"IT WAS POOR OLD SHANTER."
As was their custom now, the boys were outside passing the telescope
from one to the other for a final look round, while the ladies clustered
by the open door, loth to leave it for the closeness of their room, when
the captain came round from the back and gave orders for closing.
"I think we will try to run down a tub to the water in the morning,
boys," he said. "There surely cannot be any danger now. I have been on
the roof trying to make out a fire anywhere in the bush, and there is
not a sign."
He went in after the ladies, and, as Tim put it, the drawbridge was
pulled up and the portcullis lowered; but just as the door was half-way
to, Norman caught hold.
"Look!" he whispered hoarsely; "what's that?"
The others craned their necks over the stout plank which crossed the
door, and gazed at something dark away in the lower pasture toward the
river.
Then they drew back, Norman closed the door, and began securing it,
while Tim ran to the inner room.
"Come and help to fasten this, uncle," he said quietly.
"Eh? Yes, my boy," said the captain, following him, and Tim seized his
arm.
"Quick!" he whispered, "they're coming on again in front."
The captain seized gun and ammunition; Uncle Jack and Sam German were
roused from sleep, which was to last till they came on duty to watch; a
few imperative words were uttered to the ladies; and once more everyone
was at his post, waiting with beating heart for the attack. But it did
not come.
An hour had passed, then another, and when the captain whisperingly
asked whether the boys were sure, and whether they might not have been
deceived, and taken the black shadows of evening or a depression of the
ground for an enemy, they began to think that they must have been
mistaken. So the captain went to the back to speak to Uncle Jack and
Sam German, who were there that night, the latter solacing himself with
a pipe of tobacco, which he was smoking while his companion watched.
"A false alarm, I think, Jack," said the captain. "So much the better."
"But I don't mind. It shows how thoroughly the boys are on the Alert,"
he was going to whisper, but he did not speak, for at that moment there
was a faint rustling overhead; the brothers pressed each other's hands,
and Sam German laid his pipe softly in the chimney, took up his gun, and
listened.
The next minute the soft rustle continued, and a noise as of someone in
pain was heard, while the listeners in the darkness knew perfectly that
a black had lowered himself and stood barefooted upon the sharp spikes.
Another attempt was made and another. The blacks, being emboldened by
the perfect silence within, tried a fresh plan, which consisted in
lowering down a heavy piece of wood, and began to batter the new
protection. But a couple of shots fired up the chimney had the
customary result, and there was silence once more.
This was the most painful part of the attack, for every nerve was on the
strain to make out where the next attempt at entrance would be made, and
after the respite of the past peaceful days this fresh alarm seemed more
depressing than even the first coming of the enemy. For the defenders
could only feel how hopeless their case was, and as the captain thought
of his wife's look that evening, he was fain to confess that he would
have to give up and settle where the help of neighbours was at his
command.
All at once there were a couple of shots from the front, followed by a
tremendous yelling, and then silence again for a full hour, when it was
plain that the enemy were preparing for a rush at the back, where at
least a dozen shots were fired before they drew back.
Their tactics had been the same as of old, the blacks savagely rushing
up to the doors and making furious thrusts with their spears, which were
met now by large pieces of wood used as shutters and held across the
loopholes, and as soon as they could be drawn aside, by the delivery of
a charge or two of swan-shot.
This went on at intervals, hour after hour, till a feeling of despair
began to take possession of the defenders. Hot, weak, parched with
thirst, and worn by the terrible anxiety that came upon them like a
black cloud, their efforts were growing more feeble, when, in spite of a
stern prohibition on the part of the captain, the girls brought them
bread and water just as one of the most desperate attacks had lulled.
One minute there had been the sound of spears striking window and door,
while a breaking and rending went on as the blacks tried to tear away
the wooden sides of the house, and climbed upon the roof; the defenders
not daring to fire for fear of making holes through which spears might
be thrust, and the next all was silent, and the tears started to the
boys' eyes as the voice of mother or sister was heard pressing them to
eat or drink.
It was the same in every case: they could not eat, but drank with
avidity, the cool water seeming to act as a stimulant, and thrill them
with new life.
"Back, quick, girls!" said the captain, suddenly; "they're coming on
again;" and then he uttered a groan, for he had seen something which
destroyed his last hope, and filled him the next moment with a maddening
desire to destroy.
If he could only hurl one of the little powder kegs he had brought so
carefully right out into the wilderness--hurl it with a fuse amongst the
yelling savages who sought their lives; and then he uttered a low laugh.
"No need," he said to himself softly. "No need. We shall die avenged."
"What's that, father--lightning?" said Norman, sharply; but there was no
reply.