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312 HISTORY OF Indian settlements in their reacli. After an absence of six months^ and enduring many hardships and privations, Murphy and his company returned to the forts at Schoharie. There is one circumstance that transpired during his cam- paign to the west, which we cannot omit to mention. "When near what is now called Canandaigua lake, Murphy, with a company of some twenty other robust fellows, was dispatched round the upper end of the lake to destroy a small Indian village which was rapidly increasing. After destroying the village, and on their return to the main army, they found themselves almost instantaneously surrounded by a body of Indians more than double their number, and led by the cele- brated Brant. What was to be done ? Murphy, knowing Brant, and judging what must be their inevitable fate if they fell into his hands, said to his companions, we must fight or die. The war whoop was given, and the savages rushed forward, making the woods ring with their yells, as if the very lightnings from heaven had burst their bounds, and were spreading their deathlike gleams upon our little band. They returned every attack with spirit and coolness, and with as much effect as their situation would admit. Murphy saw his companions fall one after the other until there were but five left the contest not diminishing in the least in fury. At one moment all hopes of escape seemed shut out, at the next pros- pects would brighten for an instant. Their courage never for a moment forsook them; they struggled with desperation; death and the diabolical infliction of savage torture stared them in the face, and they determined to sell their lives as dearly as possible. At this juncture, four of the party made a rush to pass the Indians ; the savages immediately ran before them to prevent their escape, which left a vacancy behind, in which direction Murphy ran with the fleetness of a deer : he gained rapidly on them until nearly exhausted, when coming to a brush fence, that stood at the top of a bank which de-