The distance back to the hacienda seemed short enough, and in
anticipation of his mission proving successful, the skipper had his
first boat's load told off ready for their start.
"Well done! Splendid!" he said to the lads. "Off with you back. Take
the command, Poole. Are you going again, Mr Burnett?"
"Yes, sir; of course."
Fitz turned sharply round when he was addressed, from where he was
standing with the carpenter, after noting that here and there at a
distance a tiny fire was burning, indicating the different posts between
them and the enemy, and just before Winks had come hurriedly up to him
and given him a nudge.
"I arn't got them set up yet, sir," he whispered, "but I've made four.
Not much to look at, but they will be all right. Two crossed sticks,
bamboos, blankets, and them Spanish hats. There's two Sallys and two
Guys. The Sallys has got the blankets right over the tops with the hats
down close. They looks just like old women a little way off.--Going
back again, sir?"
"Yes," replied Fitz. "We shan't be very long this time."
"All right, sir. I shall have the traps set by the time you come again.
My word! I should like to be there when the Span'ls finds they are
nothing but a set of paddies. I should like to hear the words they
said. It would be something pretty in bad Spanish, I'll be bound."
"Now, Mr Burnett," cried the skipper sharply, and somehow feeling as if
he were one of the schooner's officers, the middy hurried off, helping
to guide the party, consisting of Don Ramon's followers all but two, and
succeeding in reaching the wharf without an adventure, the boat coming
up at once on hearing their approach, and in a very short time loaded
gunwale down, gliding off along the swift stream.
"That's one lot," said Poole excitedly, as the stern of the boat
disappeared. "Well, we had no orders, but of course we've got to go
back for another lot and bring them down. I suppose we shall have them
here long before the empty boat returns from the schooner."
"It will be a stiff pull against the stream," said Fitz.
"Yes, but empty, and I made them fully understand that they were to
start back after shipping the men and communicating with old Burgess. I
think that will turn out all right."
It did, and in due time a second load was despatched to the schooner,
forming half the human cargo she would have to bear.
They were anxious times during these journeys in the boat. All was
going well, but at any moment the fiction of the watchers by the fires
might have been discovered, and the enemy come on to the attack upon a
force weakened first by one-fourth, then by half, and later on by
three-fourths of its number, the danger increasing at a terrific ratio
for those who were left. At last, still keeping manfully to their
posts, the last portion--the last quarter of the little force--stood
waiting, nearly all English, those of Spanish descent consisting of Don
Ramon and his most staunch adherent.
The skipper had urged him to go with the third party, but he had
scornfully refused.
"What!" he cried. "Provide for my safety, and leave you brave
Englishmen to fight my battle all alone! Bah! You would never be able
to call me friend again. But tell me this: why did you not go yourself
and leave me to guard the hacienda till the boat came back?--Hah! You
say nothing! You cannot. No, I shall stay, and we will escape
together, ready to sail round, seize Velova, and meet mine enemies when
they return."
The peril seemed to increase minute by minute, as the little party
watched, straining their ears in the darkness to catch the slightest
sound, while it seemed hours since the last party had left them, and
they awaited the coming of the two lads to announce that the boat had
returned.
It was weary work for these goers to and fro, but excitement and
exertion kept them from feeling the agony of the Englishmen who,
apparently calm, kept watch and ward at the hacienda, while from time to
time the skipper and Winks went from fire to fire, mending them and
arranging more fuel so that when they were left for good they might
still keep burning.
They had been round for the last visit, and returned to the hacienda,
walking very slowly, and pausing from time to time to listen for any
movement in the enemy's lines, and at last they stopped short close to
the spot where the carpenter had destroyed the snake, when after
standing for some time listening to a faint murmur of voices close at
hand, coming from the waiting crew, the carpenter uttered a peculiar
husky cough. It was so strange and unnatural that the skipper put the
right interpretation upon it at once.
"Yes?" he said. "You wanted to ask me something?"
"Yes, sir. It's this waiting makes me want to speak. I can't stand the
doing nothing at a time like this. I'd ten times rather be on the
fight."
"So would I, Winks, if you come to that. It's a cruel strain, my lad.
