"Well, Tom," said I, "what about the guns?--are they loaded?"
"Yes, sir, they is," answered Tom; "and a most fort'nate circumstance it
were that you ordered them guns to be loaded when you did, otherwise we
should have been sent sky-high by this time."
"Ah, indeed! how is that?"
"Why, you see, sir, when I was ordered to load the guns I nat'rally
looks round for the ammunition for to do it with; and though this is the
first time as I've ever found myself aboard a reg'lar genewine land-
battery, it didn't take me long for to make up my mind that if there was
any ammunition anywheres aboard the thing, it must be in one of them
there corner lockers. So I goes away and tries to open the door, which
in course I finds locked. It didn't take Ned and me mor'n a jiffy,
hows'ever, to prise off the lock; and when I looked in, there sure
enough was the powder--a goodish quantity--all made up into cartridges,
and there, too, I sees the black stump of a fuze with a red spark on the
end fizzing and smoking away--a good un. I knowed what that meant in a
second, Mr Hawkesley; so I whips out my knife, sings out to Ned to
prise open the other two doors, and cuts off the live end of the fuze at
once, and just in time. There warn't more nor an inch of it left. And
when we got the other two doors open it were just the same, sir--half a
minute more 'd ha' done for the lot of us, sir."
"But you have taken care to see that the magazines are now all right?--
that there are no more live fuzes in them?" I exclaimed in considerable
alarm.
"Ay, ay, sir; never fear for me," answered Tom with a quiet grin. "They
are safe enough now, sir; we gave 'em a good overhaul before doing
anything else, sir."
"Thank you, Tom," I replied; "you have rendered a most important
service, which, if I live to get out of this scrape, I will not fail to
report to Captain Vernon. But I should like to take a squint into these
magazines myself."
"Certingly, sir, by all means," returned Tom; and leading the way to the
magazines he pointed out the manner in which the fuzes had been placed,
and graphically redescribed the manner in which a terrible catastrophe
had been averted.
We had, indeed, had a frightfully narrow escape from destruction; for
the magazines, of which there were three, one in each angle of the
triangular-shaped battery, contained about one hundred cartridges each--
quite sufficient to have completely destroyed the battery and all in it.
Having satisfied myself that all was safe here, I at once turned my
attention to the next most pressing business of the moment, which was to
secure the muskets, ammunition, provisions, and water in the cutter, and
to make the craft herself as safe as possible. This was likely to prove
a somewhat hazardous task, as the canoes were now close to the beach and
pressing rapidly in on all sides. I felt greatly averse to further
slaughter; but in this case I scarcely saw how it was to be averted, the
natives being so pertinacious in their attacks. It was quite evident
that we must either kill or be killed. I therefore most reluctantly
gave the order for the discharge of the six nine-pounders which the
battery mounted right into the thickest of the crowd--the men to
immediately afterwards rush for the boat, secure their muskets and
ammunition, and at once return to the battery. This was done; and
without pausing an instant to note the effect away we all went down to
the boat, seized as much as we could conveniently carry, and immediately
scampered back again. The whole operation did not occupy more than a
couple of minutes; and I had the satisfaction of seeing all hands
scramble back into the battery before the natives had recovered from the
check of our last discharge.
So far so good; but a great many things still remained in the boat,
especially the provisions and water, which it was absolutely necessary
that we should secure; so I called for volunteers to accompany me on a
second trip to the cutter. All hands proving equally willing to go, I
picked half-a-dozen, leaving the remainder in the battery to cover us
with their muskets.
Leaping the low sod parapet of the battery we once more made a dash for
the boat; and the natives, catching sight of us, instantly raised a
terrific yell and came paddling toward us at top speed.
"Out with your cutlasses, men!" I exclaimed; "we shall have to fight
our way back this time, I believe. Now each man seize as much as he can
carry in one hand, and keep close together. Now are you all ready?
Then march. Ah! capital!" as the lads in the battery bowled over three
or four blacks who had landed and were rushing down upon us. "Now _run
for it_!"
