A PIXIE INSURRECTION.
Fort Spinder was in a ferment. The unusual stir in the Brownie camp was
seen by the pickets on the outer barricades, and they at once gave the
alarm, thinking that a night attack was to be made. The garrison sprang
to arms. The Pixies swarmed to the breastworks; the Pixinees (as the
females were called) mounted the ramparts of the fort.
Now arose the trouble that Spite had anticipated.
"Where is the Captain?" The word ran from mouth to mouth along
barricades and breastwork. The Captain was not to be found.
"Where is the Lieutenant, then?" The inquiry ran through the Tegenaria
quarter with the same puzzling result. Presently a sentinel who had
mounted guard near the abutment of the old suspension bridge reported
that he had seen the two officers climb the pier and go out upon the
cables.
"Have they returned?"
No he had seen nothing of them since.
A rumor was started, and ran through the lines, that Spite had been
captured by the Brownies, and that had caused the unusual excitement in
their camp.
Then came another rumor that made headway amid whispers, hints, and
mutterings of "Treachery!" "Cowardice!" "Desertion!" "Sold out to the
Brownies!"
So the leaven of riot and panic began to work. Some bewailed the missing
officers as martyrs; some cursed them as traitors; all mourned their
absence as a fatal blow to their own safety. Irritated by the
uncertainty, worn out by watching, fasting and fighting, the two parties
readily passed from words to blows.
"They are true as steel!"
"They are false traitors!"
"You lie!"
"Hah! take that!"
Words like these, followed by the clatter of claws, and the sharp
rasping of fangs were heard in every quarter. Luckily the third in
command, Lieutenant Heady, was no milksop. He had seen riots and
rebellions before and had quelled them. In stubbornness, cunning and
ferocity he was a genuine Pixie. Fortune, it seemed, had made him chief,
for the time, at least. And chief he would be, or cease to be at all.
He summoned a squad of the most courageous guards, and with them passed
along the line of barricades. Quarrels were broken up with a strong
hand, both parties being impartially beaten. The seditious were warned,
the orderly praised, the doubters cheered, the timorous encouraged.
That answered for a little while.
Once more the riot began.
Heady and his patrol renewed their round. But as soon as a tumult was
silenced in one quarter it arose in another. No sooner had the police
squad reduced matters to quiet and moved to another point, than the riot
broke out afresh behind them. Finally it gathered such headway that the
Lieutenant was compelled to retire. The ill feelings which the rioters
had vented upon one another were turned against him. The combatants
united to wreak a common vengeance upon Heady.
"He is a usurper!"
"He wants to be chief himself!"
"He has made way with the other officers so that he may seize the
command!"
"Down with him! Death to the tyrant!"
"Death! Death! Death!"
The whole seditious element of the garrison gathered together, and moved
in a solid mass upon Heady and his little band of aids, who had fallen
back toward the tower that united the two main quarters of the fort.
"Aha!" said he, "is it that you are after? Very good, my brave boys!
There are two who can play the game of death, as you shall learn!"
[Illustration: FIG. 56.--Lieut. Heady and the Pixie Parson Among
Admiring Pixinees.]
The Pixinees had assembled upon the rampart and were looking down grimly
upon the tumult in the parade ground or open space beneath. Heady called
to them to open the tower gates. Now, strange to say, Heady was a
universal favorite among the Pixinees. Which one of his particular
qualities won their admiration it would be hard to say, but the
cross-grained and savage old crumdudgeon had a host of enthusiastic
friends among the Pixinees of Fort Spinder. They always stood up for
him, and the cunning fellow knew well that he could count upon them now;
especially as the Pixie Parson,[AG] who had great influence among the
Pixinees, was also his warm friend.
The gates of the tower flew open immediately, and an excited crowd of
Pixinees gathered about their favorite. They leaped from the ramparts.
They climbed down the walls. They thronged the gate. Their forms fairly
swelled with indignation. They were ready at a word to fall upon the
insurgents.
The mob paused at this demonstration. They did not like the look of
things. They began to consult among themselves. A few in the rear ranks
of the main body dropped out one by one and sneaked off toward the
barricade. Heady spoke a few words to his Amazon squad, and then
approached the rioters. He advanced several paces from the gate and
addressed them.
"Gentlemen, you have chosen to submit this little difference of opinion
to a very grim sort of a judge called--Death. I am ready to argue the
case, and--there is the court!" He pointed to the group of angry
Pixinees.
The leaders of the riot held a brief whispered consultation. They were
quite taken aback at this turn of affairs.
"Come, gentlemen," continued Heady, in the same cool, sneering tone.
"The court is waiting. Are you ready for trial?"
