A PITCHED BATTLE.
The party commanded by Philip had marched down the broad avenue fully
two-thirds of the entire distance from the village to the sea-shore
without seeing so much as the tip of an ape’s tail, when suddenly every
man came to a halt without waiting for the word of command as a piercing
scream from the thicket at the left rang out on the clear air.
Involuntarily the colonists gazed in the direction from whence the cry
had come, and as they did so a vast army of apes poured out from the
thicket on the opposite side of the road armed with stones and sticks,
attacking them with such fury that before the men could recover from
their bewilderment three had fallen mortally wounded.
Philip, who was in the rear of the troops, delayed firing in the hope of
having as a target the gigantic form of Goliah.
In this, however, he was unsuccessful, for that worthy had taken good
care to be out of harm’s way, although more than once Philip fancied he
saw his grinning face. It was but a few seconds, however, that he could
remain inactive, so vigorous and well-directed was the shower of rocks,
and then he discharged his repeating-rifle again and again into the
solid ranks of apes without producing any apparent effect.
During fifteen minutes this hot engagement continued, and then, as a
shrill cry arose which could be distinctly heard above the rattle of
musketry, every ape who was left alive vanished amid the thicket in a
twinkling, leaving the colonists at liberty to count the cost of this
first attempt at subduing the original proprietors of the soil.
Five men were dead, three severely wounded, and hardly one had escaped
without some injury. On the other side at least forty apes were left
behind, either dead or unable to beat a retreat. It was safe to assume
that as many more had carried away bullets in their bodies; but this
made the victory a costly one for the colonists, when the number of apes
supposed to be on the island was taken into consideration.
“Twenty engagements like this and we shall no longer have men enough to
defend the village,” Philip said to himself as he gave the order for the
dead and dying to be carried back to the dwellings.
While this portion of Captain Seaworth’s army were returning in funeral
procession the sounds of conflict could be heard from the extreme
northern end of the road, and the reports of the weapons continued
for about ten minutes, when they died away entirely, causing Philip
to believe the apes had pursued the same tactics as during the first
engagement.
[Illustration: The vast army of apes poured from the thicket attacking
the party with great fury.—(See page 259.)]
When Philip and his decimated party reached the main building of the
settlement, the squad of men commanded by Mr. Clark, first officer of
the Reynard, could be seen approaching, bearing ominous-looking burdens,
which told that their portion of the conflict had also been attended
with fatal results. As the remainder of the colonists returned, company
by company, having seen no signs of the enemy, Captain Seaworth called a
council of war, since it was evident that Goliah did not intend to give
battle again during this day.
As nearly as could be judged about a hundred of the apes had been killed,
or so severely wounded as to make their deaths certain; but, on the other
hand, twelve men were dead, and fully twenty so badly disabled as to
render it impossible for them to take any further part in the defense of
the settlement for many weeks to come.
“To continue in this way will simply be to exterminate ourselves,”
Captain Seaworth said when his officers were assembled. “The apes so far
outnumber us that in less than a week we shall be at the mercy of the
animals unless some safer plan of attack can be devised; therefore I call
upon you, gentlemen, for an expression of opinion as to what course we
shall pursue.”
Among the entire party there was no one who could make a suggestion which
seemed at all feasible. Even Philip was at a loss to know what course
could be pursued with any chance of ultimate success, and but for the
fact that he was afraid of being called a coward he would then and there
have advised an abandonment of the scheme of colonizing the island.
It was not until the unsatisfactory session had nearly ended that Mr.
Clark proposed a plan whereby it might be possible to inflict injury upon
the apes without suffering any loss of life themselves.
“Let us bring all the heavy cannon from the ship,” he said, “and place
them in the dwellings where the openings in the forest can be commanded.
Then for two or three days every person on the island shall remain
concealed. By the end of that time the apes may fancy we have beat a
retreat and gather around the buildings in such force that we can kill
off a few hundred. It is not a very brilliant suggestion, I must admit;
but since no one has anything better to offer, it will be only a waste of
seventy-two hours at the most to try the experiment.”
No member of the party cared to say that he was really afraid of an army
of apes, although many had greater or less doubt as to whether they
would ever be able to carry out the original scheme of making there a
plantation, and the first officer’s plan met with the approbation of all.
“Two parties, numbering fifty each, will proceed at once to the ship for
the purpose of bringing on shore the heavy guns,” the captain said, as he
adjourned the council, “and after they have been placed in position all
the women and a portion of the natives must take refuge on the Reynard,
while the remainder of our force conceal themselves in the houses.”
With this the party separated. Mr. Clark and Philip were detailed to
command the respective crews who were to bring up the ordnance, and the
others, with Captain Seaworth at their head, went to pay the last honors
to those who had fallen in the singular engagement.
The ship’s surgeon was the busiest man on the island, and while the dead
were being suitably interred he, with the women as nurses, established
a hospital in the court-yard of Captain Seaworth’s house. The awnings
were replaced by spare canvas; hammocks were slung on either side, where
patients would be most likely to get the benefit of cooling draughts of
air, and every preparation was made for a long time of enforced seclusion.
The four central buildings of the village were selected as the ones to
be fortified; holes were pierced in the shutters to receive the muzzles
of the cannon, and loop-holes made that the men might be able to train
the pieces. Powder, grape and canister were brought in large quantities
from the ship and stacked up in the rooms, until the buildings intended
for the peaceful occupancy of industrious colonists looked like the
embrasures of a fort.
At the end of the day succeeding the battle everything was in readiness
for the experiment, and fully two-thirds of the colonists were sent on
board the Reynard, with orders to remain concealed. It was not deemed
advisable to remove the wounded from the court-yard, for unless the apes
should begin a regular siege, as they had done when Philip was alone,
this temporary hospital would not be exposed to an attack.
Captain Seaworth, Philip, Mr. Clark and the second mate had charge of the
cannon, and from sunrise on the first day after these arrangements had
been completed the four commanders watched carefully and eagerly for the
coming of the apes, whose curiosity it was hoped would lead them to their
death.