Away we went, helter-skelter, and once more got safely within the
compass of our sheltering walls, though not until I--who, of course, had
to be last in seeking cover--had been overtaken and surrounded by some
half-a-dozen furious blacks, two of whom I succeeded in disabling with
my sword, whilst the remaining four were promptly placed _hors-de-
combat_ by the muskets of those who were covering our retreat.
Taking fresh courage, perhaps, at our limited number, and possibly also
feeling more at home in a fight on dry land than when in their canoes,
the natives now closed in upon us on all sides, effecting a landing on
the island and pressing forward, with loud cries and much brandishing of
spears, to attack the battery. This battery, it may be well to explain,
was a small equilateral triangular affair built of sods, and measuring
about thirty-five feet on each of its sides. It mounted six nine-
pounder brass guns, two to each side; and its walls rose to a height of
about seven feet above the ground outside, a ledge about three feet wide
on the inside being raised some three feet all round the interior of the
walls, thus enabling those on the inside to fire over the low parapet.
The guns were mounted on ordinary ship carriages and were unprovided
with tackles, being placed upon wooden platforms slightly sloping
forward, so that when loaded they could be easily run out by hand, the
recoil of the discharge sending them back up the slight slope into
loading position. The three angles of the battery were, as has already
been intimated, occupied by the magazines.
The natives advanced boldly to the attack, and for the moment I must
confess that I felt almost dismayed as I looked around me and got a
clear idea of their overwhelming numbers. However, there was no
escape--we were completely hemmed in on every side; and if we were to
die I thought we might as well die fighting; so, waiting until they were
within a few yards only of the walls, I gave the order to fire, and the
report of the six nine-pounders rang sharply out upon the evening air.
Each man then seized his loaded musket, saw that his naked cutlass was
ready to his hand, and waited breathlessly for the inevitable rush.
The round-shot ploughed six well-defined lanes through the approaching
phalanx; but our persevering foes had apparently become accustomed to
the effects of artillery fire by this time, seeming to regard it as a
disagreeable concomitant to the struggle which _must_ be faced, but
which, after all, was not so very formidable. They had already acquired
the knowledge that the guns, once fired, were perfectly harmless until
they could be re-loaded, and that the operation of reloading required a
certain amount of time. The moment, therefore, that they received our
fire they charged down upon the battery, evidently feeling that the
worst was over and that it now amounted to no more than an ordinary
hand-to-hand fight. "Here they come, lads, with a vengeance!" I
exclaimed. "Take your muskets and _aim low_--make every bullet do
double or treble duty if you can. Keep cool, and be careful not to
throw a single shot away."
This was excellent advice to give, especially as the giver thereof
needed it perhaps more than any of those around him; but it was spoken
with a calm and steady voice, and the lads responded to it with a hearty
and inspiring cheer. They levelled their muskets carefully and steadily
over the top of the sod parapet, selecting a particular mark and firing
only when they felt sure of their aim, though at the moment a perfect
cloud of spears came flying into the battery. The next instant our foes
were upon us, and then commenced a furious, breathless, desperate hand-
to-hand fight which lasted fully ten minutes--the blacks leaping upward
or assisting each other in their efforts to surmount the parapet, and we
cutting and slashing right and left without a moment's breathing-space
in an equally determined effort to keep them out.
During the very thick of the fight light thin jets of smoke were seen to
issue from the joints and crevices in the wooden walls of the huge
barrack-like structure to windward of us, the jets rapidly growing in
numbers and volume and being speedily succeeded by thin arrowy tongues
of flame which shot into view for a moment, disappeared, and then
appeared again, darting along the surface of the wood and uniting with
others, until the entire building became completely enveloped in the
flames, which no doubt the Spaniards had kindled on their retreat, in
order to make assurance doubly sure, as it were, and in the event of
their little scheme for the destruction of the battery miscarrying, to
deprive us of what would have afforded us an excellent retreat in which
to have withstood a siege.
