The numbers of the Indians helped them but little, for Bingaman's tremendous strength enabled him to shake himself free whenever grappled.

One after another his foes sank under his crushing blows, killed or crippled; it is said that at last but one was left to flee from the house in terror.
The hired man had not dared to come down from the loft, and when Bingaman found his wife wounded he became so enraged that it was with difficulty he could be kept from killing him.

[Footnote: It is curious how faithfully, as well as vividly, Cooper has reproduced these incidents.

His pictures of the white frontiersmen are generally true to life; in his most noted Indian characters he is much less fortunate.

But his "Indian John" in the "Pioneers" is one of his best portraits; almost equal praise can he given to Susquesus in the "Chainbearers."] Incidents such as these followed one another in quick succession.