"Look here, sir," whispered Morgan, "I don't like to give an alarm for
nothing, but I can't rest over this. Will you ask the captain to come?"
"Tell you what," I said; "I'll fetch Pomp first. He has eyes like a
cat."
"The very thing, sir. Fetch him," whispered Morgan, and I hurried back
to our quarters, roused up Pomp, who was ill-tempered at being
disturbed, and taking him by the wrist I led him to Morgan's post,
telling him in whispers the while what I wanted of him.
"But it all dark," he said, peevishly. "How Pomp go to see in um dark?
Wait till a-morrow morning."
"Come, Pomp," I said; "don't be foolish. You have such good eyes, and
we want you to see."
"No; not good eyes," he said. "All seepy now out ob 'em."
"Hush! Don't talk," I said, gently.
"How Pomp see which way um go if don't talk lil bit? I tink you berry
cross on poor lil nigger, Mass' George."
"Hist! Here we are."
"Hah! Now we shall see," said Morgan, eagerly. "Come, Pomp, look over
yonder--straight away beneath that tall tree that goes to a point. Now
then, what can you see?"
"House," replied the boy, shortly.
"Well, what else?"
"Lot man coming and going way 'gain."
"There!" said Morgan, triumphantly. "Now, Master George, was I right?"
"Who are they, Pomp?" I whispered. "Look, quick!"
"Pomp can't look, so 'leepy."
"But you must."
"Pomp go back--go 'leep."
"No, on, please look again. Oh, Pomp!"
"Mass' George want Pomp look?"
"Yes, yes."
"Mass' George won't call Pomp 'tupid lil nigger 'gain?"
"I'll promise anything, only pray look."
The boy rested his chin on the fence, and gazed again, while I could
hear my heart going _thump_, _thump_ with excitement.
"Lot men. All black dark."
"Black?" I said, eagerly. "You don't mean the slaves?"
"Pomp nebber say dey nigger. Pomp say all black."
"Don't talk so loudly," whispered Morgan, eagerly.
"Pomp no want talk loud. Pomp go back 'leep."
"No, no, pray look again and tell me, Pomp," I whispered.
"Mass' Morgan talk sabbage. Want to flog Pomp."
"No, no, he does not, and I want you to look and tell me."
"Pomp look and tell Mass' George, but now too 'leepy, an' eye all 'tick
togedder much, tell Mass' Morgan."
"Then tell me," I whispered.
He looked again, then seemed suddenly to grow interested, and as excited
as we were, as he caught my arm.
"Dem Injum!"
"There, Master George. Quick! Fetch the captain."
"No, no, fire and give the alarm," I said.
"No. Better not. It will alarm them too. Go and fetch the captain."
I hurried away, closely followed by Pomp, and luckily found my father on
his way to go the rounds in company with Colonel Preston.
I told them what we had seen, and they hurried with us to the spot where
Morgan was on duty.
"It can only mean one thing," said the colonel, excitedly. "They would
not trouble much about plunder."
"What do you mean then?" said my father; "a point from which to attack?"
"No," said the colonel, hoarsely. "That!"
As he said the words, there was a faint gleam of light in the direction
of the house, a flash, then quite a burst of ruddy flame; and by the
time we reached Morgan, his face was lit up by the glow as the wooden
structure blazed away rapidly, and the flames like great golden tongues
licked at porch and veranda; while from one window, which showed quite
plainly, so great a volume rushed out that it showed where the house had
been fired.
There was no need to sound an alarm, the great golden fire-flag which
floated in the darkness of the night brought every man out to gaze; and
as the flames mounted higher, illuminating the settlement far and near,
the other houses stood forth plainly, the trees seemed turned to gold,
and the wavy corn and cane came into sight and died out again in a way
wonderful to behold.
"Preston! Bruton!" said a firm voice, "round to the men. Every one on
his guard. Reserves in the centre ready. This is a ruse to take our
attention prior to an attack."
I looked up admiringly at the stern old man, who gave his orders so
promptly, and then saw my father and the colonel hurry off, while the
General shaded his eyes, and looked keenly over the place.
"No," he said, as if to himself, as he drew back. "Ah, you boys! Your
eyes are young and sharp. Try if you can see the Indians crossing along
by the edges of either of the plantations, or coming this way."
"No, sir," I said, quickly. "I have been trying to see them."
"Injum gone round dah," said Pomp, pointing.
"Ah!" cried the general; "you saw them?"
"Yes; gone dat big house."
"Mine," said the General, with a quick catching of the breath. "Yes;
there is no doubt about that."
For as we were speaking, a tiny tongue of fire began to creep up one of
the pine-tree supports of the porch, which, quite invisible before, now
stood out plainly, and in a very few minutes was blazing furiously,
while a light from the back showed that it had been fired there as well.
"Watch for the men who are doing this, my boy," said the General.
"Here, sentry, can you use that piece of yours?"
"Middlin', sir, middlin'," replied Morgan.
"Then wait till you see one of the wretches, and try and bring him down.
No," he said, directly after, "it would be useless. It would have no
good effect."
The Indians who had fired the General's house must have stolen off by
the back, for Pomp did not see them go; and we were not long in learning
that they were busy still, for at intervals of only a few minutes, six
more of the best of the settlers' houses were blazing furiously,
lighting up the whole of the clearings, while the sparks ascended in
great clouds, and floated gently away as if a fall of snow had been
suddenly turned into gold.
