To counterbalance in a degree their deficiency, they had a few light mountain guns, carried on the backs of mules, engines of warfare which their enemies did not suspect them of possessing.
Their costume also was equally a mixture of the ancient and modern.
Some were dressed in skins, with their hair long, and the upper part of their bodies painted in many colours. These were some of the wild tribes from a distance, who had never been subdued. Others wore a sort of armour of leather or cotton, thickly padded, with shields of hides, and a profusion of feather ornaments; while most of those who carried firearms, and were from the more civilised districts, were clothed in garments of various coloured cottons, or had retained the ordinary dress of the present day. It must be understood that I learned most of these particulars afterwards, for they were still too far off for me to observe either their arms or dress.
On they came with the most terrific shouts, such as I did not think them capable of uttering. It appeared as if they were giving vent to their feelings of hatred and revenge, pent up for centuries. My father stood for an instant watching the two advancing forces, and considering what course to pursue to preserve his family from the dangers of the conflict which it was evident would soon be raging around us.
"Into the house, David," he exclaimed; "Ithulpo"s advice must be followed. We will keep both parties out as long as we can."
We were quickly inside the gates, and lost not a moment in calling the servants together, and in bolting and barring all the doors, and in putting up shutters to the windows. We found Ithulpo in the house. He said he had been ordered by his chief to remain with as till we were in safety. My mother, whom he had warned of what was about to occur, though alarmed for the safety of her children, did not lose her presence of mind, but went round encouraging the servants to remain firm and obey their orders. Ithulpo hurried here and there, directing and aiding the other men in preparing for a defence should the house be attacked.
In a few minutes all the arrangements which with the means at our disposal we could hope to make, were concluded; and I had time to look out from a loophole in the side of the roof, to see how near the two parties had approached. I first turned my eyes to the eastward towards the mountains, where, to my surprise, I found that the Indians, instead of rushing on at once to meet their enemies, had drawn up in battle array, quietly watching their advance. Had they come on at once, their numbers alone, it appeared to me, would have overwhelmed the Spaniards.
They held a position, however, from which it would, I saw, be impossible to dislodge them, and effectually blocked up the pa.s.sage across the mountain. Their appearance was very picturesque, from the variety of their costumes, and the numberless banners under which each cacique had mustered his followers. Conspicuous among them was one which I recognised as that of the Incas, once more raised to meet the hereditary foes of their race. I next looked down the valley. The advanced guard of the Spaniards had just reached the brow of the hill, and would, I calculated, in three or four minutes be close to our gates. Under these circ.u.mstances, an attempt to prevent them from entering the house would, of course, be considered an act of open defiance of the authority of the Spanish Government, which it would, I felt, be next to madness to make; and I therefore hurried down from my post to tell my father how matters stood.
"We have but one course to pursue," he replied, when I told him what I had observed. "I will trust to your courage and judgment, David; I will stay to open our gates to the Spaniards, while you take charge of your mother and the children, and conduct them down by the secret pa.s.sage which leads out at the side of the mountain. She has already packed up her jewels and the most portable valuables we possess. Go and prepare her to set out the moment the soldiers reach the gate. Collect some torches. Tell Ithulpo. He will accompany you, and protect you should you fall in with any straggling parties of Indians. I will endeavour to join you as soon as I can escape without being observed, which I very soon, I doubt not, shall have an opportunity of doing."
"No, no, father, I will obey you in everything but that," I replied.
"Let me remain to receive the soldiers, while you escort my mother and brothers and sisters to a place of safety."
I so earnestly argued the point, that at length my father saw that I was right; besides, as I observed, if the Spaniards accused us of siding with the rebels, I was much less likely, on account of my youth, to be ill-treated by them than he would be.
Scarcely had he agreed to my wishes, than a loud knocking was heard at the gates.
"Heaven protect you, my boy!" he exclaimed, as he hurried off to conduct my mother with the children and the females of the family down the secret pa.s.sage.
So unexpectedly had the events I have described occurred, and so occupied had we been, that there was no time for leave-taking, scarcely even to comprehend the full extent of the danger to which we were exposed. There had been no weeping or lamentation, or any other sign of alarm; for the women, all looking up to my mother, and seeing her so fearless, seemed only anxious to follow her directions. I watched them crowding after her to the door of the pa.s.sage. Some carried the children, and others baskets of provisions, and light articles of value which she wished to preserve. My father led the way, and Ithulpo and Jose brought up the rear with a bundle of torches.