There is no telling what the issue might have been had not the current
of feeling been suddenly arrested. During these moments of tumult a
thin white speck had been floating in from the lake. It sailed above the
tops of the trees, hovered over the fort, and gradually settled down
toward the parade ground. A voice was heard to issue from it:
"Pixies, ahoy--oy!"
All eyes turned upward. A balloon hung overhead and just beyond, toward
the lake, another and another could be seen.
"Lay hold of the ropes!" called a voice from the nearest of these ships
of the sky. "We want to descend here. We bear a message from your
chief."
[Illustration: FIG. 57.--"A Balloon Hung Overhead."]
A score of willing hands were reached out, and the cords, which by this
time dragged upon the ground, were seized. The little vessel, thus
steadied, began to descend. It touched the ground in a vacant space
between the rioters and the Pixinees. A small Pixie stepped from the
basket, and looked inquiringly around. He was dressed in a dark gray
coat, with broad white stripes; breeches pale colored and spotted, and a
black vest over which a white-haired beard was streaming. He seemed much
puzzled at the strange grouping of the parties around him, who for the
most part had kept their positions, but were looking quietly on, their
interest in the new arrival having nearly soothed their wrath.
"I should like to see Lieutenant Heady," said the stranger. "I have a
message for him from Captain Spite and Lieutenant Hide."
[Illustration: FIG. 58.--Gossamer's Balloons.]
"I am the person you seek," said Heady, stepping forward.
"If you will pardon me a moment, Sir," said the stranger, "and give me
some help in getting my comrades anchored, I will deliver my message."
The second of these little voyagers of the air reached a position above
the fort, and cast out cords and grapnels. He soon anchored. Then
another and another followed until five had safely landed.
The interest of the fort Pixies in these aeronauts had now quieted the
passions that had been so near fatal explosion. Here was news from their
missing officers. All would now be well! By common consent both parties
put up their weapons and gathered around the messenger.
"There is nothing secret in my orders, Sir, I think," said the
balloonist who had first landed, "My name is Lycosa. Here are my
credentials. My orders I will give when you are ready for them."
"Say on, then!" said Heady, "You couldn't have come with them at a
luckier time. What news from our chiefs."
"Good news," answered Lycosa; "they crossed the bridge, raided the
Brownie camp, seized two of the Nurses--the Commodore's daughter and the
Boatswain's--and have them safe on the island to hold as ransom for your
safe and quiet departure."
This news was received with unbounded favor and applause, not hearty,
ringing cheers such as Brownies give, but a noisy clatter of fangs. The
applause ceased and Lycosa resumed.
"The capture of these prisoners was a masterly stroke. The chiefs stole
into the Brownie camp, seized their captives from the very headquarters,
and made off with them. A scream from one of them aroused the camp. The
hue and cry was raised, and by the barest chance Spite and Hide got off
to sea on board a smuggler's yacht."
"With their prisoners?"
"Yes, all safe. They are in limbo now, ready to be exchanged if need be.
But the Captain hopes to keep them for another and worse difficulty than
the present."
[Illustration: FIG. 59.--Spite Sends off Lycosa and his Balloon Corps.]
"Humph!" grunted Heady, "that would be hard to find, I fancy. Go on!"
"He sends word by me that the old suspension bridge is passable; that a
few cables stretched across spans Nos. 1, 2 and 4, will make it a quite
good route. I am here with my companions, not only to bring the
message, but to do this work of repair."
"But when is it to be done," asked Heady, "and how are we to make a
landing in face of the enemy's camp? The Brownies would climb the piers
and cut the strands under us; or would send their cavalry up to do it,
and attack parties crossing.
"They would swarm on the shore and prevent our landing. They would have
us at great disadvantage, for they could destroy us one by one. A pretty
plan that! Perhaps our chiefs had better come and try their own chances
in it. No! let them send out their she Brownies and try the ransom."
Heady spoke with much warmth and the Pixies applauded.
"Not so fast, General," said Lycosa, like a good diplomat conciliating
Heady with a high sounding title. "All that has been attended to. The
Fringe, a fast yacht, has gone down to the outlet with your officers, to
order up the navy. The ships will be anchored off the Old Bridge within
two hours. It will then be the hour just before dawn, which you know is
the darkest of the night. We can have the bridge ready for travel by
that time. Both your chiefs agree that the Brownies will then be quieted
down and will sleep more soundly because of this disturbance. One of us,
however, is to make a balloon reconnoissance before the start from the
fort shall be made, to see whether all is quiet. The navy will land your
party as fast as they arrive, and we can get over, it is thought, before
daylight. Should the movement be discovered, the ships can resist any
onset until all the garrison are off. That is the plan which I bring.
The chief orders the trial. If it fails, the ransom plan will not."
Heady looked sullen, shook his head, and meditated for a few moments.
No one spoke. All waited for his decision.
