Many an uneasy look was thrown over our shoulders as we struggled down
that slope. Our strength was urged to its utmost; and this was not
much, for we had all lost blood in our encounter with the sleuth-hounds,
and felt weak and faint.
We were baffled, too, by a storm--a fierce, tropical storm. The rain,
thick and heavy, plashed in our faces, and made the ground slippery
under our feet. The lightning flashed in our eyes, and the electric
sulphur shortened our breathing. Still we coughed and panted and
staggered onward, nerved by the knowledge that death was behind us.
I shall never forget that fearful race. I thought it would never end.
I can only liken it to one of those dreams in which we are always making
endeavours to escape from some horrible monster, and are as often
hindered by a strange and mysterious helplessness. I remember it now as
then. I have often repeated that flight in my sleep, and always awoke
with a feeling of shuddering horror.
We had got within five hundred yards of the timber. Five hundred yards
is not much to a fresh runner; but to us, toiling along at a trot that
much more resembled a walk, it seemed an infinity. A small prairie,
with a stream beyond, separated us from the edge of the woods--a smooth
sward without a single tree. We had entered upon it--Raoul, who was
light of foot, being in the advance, while Lincoln from choice hung in
the rear.
An exclamation from the hunter caused us to look back. We were too much
fatigued and worn out to be frightened at the sight. Along the crest of
the hill a hundred horsemen were dashing after us in full gallop, and
the next moment their vengeful screams were ringing in our ears.
"Now, do yer best, boys!" cried Lincoln, "an' I'll stop the cavortin' of
that 'ere foremost feller afore he gits much furrer."
We trailed our bodies on, but we could hear the guerilleros fast closing
upon us. The bullets from their escopettes whistled in our ears, and
cut the grass around our feet. I saw Raoul, who had reached the timber,
turn suddenly round and walk back. He had resolved to share our fate.
"Save yourself, Raoul!" I called with my weak voice, but he could not
have heard me above the din.
I saw him still walking towards us. I heard the screams behind; I heard
the shots, and the whizzing of bullets, and the fierce shouts.
I heard the clatter of hoofs and the rasping of sabres as they leaped
out of their iron sheaths; and among these I heard the crack of
Lincoln's rifle, and the wild yell of the hunter. Then a peal of
thunder drowned all other sounds: the heavens one moment seemed on fire,
then black--black. I felt the stifling smell of sulphur--a hot flash--a
quick stroke from some invisible hand--and I sank senseless to the
earth!
Something cool in my throat and over my face brought back the
consciousness that I lived. It was water.
I opened my eyes, but it was some moments before I could see that Raoul
was bending over me, and laving my temples with water from his boot. I
muttered some half-coherent inquiries.
"It was a _coup d'eclair_, Captain," said Raoul.
Good heavens! _We had been struck by lightning_! Raoul, being in the
advance, had escaped.
The Frenchman soon left me and went to Clayley, who, with Chane and the
hunter, lay close by--all three, as I thought, dead. They were pale as
corpses, with here and there a spot of purple, or a livid line traced
over their skins, while their lips presented the whitish, bloodless hue
of death.
"Are they dead?" I asked feebly.
"I think not--we shall see;" and the Frenchman poured some water into
Clayley's mouth.
The latter sighed heavily, and appeared to revive.
Raoul passed on to the hunter, who, as soon as he felt the water,
started to his feet, and, clutching his comrade fiercely by the throat,
exclaimed:
"Yur cussed catamount! yer wud hang me, wud yur?"
Seeing who it was, he stopped suddenly, and looked round with an air of
extreme bewilderment. His eye now fell upon the rifle, and, all at once
seeming to recollect himself, he staggered towards it and picked it up.
Then, as if by instinct, he passed his hand into his pouch and coolly
commenced loading.
While Raoul was busy with Clayley and the Irishman, I had risen to my
feet and looked back over the prairie. The rain was falling in
torrents, and the lightning still flashed at intervals. At the distance
of fifty paces a black mass was lying upon the ground motionless--a mass
of men and horses, mingled together as they had fallen in their tracks.
Here and there a single horse and his rider lay prostrate together.
Beyond these, twenty or thirty horsemen were galloping in circles over
the plain, and vainly endeavouring to head their frightened steeds
towards the point where we were. These, like Raoul, had escaped the
stroke.
"Come!" cried the Frenchman, who had now resuscitated Clayley and Chane;
"we have not a moment to lose. The mustangs will get over their fright,
and these fellows will be down upon us."
His advice was instantly followed, and before the guerilleros could
manage their scared horses we had entered the thicket, and were crawling
along under the wet leaves.