudy skies , he slept . Far after midnight a sudden ring of fire burst from the dark forest , and women and children leaped up at the crash of many rifles . Shouting their war whoop , the tribesmen rushed upon the camp ; but the fifty sentinels , sheltered by the earthwork , met them with a fire more deadly than their own , and in a moment the fifty became more than two hundred . Red Eagle and Yellow Panther had hoped for a surprise , but when the unerring volleys met them , they sank back again into the forest , carrying their dead with them . `` You were right , '' said Daniel Poe to Henry Ware ; `` they will not leave us . ''