As soon as they had disappeared, I ran towards the gates, calling on some of the remaining servants to a.s.sist me in opening them. Before, however, I had reached the gateway, the most terrific shouts and shrieks I had ever heard a.s.sailed my ears. I at once divined the cause. The Indians had at length understood the purpose of the Spaniards, and had made an advance to intercept them. The soldiers were now thundering at the gates, in an attempt to force them open, with the b.u.t.t-ends of their muskets. On finding this, I naturally became alarmed, lest, as I withdrew the bars while they rushed in, they would trample me down, and perhaps kill me; yet I felt that it would be cowardly to expose others to a danger I was ready to avoid if I could. I therefore called on the servants to aid me in removing some of the stout bars and withdrawing the bolts, knowing that the people outside would quickly force open the rest.
"We are opening the gates, my friends," I shouted. "Quick, quick!"
Scarcely had the bars been removed than the gates began to give way. We leaped aside into a recess of the hall, and the soldiers rushed in, uttering loud imprecations on us for having so long delayed them. Had they seen us, I believe they would have knocked us on the head; but fortunately they were in too great a hurry to take possession of the house to look for us. There were in all not more than a hundred men; a small garrison for so extensive a range of buildings. The rest of the troops had, I found, advanced up the mountain, in an attempt to force the pa.s.sage across it. From the strong array of Indians I had seen posted there, I considered that in this they would be disappointed. The first thing the soldiers did on entering the house, was to find their way to that side facing the mountains. Some stationed themselves at the windows, through the shutters of which they forced holes to admit the muzzles of their muskets; while others took up a strong position in the court-yard, whence they could annoy the advancing enemy. Their hurried arrangements had scarcely been concluded, when the Indians in strong force rushed to the walls, uttering the most dreadful shouts of defiance and hatred. The Spaniards reserved their fire till they came close upon them. The word was given by the officer in command, and a volley was poured in upon them which proved fatal to many; yet the rest came on undauntedly to the attack. I had intended to have followed my family into the vaults, and I should have been wiser had I done so; but a strong desire to see the fight, not unnatural to one of my age and temper, kept me back; and having escaped the observation of the soldiers, I had clambered up to the roof, where, through a small window, I could see all that was going forward. It was a post I very soon found of considerable danger, for, when the Indians began to fire, the bullets came rattling about my head very thick. What had become of the Indian servants I could not tell; but I concluded that they had wisely betaken themselves to the vaults, or to some other place of safety.
I must observe that on either side the walls of the outbuildings and gardens extended across the hill to the summit of precipitous cliffs, so that the Indians could not get round to attack the house in the rear without clambering over these impediments. As, however, the line was very extended, it required great activity and vigilance on the part of the Spaniards to defend it. Several parties, of ten or fifteen men each, were employed in continually moving about from place to place whenever any of the enemy showed a disposition to scale the walls. The main attack of the Indians was, however, directed against the house itself; indeed it was only subsequently that any attempts were made at other points. The Indian chiefs showed the most undaunted bravery; and, though singled out by the Spaniards for destruction, they were always in the thickest of the fight, and exposed to the hottest fire. I looked in vain for my friend Manco; and at first I was afraid that he might have been killed, till it occurred to me that he was probably with the main body of the army defending the mountain pa.s.s.
I must now more particularly describe the scene as I beheld it from my lofty post. I could tolerably well tell what was going on inside, from the sounds which reached my ears. There was a gate in the east wall about the centre of the house, to force which the Indians in the first place directed their efforts, undaunted by the fire of the Spaniards, they brought up a sort of battering-ram, composed of the roughly-shaped trunk of a newly-felled tree, slung by ropes to men"s shoulders. They were led by a chief in the full war costume of the time of the Incas.
Notwithstanding the showers of bullets flying round him, he remained unharmed, encouraging his followers by word and action to the a.s.sault.
If one fell, his place was instantly supplied by another, till the battering-ram reached the gate. Several thundering blows were heard above the rattle of musketry, the shouts of the a.s.sailants, and the cries of the wounded, as the engine was set to work. The gate yielded to the blows, for it was old and decayed; and the Indians rushed in.