[Illustration: FIG. 60.--The Pixinees Leave Fort Spinder, Carrying their
Cradles and Babies.]
"Well, lads," said the Lieutenant, looking around with brightened face,
"Is that little unpleasantness settled? What say you?"
The Pixies clapped their fangs in chorus by way of approval.
"You will stop your nonsense, return to duty and obey orders, will you?"
"Yes, yes!" was the unanimous response.
"Very well, then. To your posts, all of you! Cousin Lycosa, go on with
your engineering, and draw on us for all the men and material that you
need."
The garrison scattered to their various posts at the barricades and
ramparts. Many laid down for a short sleep. Some went out with Heady to
look after repairs upon the bridge. The mutiny was over. Once more Spite
had saved Fort Spinder. It was Lycosa and his companions, just alighting
upon Aranea's Isle in their balloons, that had fixed the attention of
the chief while the Fringe approached the shore carrying the captive
Nurses. The whole plan of rescue flashed upon his mind: he would send a
balloon message to the fort, and with it engineers to direct the repair
of the Old Bridge and the proposed escape thereby! Meantime Hide and
himself would bring up the fleet to convey the garrison across the lake.
Lycosa and his chief assistant Gossamer lost no time in beginning work.
Their balloons were anchored by strong cords to grass stalks, and hung
in the air swaying backward and forward ready for the embarkation. They
were hammock shaped silken structures, quite wide at the middle, and
gathered into a point at each end. From the bow and stern floated
filaments of silk, which served the purpose of gas in human inventions
for air locomotion, that is to say, they buoyed up the balloon so that
it floated aloft.
The Pixie aeronaut was seated in or beneath his hammock. Gossamer's
hammock or "car," was a rather broad, close ribbon of silk but Lycosa's
was a light meshwork affair, just enough for his body to rest upon, and
which he aptly called his basket.[AH] When the time came to ascend, the
stay lines would be cut, the balloons rise up and be carried along by
the breeze. If he wished to go higher, the balloonist opened his
spinnerets, set his tiny silk factory agoing, and thus by adding to the
number and length of the filaments increased the buoyancy of the
machine. If he wished to descend he gathered up the floating lines into
a little ball underneath his jaws, something like a seaman reefing
sails, and as the surface exposed to the air was diminished, the balloon
descended.
[Illustration: FIGS. 61 and 62.--Madame Lycosa and American Dolomede
Carrying Their Cocoons.]
"Let go the ropes!" shouted Lycosa, as he climbed by a thread into his
car, which swung beneath the netted hammock. The ropes were cut, and
away the voyager went to the Old Bridge, followed by his brother
balloonists. Assisted by the fort engineers, they stretched new cables
across the broken spans, and strengthened the old ones. An hour's steady
service finished all needful repairs. Then Lycosa ascended from one of
the piers, made a survey of the Brownie camp, returned and reported that
the camp had settled into its usual quiet. Rodney and his sailors were
off to the inlet. Being certain that the lost Nurses were not in the
fort, the Brownies had recalled the extra pickets. There was little
more risk in crossing the bridge than had attended the venture of Spite
and Hide, especially as a fog now hung over the shore. Lookouts were
placed upon the shore pier to watch for the fleet. All baggage and
portable material were packed. Some of the Pixinees took their children
upon their backs, like Madam Lycosa; others carried their round, silken
cradles in their jaws, like Madam Pholcus, or lashed beneath their
bodies, like Madam Dolomede.[AI] Fort Spinder was stripped and ready to
be abandoned to its fate.
[Illustration: FIG. 63.--Madam English Ocyale Carries Her Cradle Lashed
to Her Body.]
Soon Lycosa's signal flag was seen flying from above the pier. The fleet
was in sight! The news was passed rapidly from mouth to mouth along a
line of sentinels stationed on the bridge. The garrison was set in
motion. In a short space of time the whole force had gone over without
accident, and without a sound loud enough to alarm the Brownie pickets,
a result much assisted by a contrivance of Lycosa's. To prevent the
noise made by vessels mooring to the shore, he caused all the ships to
anchor some distance from land. He then attached cords to the masts and
bowsprits, and by means of his balloons carried them directly from the
bridge to the ships. Thus there was no tramping from abutment to lake
across the bank. There were no splash of oars and wash of waves by the
plying of boats from shore to ship.
The last soldiers had embarked. The cables were cut, the anchors
weighed, and with a favoring breeze the fleet crossed the lake and
anchored in Big Cave harbor on the opposite or orchard shore. One of
their camps or villages was located here, and the wearied Pixies were
disembarked and comfortably housed.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote AG: Appendix, Note A.]
[Footnote AH: Appendix, Note B.]
[Footnote AI: Appendix, Note C.]