midnight
* A wide frontier had been laid naked by this unexpected disaster , and more substantial evils were preceded by a thousand fanciful and imaginary dangers . The alarmed colonists believed that the yells of the savages mingled with every fitful gust of wind that issued from the interminable forests of the west . The terrific character of their merciless enemies increased immeasurably the natural horrors of warfare . Numberless recent massacres were still vivid in their recollections ; nor was there any ear in the provinces so deaf as not to have drunk in with avidity the narrative of some fearful tale of midnight murder , in which the natives of the forests were the principal and barbarous actors . As the credulous and excited traveler related the hazardous chances of the wilderness , the blood of the timid curdled with terror , and mothers cast anxious glances even at those children which slumbered within the security of the largest towns . In short , the magnifying influence of fear began to set at naught the calculations of reason , and to render those who should have remembered their manhood , the slaves of the basest passions . Even the most confident and the stoutest hearts began to think the issue of the contest was becoming doubtful ; and that abject class was hourly increasing in numbers , who thought they foresaw all the possessions of the English crown in America subdued by their Christian foes , or laid waste by the inroads of their relentless allies .