Worse than being in the wildest storm. But go on; what did you want to
say?"
"Oh, only this, sir. I want you to give me orders to go round again and
give the fires a poke. You needn't come, sir. You are wanted here.
You can trust me to do the lot."
"Yes, I know that," said the skipper sternly; "but that isn't all. You
were thinking something else, and now it's come to the point you are
afraid to speak."
"How did you know that, sir?" said the man huskily.
"By your manner and the tone of your voice. What is it you are
thinking? Out with it at once."
"Well, sir, I dunno how you come to know, but it has come over me just
lately like a skeer. Aren't the young gents been much longer this
time?"
"Yes, much," replied the skipper; "or else it seems to be."
"I thought so, sir, and I've got so now that I feels as if I can't bear
it. What are you going to do, sir? Follow 'em up and see what's
wrong?"
"I shall give them ten minutes longer, Winks. I meant to stay here to
the very last, ready to give the enemy a volley and a check if they
should come on; but now the time has come to hurry on to the wharf and
wait there in the hope that the boat may still come and take us off
without further waste of time."
"But don't let me make you downhearted, sir," said the carpenter, trying
to speak cheerily. "I'm a bit of an old woman in my ways sometimes.
Maybe it's all right, after all."
"Maybe it is," said the skipper. "We are tired out and over-anxious
now. It's quite possible that we shall have them back here soon."
"Pst!" whispered the carpenter. "There's some one coming."
It was from their rear, and the next moment they were joined by Don
Ramon.
"Ah, you are here," he said. "Is it not time that the boys came back?"
"Nearly," said the skipper quietly.
"No, no," said Don Ramon; "they have been twice too long. Something
must have happened, or they would have come by now."
"Pst! Look out!" whispered the carpenter, and he cocked his rifle.
"No: all right," he continued. "It's not from the enemy's side."
He was quite right, for directly after the two boys trotted up.
"All right, father," cried Poole. "The boat's back."
"We thought she would never have come," added Fitz. "They have had a
very hard pull up stream, for the water has risen, and they thought that
they'd never get to the landing-place."
"But they are there!" cried the skipper eagerly. "What about the
others? Have they got on board?"
"Everything was going right, father. I had a few words with Butters,
and he was very eager to know how soon I could get you all down."
"And you couldn't tell him?"
"No, father.--I think that's all."
"Bravo! Magnificent!" cried Don Ramon. "You have both done wonders,"
and to the lads' disgust he caught them in turn to his breast and kissed
them. "It is grand, and your fathers should be proud. My lads, it is
the grandest thing in life to be a Spaniard of pure Castilian descent,
but next to that the greatest thing in the world is to be an English
boy."
"This is no time for compliments, Don Ramon," said the skipper sternly.
"They have done their duty; that is all. Now then, will you lead on at
once with half our party, and I with the rest will form the rear-guard.
If even now the enemy come up we shall be able to hold them in check.
We shall fire, and then double past you and your party, who will halt
and fire, and then retire past us again. We are very few and they are
many, but I think we can reach the boat in safety after all."
The Don made no reply, but put himself at the head of his little party
at once, leaving the skipper, the two lads, and the remainder facing the
enemy's camp and watching the flickering fires between, the hardest task
of all when the way was open and they felt that with a good rush they
might reach the boat in safety.
But discipline was master, and fighting down all desire to break away,
the remnant of the little force stood waiting, while the carpenter made
a last effort to find himself something to do, by suggesting that it
would be best perhaps to give them there fires just another touch.
"No," said the skipper sternly. "In another two minutes we shall follow
on."
"Thank goodness!" whispered Fitz excitedly. "I don't feel as if I could
stand any more."
"Not even one of Don Ramon's speeches and a hug?"
"Oh, don't talk about it," whispered Fitz angrily.
"What! Isn't it grand to be an English boy?"
"Bosh!" cried Fitz, and like an echo of his ejaculation came the
skipper's command--
"Forward!" And directly afterwards, "Poole--Mr Burnett--will you watch
with me?"
The lads stepped to his side at once.
"The last to turn our backs, Fitz Burnett," whispered Poole. "The place
of honour after all."