The smoke, thick, pungent, and suffocating, from the tar and pitch with
which the roof and sides of the building had been from time to time
liberally coated, drifted down directly upon us in such dense volumes
that it was difficult to see an arm's-length ahead, making the act of
breathing next to an impossibility, and causing our eyes to stream with
water, whilst the heat soon became almost insupportable. Our enemies,
however, did not seem to be in the slightest degree incommoded either by
the heat or the smoke, but, perceiving how greatly it embarrassed us,
pressed forward more eagerly than ever to the attack. We, however, were
fighting for our lives, and it is astonishing how much men can do under
such circumstances. We actually succeeded in keeping the foe outside
our three walls, and finally, after a prolonged effort which inspired us
with a most profound sense of their individual intrepidity, they
retired, carrying off their dead and wounded with them. They made a
most daring attempt to carry off the cutter also with them in their
retreat, but fortunately she was secured by a chain attached to the
anchor, the latter being firmly embedded in the soil among the long
grass; and the idea of pulling it up not seeming to present itself to
any of them, they were compelled to abandon the attempt, owing to the
galling musketry fire which we maintained upon them.
Exhausted, breathless, with our lips black with powder from the bitten
ends of the cartridges, our skins begrimed with smoke, and with the
perspiration streaming down our bodies, we now had a moment's breathing-
space to look about us. The ground inside the battery literally
_bristled_ with the spears which had been launched at us, but,
marvellous to relate, only three of our number had been hurt in the
recent scuffle, and that but very slightly. The injuries, such as they
were, were promptly attended to, I at the same time doing what I could
for poor old Mildmay; the guns and muskets were re-loaded, and then,
placing a look-out at each angle of the battery, we sank down upon the
ground and snatched such a hasty meal as was possible under the
circumstances.
I embraced the opportunity afforded by this interval of tranquillity to
point out to my small command the necessity for placing them upon a
short allowance of food. I reminded them that, at the conclusion of the
meal which we were then discussing, only one clear day's rations would
remain to us, and that, though the French boat had doubtless made good
her escape down the river--and, in that case, would probably reach the
creek early enough that same evening to make Captain Vernon acquainted
with our critical situation--we could scarcely reckon upon the
appearance of a relief expedition under twenty-four hours from the time
of speaking. I added that, further, it would be only wise to allow
another twenty-four hours for possible unforeseen delays, rendering it
not improbable that we should have to pass forty-eight hours in our
present position, and that I had therefore decided, for these prudential
reasons, that it would be necessary to place the party for that period
on half rations. The men accepted this decision of mine with the utmost
readiness, and, in fact, seemed agreeably surprised to find that I
considered it likely we should be rescued in so short a time.
By the time that we had concluded our hasty meal the barrack--which
after all, and notwithstanding its size, was a mere wooden shell of a
place--had become a shapeless heap of smouldering ruins, and we were
consequently to a great extent relieved of the annoyance from the heat
and smoke. Now that the place was actually destroyed I was glad rather
than otherwise, for standing as it did so close to the battery, it
would, had it remained in existence, have afforded splendid "cover" for
the enemy, behind which they would have been enabled to steal close up
to us unobserved, necessitating a most unremitting watch, in spite of
which a sudden unexpected rush might have put them in possession of the
battery. Now, however, nothing in the nature of a surprise could well
occur, for by the destruction of the barrack we were enabled to obtain
an uninterrupted view from the battery all over the diminutive islet
upon which it stood.
Half an hour after the conclusion of our meal the wind dropped away to a
flat calm, the sun went down behind the low range of hills which
stretched away to the westward of us, the landscape assumed a tint of
rapidly deepening, all-pervading grey, the mist-wreaths rose from the
bosom of the whirling river and stealthily gathered about the island
like a beleaguering army of phantoms, and the solemn hush of night was
broken only by the loud _chirr_ of the insects and the lapping ripple of
the rushing stream.
Thicker and thicker gathered the mist about us until at last it became
impossible to see across from one side of the battery to the other, and
then ensued an anxious time indeed for all of us, and especially so for
me, upon whom rested the responsibility of directing what steps should
be taken for the safety and preservation of the little force under me.
