"
They had now reached that part of the ramparts whence
the shot from Sir Everard's rifle had been fired. Several
men were occupied in digging a grave in the precise spot
on which the unfortunate Murphy had stood when he received
his death-wound; and into this, when completed, the body,
enshrouded in the cloak already alluded to, was deposited
by his companions.
CHAPTER IV.
While the adjutant was yet reading, in a low and solemn
voice, the service for the dead, a fierce and distant
yell, as if from a legion of devils, burst suddenly from
the forest, and brought the hands of the startled officers
instinctively to their swords. This appalling cry lasted,
without interruption, for many minutes, and was then as
abruptly checked as it had been unexpectedly delivered.
A considerable pause succeeded, and then again it rose
with even more startling vehemence than before. By one
unaccustomed to those devilish sounds, no distinction
could have been made in the two several yells that had
been thus savagely pealed forth; but those to whom practice
and long experience in the warlike habits and customs of
the Indians had rendered their shouts familiar, at once
divined, or fancied they divined, the cause.
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