Several fell pierced by the pikes of the Spaniards who guarded it, but many others pressed on, and the soldiers were driven back. The court-yard was soon filled, and at length the Peruvians met the hereditary enemies of their race, face to face, in a struggle for life and death. The Spaniards who had been left to guard the walls of the garden rallied, and attempted in a compact body to enter the house by one of the side doors; but the Indians threw themselves in their way, and attacked them with a courage I scarcely expected to see exercised.
They rushed in upon them, some seizing the muzzles of their muskets, while others cut at them with their axes, or pierced them with their spears. The Spaniards endeavoured to preserve their discipline; but they were at length broken and separated into parties of twos and threes, surrounded by Indians, who filled the entire court-yard, so that the combatants were now engaged in hand-to-hand fights, when it was evident that numbers would gain the day. I had a strange longing, as I witnessed the dreadful scene, to rush down and join the fight. My sympathies were, I own, with the Indians; but still I felt if I had thrown myself among them, I might have sided with the weaker party. I did not, however, attempt to move. The very action would have called me to my senses, and reminded me of the folly of interference. A number of the Spaniards had fallen, and were instantly despatched and trampled on by the infuriated Indians. At last a few, by desperate efforts, again united, and fought their way up to the house; when some of the garrison, who had been anxiously watching them, made a sortie by a side door, and succeeded in keeping the enemy at bay, while the greater number, desperately wounded, retired inside. For a minute, from the rush the Indians made towards the door, I thought that they had succeeded in entering at the same time, and I expected to hear the sounds of strife below me; but the soldiers drove them back, and once more shut themselves in.
Meantime the a.s.sault on the front of the house was going on vigorously.
An attempt was made to bring the battering-ram into play; but so many of the people working it were shot, that it was allowed to drop close to the wall. It served, however, as a sort of platform, from whence some of the Indians could throw their spears into the crevices of the windows, while others attempted to force them open with their clubs, and those armed with muskets continued a hot fire from the walls, and from every spot where they could find shelter. From the groans I heard from below, it was evident that many of the shots had pierced the shutters and wounded the defenders of the house.
While the scenes I have described were going on in my immediate vicinity, I observed that in the distance the main body of the Indians were engaged in a hot engagement with the troops who had marched towards the pa.s.s. The light artillery of the former, though of no use for distant firing, had been judiciously placed in commanding positions, and masked with breastworks of stone and earth hastily thrown up. Their fire was reserved till the Spaniards got close to them; then from each battery the iron shower went forth, sweeping through the ranks of the Spanish troops. I could see them waver and attempt to turn back; but urged on by their officers, they again advanced. A portion attempted to storm the heights on which the cannon were posted; but thousands of Indians were behind the batteries, and they were driven back with great slaughter. Still the rest marched on. Sometimes they were concealed from my sight, and I could only judge by the movements of the Indians on the higher ground that the fight was continuing; then again a turn of the path brought them once more in view. Their numbers were fast diminishing; but pride, and contempt for a race they had for so long been taught to despise, urged them forward. They fancied probably that they must prove victorious as soon as they could come into actual contact with their foes. They were now also fighting for life as well as honour; for if driven back, few would expect to escape after the reception they had already met with. Every instant, however, fresh bodies of Indians sprung up above and around them. On every height warriors were posted, every rock concealed an enemy.
My attention was now drawn off from the more distant scene by what was going on below me. The Indians having penetrated through the gardens, now entirely surrounded the house; and it required all the vigilance of those within to repel them. I could hear those below rushing about to each a.s.sailable point as their presence was most required; the officers shouted their orders, bullets rattled through the house, and the heavy blows of clubs and axes sounded on every side, while the whole house was filled with the smoke of the firearms. When, however, after some time, the Indian? found that they could not gain an entrance in this manner without great loss, they retired behind the outer walls of the garden, and a comparative silence succeeded to the previous din of warfare. It was but preparatory to another more desperate attempt. From the mountain side I saw a fresh body of men advancing, who bore among them ladders roughly formed out of young fir-trees. It was evident that they intended to climb to the roof for the purpose of making an entrance through it, and dropping down upon the garrison. I foresaw that if they did so, the sacrifice of life must be very great, though they would ultimately succeed; for the Spaniards could scarcely defend themselves if attacked from above as well as on every side.
I now began to repent of my folly in having remained behind; but as I had hitherto been unhurt by the bullets, which were striking the roof and walls on every side of me, I fancied that I should yet escape. I tried to consider what I had best do, and came to the conclusion that it would be wiser to remain where I was. If I should be recognised by any of the Indians, I had no fear of their injuring me; but in the confusion and heat of the fight I could scarcely expect to be so, and I felt that I must run all the risks of the a.s.sault if they should succeed in their object. I almost hoped that they would give up the attempt, and allow the Spaniards to escape. The success, however, of the main body of their army encouraged them to persevere.