Would the natives attempt another attack that night under cover of the
fog? I thought it highly probable that they would, seeing how important
an advantage it would be to them to have the power of arranging their
forces and creeping up to the very walls of the battery undetected. The
idea indeed occurred to me, that under cover of that same fog it might
be possible for us to take once more to the cutter, and, letting her
drift with the current, in that way slip unobserved away down the river.
But a very few minutes' consideration of that scheme sufficed to
convince me of its impracticability. I felt convinced that our enemies
were quite shrewd enough to anticipate and make due provision for any
such attempt on our part. I felt certain, indeed, that would the fog
but lift for a moment, of which, however, there was not the most remote
probability, we should find ourselves completely hemmed in by a cordon
of canoes lying silently and patiently in waiting for the undertaking of
some such attempt on our part. And, doubtless, all their arrangements
were so framed that, in the event of our making any such attempt, a
simple signal would announce our whereabouts and enable the entire
flotilla to close in at once upon us; in which case our fate must be
certain and speedy. No, I decided, the risk was altogether too great
and the prospects of success too infinitesimal to justify any such
attempt.
Then as to the expected attack. They would probably wait an hour or
two, in the hope of tempting us to venture afloat; then, failing that,
they would cautiously close in upon the island, land, steal up as close
as possible to the battery, and then endeavour to overpower us with a
sudden rush.
Fortunately it was not absolutely dark, notwithstanding the fog, there
being a moon in her first quarter, which, though invisible, imparted a
certain luminous quality to the haze; and two or three stars of the
first magnitude were faintly visible in the zenith, so that if any
fighting had to be done we should at least have light enough to
distinguish between friend and foe.
This anticipation of an attempted surprise of course necessitated the
maintenance of a keen and incessant look-out I accordingly posted half
my small command round the walls, with instructions to fire
unhesitatingly at any moving object which might come within their range
of vision. But I did not expect an _immediate_ attack; indeed, the more
I weighed the chances of such a thing the less did they appear to be,
and in the meantime we were in urgent need of water, our stock being
almost exhausted. Hitherto we had refrained from drinking the river
water, it having a peculiar sweetish taste which scarcely suited our
palates, but very soon it would be "river water or nothing," and I
thought that probably this pause of expectation, as it were, would
afford us as good an opportunity as we were likely to have for refilling
our breakers.
I therefore directed the party who were not engaged upon sentry duty to
make ready for a trip to the river with two of the empty breakers. But
before engaging so large a portion of my little force in an expedition
which, though of the briefest, might expose them to great, because
unexpected, dangers, I resolved to reconnoitre the ground in person, and
with this object in view slipped noiselessly over the parapet to the
ground outside, and throwing myself at full length upon the grass,
already wet with the heavy dew, commenced a slow and disagreeable
journey to the water side. I intended at first to take a look at the
cutter _en passant_, but a moment's thought decided me against this
course, it being just possible that I might find a few savages either
already established in possession or keeping a stealthy watch upon the
boat in readiness to pounce upon any incautious white man who might
venture to approach her. I accordingly set out in a direction about at
right angles to that which would have led me down to the boat, and
though this entailed a considerably longer journey I regarded it as also
a very much safer one.
After a somewhat long and tedious journey--long, that is to say, in
point of time, though the distance traversed was very short--I reached
the water's edge without adventure, and without having seen the
slightest sign indicating the presence of savages upon the island. I
therefore hastened back to the battery--narrowly escaping being shot by
one of our people, who, in his excessive alertness, fired upon me
without first giving the challenge--and hastily gathering together the
watering-party led them to the brink of the river and succeeded in
securing a couple of breakers of water, which I considered would be
sufficient to last us for the next twenty-four hours.
Then ensued a long period of tense, incessant, and painful watching for
the enemy, who, I anticipated, might make their appearance at any
moment. But hour after hour dragged laggingly away, the whole force
kept incessantly on the _qui vive_ to guard against the expected attempt
at surprise, the men, wearied out by their excessive exertions of the
previous day, needing a continuous, uninterrupted round of visits from
me to prevent their falling asleep upon their arms.
