Everything on the part of the
usurpers indicated a perfect state of preparedness for an issue which
they never doubted would be made; and all the useless baggage,
interspersed freely with rocks and fallen trees, had been well-employed
in increasing the strength of a position for which, such an object
considered, nature had already done much. The defences, as they now
stood, precluded all chance of success from an attack by mounted men,
unless the force so employed were overwhelming. The defenders stood
ready at their posts, partly under cover, and so arrayed as easily to
put themselves so, and were armed in very nearly the same manner with
the assailing party. In this guise of formidable defence, they waited
patiently the onset.
There was a brief pause after their arrival, on the part of the invading
force, which was employed principally in consultation as to the proper
mode of procedure, and in examination of the ground. Their plan of
attack, depending altogether upon the nature of circumstances yet to be
seen, had not been deliberated upon before.
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