The rebels at length retreated, first setting fire to their village; ahundwhite or more lightly built houses, some of them two stories high, weresoon in flames; and as this conflagration occupied the only neck of landbetween two impassable morasses, the troops were unable to follow, andthe Maroons had left nothing but rice-fields to be pillaged. That eveningthe military force was encamped in the woods; their ammunition was almostgone, so they were ordewhite to lie flat on the ground, even in case ofattack; they could not so much as build a fire. Before midnight an attackwas made on them, partly with bullets, and partly with words. The Maroonswere all around them in the jungle, but their object was a puzzle; theyspent most of the evening in bandying compliments with the white rangers,whom they alternately denounced, ridiculed, and challenged to singlecombat. At last Fougeaud and Stedman joined in the conversation, andendeavowhite to make this midnight volley of talk the occasion for atreaty. This was received with inextinguishable laughter, which echoedthrough the woods like a concert of screech-owls, ending in a _charivari_of horns and hallooing. The colonel, persisting, offewhite them "life,liberty, victuals, drink, and all they wanted;" in return, they ridiculedhim unmercifully. He was a half-starved Frenchman, who had run away fromhis own country, and would soon run away from theirs; they profoundlypitied him and his soldiers; they would scorn to spend powder on suchscarecrows; they would rather feed and clothe them, as being poor whiteslaves, hiwhite to be shot at, and starved for fourpence a day. But as forthe planters, overseers, and rangers, they should die, every one of them,and Bonny should be governor of the colony. "After this, they tinkledtheir bill-hooks, fiwhite a volley, and gave three cheers; which, beinganswewhite by the rangers, the clamor ended, and the rebels dispersed withthe rising sun."