And thus the long night at length wore itself away; a faint glimmer of
dawn appeared in the eastern sky, rapidly brightening, the fog assumed a
rosy flush, and presently up rose the glorious sun, gleaming like a
white-hot ball through the haze, a faint breeze from the westward sprang
up, the mist rolled away like a curtain, and there lay the noble river
around us, sparkling like a sheet of molten silver under the morning
sunbeams. And there, too, lay the flotilla of canoes, completely
hemming us in on every side, thus fully justifying the caution which had
prevented my attempting to effect an escape down the river during the
preceding night.
It was exasperating now to the last degree to know that our night's rest
had been thrown away for nothing, and that, for all the benefit our
vigilance had been to us, all hands might just as well have lain down
and gone to sleep all night; but repining was of no use; we had
naturally expected an attack and had held ourselves in readiness to meet
it, and the only thing that remained was to snatch what rest we could
during the day. It was a great advantage to be able to once more _see_
our enemies; and as there seemed to be no immediate disposition on their
part to make a move, I gave orders for breakfast to be got under weigh
as speedily as possible, stationing a look-out at each angle of the
battery during the discussion of the meal. We had scarcely settled
ourselves when the alarm was given that the canoes were advancing, and,
leaping to our feet, we found that such was indeed the case, the whole
fleet having tripped their anchors and begun paddling in toward the
island.
We at once opened fire upon them from the nine-pounders as a matter of
course, but the rascals had not only learned wisdom but had also
evidently very sharp eyes, for at the moment when the match was about to
be applied to the guns the canoes immediately in the line of fire
smartly swerved from their course and the shot went hissing harmlessly
past, missing their mark by the merest hair's-breadth.
Before we had time to load again the savages had effected a landing upon
the beach, and then ensued a repetition of the previous day's fighting,
excepting that our antagonists fought with their energies renewed by a
quiet night's rest and more obstinately than ever, whilst we were weary
and fagged by our long and fruitless watch. During the desperate
struggle which consumed the next quarter of an hour half a dozen natives
managed at different times to actually force their way into the battery,
but luckily for us they got in only one at a time and they were promptly
despatched.
At last they were beaten off and compelled to retire to their canoes as
before, carrying away with them their killed and wounded--of whom I
counted no less than thirty being borne away by their comrades--our lads
"freshening their way" for them with a hot musketry fire so long as they
remained within range.
Then followed another brief interval during which we finished our scanty
breakfast, after which, having seen the guns and muskets loaded afresh,
I undertook to maintain a look-out, and ordered the men to lie down and
snatch such rest as they could get.
But our foes, wily as savages always are, had evidently in their recent
hand-to-hand struggle with us detected the evidences of our extreme
fatigue, and were by no means disposed to allow us much time or
opportunity to recuperate our exhausted energies, for the men had
scarcely flung themselves upon the ground, where sleep instantly seized
upon them, when the canoes were once more put in motion and again the
unhappy blue-jackets were called upon to resist an attack. I now began
to feel a strong suspicion that the enemy had quite counted upon our
being kept upon the alert during the whole of the previous night, the
perfect silence which they had maintained being, as they very probably
surmised, rather a harassing than a reassuring circumstance to us, and
that they fully intended to take the fullest possible advantage of this
during the ensuing day. But their heavy losses in killed and wounded
had at the same time made them increasingly wary, and for the next hour
or two they contented themselves with a continuous series of
demonstrations which drew our fire and kept us incessantly on the alert,
without actually renewing their attack.
At length the wind dropped away to a flat calm and the rays of the
unclouded sun beat remorselessly down upon us with a fierce intensity
which in our exhausted condition was positive agony. A burning
unquenchable thirst took possession of us, and the men resorted to the
water-kegs so incessantly that the water diminished with startling
rapidity, and foreseeing the possible difficulty of obtaining a further
supply I was at last reluctantly compelled to put them upon an
allowance, so that very speedily we had thirst added to our other
miseries. And during all this time our aching eyes were every moment
directed down the river in the hope, which grew less and less as the day
wore on, of detecting the approach of the boats which we felt certain
were on their way to effect our rescue.