JOSE MARIO Hñ. NANDEZ
5*
was none except of their own making and after passing thru almost impassa¬
ble morasses, they oroased the head of the Tomoka River thru a swamp where
the horse bogged down to their saddle girths. In this manner the outfit
oontinued until sunset when the sight of smoke gently ourling above the
tree-tops indioated the vicinity of savages.
The soldiers now entered a dense hammook and emerging from the oppo¬
site side saw before them lit the distanoe of half a mile, the blackened
ruins of the Dunlawton mill and moving about the rubbish they descried
several dark objects which the Negro John said were Indians, Fearful of
giving the alarm too soon, the men kept under oover of the hammook until
the Indians departed to their camp, which was estimated by the smoke of
the fires, to be a mile away.
The military took up a position amidst the ruins in perfect silenoe
under the light of the young moon; meanwhile scouts were sent out to lo¬
cate the enemy. They soon returned and reported the feasibility of the
contemplated form of attaok in which every precaution was necessary to
prevent the esoape of the slippery foes.
.ifter midnight, the volunteers under Lieutenant Whitehurst having dis¬
mounted, quietly took position in ambush on two sides of the Indian cump.
The rest remained mounted and were drawn up in line on the opposite sides
but far enough removed to evade the keen sight or hearing of the Indians,
at the first peep of dawn the signal to the charge was given, and the
mounted men galloped at full speed through the forest. The horses feet
raised a terrible racket among the saw palmetto, and every man rode to be
the first in at the death,