"Why not go out, meet them, and beat them ?"
"They outnumber us about five to one," said Henry. "Brant, if he
is still with them, though be may have gone to some other place
from Tioga Point, is a great captain. So is Timmendiquas, the
Wyandot, and they say that the Tory leader is energetic and
capable."
"It is all true!" exclaimed Colonel Butler. "We must stay in the
fort! We must not go out to meet them! We are not strong
enough!"
A murmur of protest and indignation came from the younger
officers.
"And leave the valley to be ravaged! Women and children to be
scalped, while we stay behind log walls!" said one of them
boldly.
The men in the Wyoming fort were not regular troops, merely
militia, farmers gathered hastily for their own defense.
Colonel Butler flushed.
"We have induced as many as we could to seek refuge," he said.
"It hurts me as much as you to have the valley ravaged while we
sit quiet here. But I know that we have no chance against so
large a force, and if we fall what is to become of the hundreds
whom we now protect?"
But the murmur of protest grew. All the younger men were
indignant. They would not seek shelter for themselves while
others were suffering.
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