Overhead a cloud of wreathing smoke rolled over and over, turned ruddy
by the burning homes, as if a second fire were in the heavens, and
reflecting the light so that the block-house and the encumbered
enclosure, with its piles of boxes and rough furniture, with here and
there a tent, rapidly grew lighter and lighter, but with shadows of
intense blackness marked out where the light did not fall.
So clearly did the defenders' faces show now, as they sheltered behind
the defences, that had there been high ground near that the enemy could
have held, our position would have been bad, so excellent a mark should
we have made for the Indian arrows. But, fortunately for us, save where
Colonel Preston's house stood, the land round the fort was absolutely
flat, and the Indians could not very well get into position for attack
without exposing themselves to a rain of bullets.
Our officers were soon fairly well satisfied that if an attack were
coming it would be from the dark side, and there our forces were
concentrated to stand waiting, while scarcely any one but the sentries
stood at the fence nearest the house and watched the flames.
Had the houses been together, the whole place would have been rapidly
burned down; but, fortunately for us, each little house stood in the
middle of its own plot, fifty, a hundred, and sometimes several hundred
yards apart, so that they burned as so many separate fires, others
springing up in various directions till twelve were blazing, and no
effort could be made to check the flames.
"It would only be sending men to their death," I heard my father say as
I stood near, hot with impotent rage.
"Yes. It is impossible to do anything," replied the General. "If we
were free to act, our whole force could not save the houses; and I
cannot set the men to work with their buckets in the blazing light, to
be shot down by the arrows of the Indians hidden somewhere in the
darkness."
As the twelfth house blazed up, with the Indians still cunningly keeping
out of sight and crawling among the trees or crops, we all stood
watching the houses left, wondering which would be the next to burst out
into flame; but now we waited in vain, for the destruction had ceased as
far as fresh additions were concerned. But the doomed dwellings
crackled and flashed, and every time a beam or a ceiling fell in, the
heavens were brilliant with the great bursts of sparks, which eddied and
rose higher and higher, to join the great cloud floating quietly toward
the now golden river.
Still there was no sign of Indians; and at last my father walked round
to the other side to join the most keen-sighted of our men in the
look-out for the enemy, who was momentarily expected to be detected
creeping up.
From where I now stood I could hear the buzz of voices in the
block-house, where the whole of the occupants were watching the
destruction--in twelve of the cases this being the sweeping away of a
treasured and peaceful home.
By degrees the exclamations and words of sorrow--more than once mingled
with sobs--grew fainter, and there was a terrible silence, through which
came the sharp hissing and crackling of the burning wood, with again and
again a dull thud as some beam went down. At such times the flames
seemed to glow with twofold brilliancy, and the sparks were doubled in
size, while after a few minutes the fire, that had been temporarily
damped, blazed up higher than ever.
"If we only had the orders to shoot," I heard one man say to another, "I
wouldn't care then."
"But there's nothing to shoot at," was the reply. "I say, though, I've
been thinking."
"What?"
"Suppose that they could manage to set fire to the block-house here."
"Don't talk about it, man. What? With those women and children there!
No; we must shelter them from that, even if we die for it."
I was standing with my father when Colonel Preston's house had been
reduced to a glowing heap of embers, and he came up to my father to say
in a light, cheerful way--
"Ah, I've been looking for you, Bruton. I wanted to tell you that I
thoroughly understand now what your feelings must have been like the
other night."
"Don't talk about it," said my father.
"Oh, I don't know," said the colonel. "It's painful, but one knows the
worst."
"No," said my father, sadly; "unfortunately we do not know the worst."
"What do you mean? We can soon set to work and rebuild. The ground is
clear. We cannot be so badly off as when we first landed."
"I was thinking," said my father, in a low voice, "that the enemy has
achieved his work for the night, but to-morrow they will continue this
horrible destruction, and the next night and the next night, till the
palisade and the block-house only remain. Then the worst will come."
"They will try and fire that?" said the colonel, in a whisper.
"Yes. We have a deadly foe to combat, and one full of cunning."
"But we must never let him and his fire-fiends approach the place,--we
must make an outer palisade."
"Of brave men?" said my father. "Yes; I had thought of that; but the
danger cannot be stopped that way. They will fire the place without
coming close."
"How?" cried the colonel.
"With winged messengers," said my father; and I felt what he was going
to say before he spoke.
"Fiery arrows? I see what you mean. Pray heaven they may not think of
such a hideous plan. But if they do, Bruton, we are Englishmen, and
know how to die."
"Yes," said my father, sadly. "If the worst comes to the worst, we know
how to die. Well, there will be no attack to-night," he continued; and
he turned round and seemed to realise the fact that I was there, having
forgotten my presence in the earnestness of his conversation with the
colonel.
"Ah, George," he said, "I did not think that you were there to hear what
I said. Did you catch it?"
"Yes, father," I said in a hoarse voice.
"What did I say?"
"That we should know how to die."
There was silence then, and the ruddy glow in the smoke-clouds began to
die away, leaving everything dark, and cold, and depressing; so that the
cheerful words of the various officers now, as they talked encouragingly
to the men, appeared to have lost their power.