As far as I could judge at that distance, the troops were completely hemmed in, and were fighting for their lives, not to advance, but to return down the mountain. Should the house be taken, all hopes of their so doing would be lost, as it would leave the besiegers at liberty to descend by the path leading to it, and to cut off all those who might escape.
I was not left long in doubt. By making a circuit to the left, the ladders were brought to a gable end of the house where there were no windows. The Spaniards must have seen the ladders, but they had no means of attacking those destined to mount them unless by making a _sortie_; and this, with their diminished numbers, they were probably afraid of attempting. The tramp of some men on the steps leading to the roof, showed me that they were aware of what was about to take place, but they were too late. The Indians had already begun to tear off the tiles, and the soldiers who appeared were received with the discharge of a dozen muskets close to their faces. Many fell; the rest attempted to retreat, and were precipitated to the floor below. The Indians swarmed up in numbers, and filled the whole upper story. I stood concealed in a small closet which had not been entered. Just then I perceived, besides the smoke of gunpowder, a cloud of greater density ascending through the floor, and a strong smell of burning wood.
"Merciful heaven!" I exclaimed, "the house is on fire!"
The Indians discovered what was the case at the same time, and rushed down the steps. I followed the last of them. I thought if I attempted to escape by the ladders, I might be mistaken for a Spaniard, and shot.
The scene of fighting, bloodshed, and confusion, which met my sight below, pa.s.ses all description. The combat was carried on by both sides with desperation, the chief aim of the Indians being to open the gates to their friends without, and that of the Spaniards to prevent them. In the confined s.p.a.ce of the pa.s.sages, the Indians had somewhat the advantage with their daggers or short swords, and their axes; and they continued fighting for a minute or more, but had, notwithstanding, made little progress, when, from the secret pa.s.sage I have so often described, a band of half-naked warriors burst into the house, and uttering loud yells, set upon the Spaniards with the utmost fury.
Several of the officers had been killed or severely wounded.
Terror-stricken at these new opponents, the men gave way; some attempted to gain the roof, others to burst their way through the doors, though they must then have fallen into the hands of their enemies; but they had a new foe to contend with, as relentless as the former.
The fire, which had been smouldering in one of the rooms, burst forth as the doors were thrown open, and, fanned by the breeze, the fierce flames crept across the walls and along the rafters and ceiling. As the impending danger was perceived, many of the combatants ceased their strife, and victors and vanquished endeavoured to preserve their lives by flight; but some, worked up to fury, fought desperately on till the flames actually caught them in their toils, and claimed them for their victims. Others, with their clothes on fire, Spaniards and Indians mingled together, were seen rushing forth and calling on their friends for aid--on their foes for mercy. Mercy the Indians had never received, nor were they in a temper to grant it. As each Spaniard appeared he was cut down, or was else driven back into the flames, till, as I afterwards heard, not one remained alive of all those who had lately garrisoned the house.
In the meantime I had been watching an opportunity to escape. The fighting was still continuing with the greatest fury, the combatants pa.s.sing before me, as alternately the Spaniards forced their way forward, or were again driven back by the Indians who poured into the building, while the raging flames gained possession of it; when, as the heat became so intense that I could no longer hold my post, and a s.p.a.ce for an instant appearing clear before me, I darted forward amid the fire, the whistling bullets and the weapons of the combatants. I ran on in the hopes of reaching one of the doors at the west side of the house; but I was so blinded and stifled by the smoke, that I could scarcely see my way, or know what I was about. I fancied that I perceived before me a number of Indians. They were driving at the point of their spears several soldiers back into the fire that had reached that part of the house. With fierce gestures some of them advanced towards me. I tried to cry out and explain who I was, when, before the words were spoken, I was sensible of a sharp blow, it seemed on my side. The next instant I saw axes and swords glittering above my head. I sunk to the ground, and all consciousness pa.s.sed from me.
CHAPTER NINE.
THE INDIAN"S HUT--ALARMING NEWS.
