Chilians on Both Sides
"Looks as if the old town was being raided by some enemy," declared Plum,
after a short pause, during which another peal of the distant cannon awoke
far and wide the dismal night.
Loud cries were now heard outside the town house, making the youths'
situation one of excitement. In the hall adjoining their prison the steady
tramp of the sentry's feet had suddenly ceased.
"How about the fire?" asked Jack, bracing himself more firmly against the
wall under the weight of his companion.
Boom! boom! boom! rang sullenly on the scene before Plum could reply, and
then the rattle of musketry succeeded and the hoarse shouts of men giving
orders such as no one could understand in the wild confusion.
"The fire lifts higher and higher," said Plum, as soon as a lull in the
tumult allowed him to be heard by his companion. "It seems to be burning
on the northeast corner of the town, and the wind is driving it down this
way like a race horse. The plaza is full of soldiers."
The cannonade soon became almost continual, and was fairly deafening.
"What will become of us?" asked Plum, showing his first sign of
hopelessness.
"Is the window large enough to let us crawl out if our hands were free?"
asked Jack.
"It may be; but it is crossed with bars of iron no man could break with
his hands."
"Take your last look and then come down."
Plum took a hurried survey of the scene which he realized he might never
look upon again, but his narrow orbit allowed of nothing more than what he
had described.
The cannons were still thundering forth their loud-voiced peals of war,
half drowned by the incessant rattle of the smaller arms in the hands of
the town's defenders.
In a moment Plum descended to the floor in a heap.
"Get on your feet if you can," said Jack a moment later.
By resting against the wall, as his companion was doing, Plum Plucky soon
stood beside him.
"I should like to know what we are to do in this condition. We are sure to
be killed."
"Hark! do you hear anything of the sentry now?"
"No; he went out to join the soldiers. I see him."
"Then our way is clear. Now, Plum, I want you to brace yourself as best
you can, and when I give the word throw all your weight against the door
with me."
"Going to try and break it down?"
"Yes; ready?"
"Ready."
"Now then, together!"
The old door shook and creaked beneath their combined efforts, but it
withstood the shock.
"Again--together!"
This time the whole building trembled, and the door creaked and groaned,
but still defied them.
"Still again--together!"
But the third attempt, nor yet the fourth nor fifth cleared their pathway,
though when both the boys were bruised from head to feet the rusty hinges
suddenly gave away and they went headlong into the narrow hallway.
Jack struck upon top, and he was the first to gain his knees, as near an
erect position as he could easily gain, and he began to crawl toward the
open air, saying:
"Follow me, Plum."
On the outer threshold they paused to take a hasty survey of the
surroundings, soon satisfying themselves that a terrific battle was being
waged at the upper end of the town.
"The quicker we get away the better," said Jack, begining to move
laboriously toward the grand plaza, with Plum close behind him.
In that slow, tedious way the two crossed the yard in front of the town
house, and then steering for the cover of a line of shrubbery bordering on
the west side of the plaza, they crawled as fast as they could in that
direction.
The sound of the cannon was not heard so constant now, but the storm of
the musketry had not seemed to cease to any extent.
What meant infinitely more to them, the firing was rapidly drawing nearer.
The fire, too, of the burning town was growing brighter and brighter, even
the plaza showing plainly under its vivid glare.
Upon reaching the shrubbery they stopped for a brief respite.
"Look, Jack!" exclaimed Plum, in a shrill whisper, "our prison is on fire!
We didn't get out any too soon."
Jack had made the same discovery. He made no reply, his thoughts being
busy in another direction.
An incendiary had kindled a fire at one end of the building and so fast
did the flames increase and spread that while they watched them they
sprang up and enveloped one whole side in a crimson sheet.
"We must get away from this place," said Jack. "The two factions of war
are coming this way on a run. It must be the captors of the town have met
more than their match this time."
Again the escaping couple began their slow retreat, now under cover of a
dense growth reaching they knew not how far. Nor did that matter so long
as it afford them shelter from their enemies.
Once, having gained a little summit from which they could look down on the
exciting scene, they stopped to gaze back, their curiosity aroused by the
wild medley of cries.
The town house was now all ablaze, the lurid fire feeding upon its walls
lighting far the night scene, while throwing a weird glamor over the
contending factions of war-crazed men, who had now both reached the
further side of the plaza and temporally suspended hostilities.
There was a reason for this last, too, as explained by Jack's words, as he
analyzed the situation:
"They are Chilians on both sides, Plum!"
"Do you mean, Jack, that this attack on the Chilians of the town has been
made by some of their own countrymen?"
"Yes; there has been some mistake made, which has cost many needless
lives. What a painful surprise it must be to them!"
Jack afterwards learned that he had been right in his conjectures, and
that through some unexplainable blunder one division of the Chilian army
had been sent to capture the town already in possession of another
portion.
Santa Rosilla was in the possession of the Chilians sure enough now!
But Jack and Plum dared not stop to see the outcome of this singular
meeting between the armed forces, but improved every moment to get away
from the ill-fated town.