When consciousness at length returned, a very different scene met my sight. I had an idea that something dreadful had occurred, but what it was I could not tell. My belief was, that I had been dreaming that I had witnessed a battle, that I had fallen from my horse and hurt myself, and that I had been lifted up and carried along on men"s shoulders to some distant place. I had an indistinct recollection of a face full of tenderness often bending over me; but whether it were white or red I could not tell, the expression only had made any impression on me.
There was, however, so great a want of clearness and reality in what I have described, that when I once more began to collect my thoughts, I was unable to determine whether or not I had been dreaming all the time, and was still half asleep.
At length I opened my eyes, and discovered that I was lying under the shade of a small hut or wigwam, composed of the boughs of trees, and thatched carefully over with straw. My couch was on the ground; but it was a very soft one, for the bed was stuffed with a quant.i.ty of the fine wool of the vicunas, and covered with a delicately woven woollen stuff.
The hut stood in an open s.p.a.ce amid a forest of gigantic trees, such as a tropical clime can alone produce. Beyond were dark and frowning rocks, above which rose ridges of lofty mountains, one overtopping the other, till the more distant, covered with a mantle of everlasting snow, seemed lost in the clouds. The sky overhead was of intense blue; and through it sailed, with outstretched wings, a mighty condor, carrying in his talons a kid he had s.n.a.t.c.hed from the valley below to his eyrie on the summit of the rugged cliffs in the distance. I watched the majestic bird as it sailed along, forgetful of my own condition, and wondering whether any one would be able to rescue the poor animal from its impending fate. On it went, growing smaller and smaller, till it became a mere speck in the sky, and then disappeared altogether.
This trifling circ.u.mstance served to arouse me, and I began to look about me with some attention. I discovered, at length, that the forest glade was not tenantless, for the part farthest removed from me was crowded with dense ma.s.ses of Indians, who were collected round one who, by his height, his rich dress, and n.o.ble bearing, I conjectured to be a chief, though I never recollected to have seen him before. Other Indians kept arriving from all sides through the forest. He stood elevated above the rest on a mound of earth under a canopy of cloth of many colours; and I observed that the _borla_, the red fringe worn only in ancient days by the proud Incas, bound his brow. From this sign I could have no doubt that he was the well-known chieftain, Tupac Amaru, the lineal descendant of the Incas, and the elder uncle of my friend Manco. By the Indians he had been known usually by the name of Condorcanqui, and by the Spanish as Don Jose Gabriel, Marquis de Alcalises, a t.i.tle which had been given to one of his ancestors by the King of Spain.
He was addressing the mult.i.tude in a harangue which, from the distance he was from me, I could not hear. The people listened with deep earnestness and silence, till some expression aroused their pa.s.sions, when brandishing their weapons, their bows, their clubs and spears, they uttered shouts of approval, or wild cries of defiance and hatred to their foe.
I had no doubt that I was in one of the strongholds of the Indians, among the mountains on the eastern side of the Andes. The Inca, for so I may call him, continued speaking for an hour or more, when I again fell off into a sleep or stupor. I had discovered that I was wounded both in the head and side; and I felt dreadfully weak and ill. The sun was just gliding behind the mountains when I again opened my eyes. By my side sat a young and very beautiful woman, her large black eyes and the tinge of copper in her complexion showing that she was of Indian birth.
In front of the hut stood a man whose figure I thought I knew. An exclamation of surprise escaped my lips. He turned his head at the sound of my voice, and I recognised, to my joy, the chief Manco. He knelt down by my side.
"Ah! my young friend, I rejoice to hear you speak once again," he said.
"My wife and I have watched over you anxiously, for we thought with sorrow that you would never recover."
I did not before know that Manco had a wife. "You have been very good to me; and had it not been for her care, I must have died," I replied.
"I dare say I shall now soon get well; but can you tell me anything of my parents and my brothers and sisters? Is Ithulpo with you?"
"I can give you no tidings of them," he replied, turning away his head.
"Ithulpo has not come back to us, and I know not where he is."
"My poor father and mother! they will think I have been killed," I e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "It will make them grieve very much."
"They will trust in G.o.d and hope for the best, as you must, my friend,"
he observed. "But I must not let you talk, or it will bring back the fever which has been on you. Nita will watch over you, for I have matters which call me away." As he spoke, his young wife handed me a cup filled with a cooling draught distilled from herbs, which I drank eagerly off. "That will do you good," he remarked. "To-morrow, if you are stronger, I will answer the questions I see you are eager to put.
Now, farewell!" He shook his head when he saw that I was about again to speak, and went off across the glade.