As I approached I listened anxiously, almost expecting to hear the sound of shots; but none reached my ears. Then I began to fear that the sanguinary banditti had surprised the house, and perhaps put all those I loved to death, as I well knew they were capable of doing. I kept my carbine and spear ready for instant use should I catch sight of the enemy, resolved to sell my life dearly, and to avenge the murder of my family; but no sounds came from the house. My heart sank within me.
Great was my relief when, as I got nearer, I saw my father and the doctor seated under a wide-spreading tree, a short distance in front of the house,--the latter puffing away at his meerschaum, and evidently engaged in some learned disquisition or other.
I threw myself from my horse as I got up to them, but so deeply absorbed was the doctor in his subject that he kept puffing and puffing away, encircling his head with a cloud of smoke, and scarcely observing me.
"I beg your pardon, doctor," I said, "for interrupting you; but I have matter of importance, which brooks of no delay." I then gave the information I had received from Kanimapo.
My father looked grave, as well he might.
"Can the Indian be deceiving us?" suggested the doctor.
"I feel very sure that he is not," said my father.
He and the doctor then rose, and we hastened to the house. As we went along, my father continued,--"Before we act, let us consider what is to be done. Even were we to make no resistance, those ruffians would murder us; so that, however inferior in numbers we may be, we must fight. Barry, do you and Tim go into the village and beat up for recruits. Gerald must ride off to Castle Concannan and give your uncles notice,--Aqualonga will certainly try to surprise them. The doctor and I will remain, and, with the aid of our blacks, make all the preparations we can for defence. You will stay by us, doctor; but you may prefer seeking safety in flight, as the quarrel is not yours?"
"No, no, my good friend; I will stay and fight, and attend to those who may be wounded," answered the doctor, still sucking at his beloved meerschaum. "Indeed, it is my belief, from what Barry says, that I am the chief cause of the attack. The savages have heard of my chests of specimens, and naturally suppose that they contain treasure; so that I should be an ungrateful wretch, as well as a big coward, were I to run away. We Germans are not in the habit of doing that. But, from the appearance of your house, I very much doubt whether you can hold it against a determined attack. Would it not be wiser for you to unite with your brothers-in-law, and a.s.sist in defending their house, which you may do successfully? It is far more capable of resisting an enemy; and, pardon me, I think it will be madness to attempt to hold out here, when you have their house in which you can take refuge."
"Doctor, you are right," exclaimed my father. "They can but burn this down; and they will not have time to destroy the plantations. I am grateful to you for your counsel. We will carry it out."
Entering the house, my father communicated to my mother and Norah the intelligence I had brought, and desired them to prepare with the children for instant flight, while he went out to call in the blacks whom he could trust.
I meantime, having found Tim, hastened off to the village, where there were nearly a score of men who would be ready, Tim a.s.sured me, to fight in our cause. The news we brought spread consternation among the people: some immediately began to pack up their property, with the intention of flying into the woods to conceal themselves; while the braver portion--many of them young men who had already served with the insurgent forces--hurried to get their arms and ammunition, and to follow us. The village was so open that it could not be effectually protected, unless with a far larger force than the inhabitants could muster; and they knew, therefore, that they must abandon their own houses to pillage if they would preserve their lives. It was a hard fate, but it had been the lot of so many others of late years that they did not repine.
I was thankful to find, in the course of a few minutes, twenty stout, hardy-looking fellows, chiefly Creoles and mulattoes, pretty well-armed either with guns, blunderbusses, pistols, swords, or spears. All had one or two weapons, which they knew how to use; and were thoroughly imbued with a true hatred of the Gothos, as they called the Spaniards, and all those who sided with them. The bandit Aqualonga they especially detested, from the numberless atrocities he had committed, and for which he had been rewarded by the King of Spain with a colonel"s commission, a handsome uniform, and occasional pay. These signal marks of favour had encouraged him to continue his career. Bermudez and other patriot chiefs had hitherto in vain attempted to hunt him down. He was active and intelligent; and, supported by his band of cut-throats,--Spaniards, mulattoes, Indians, and blacks,--had long evaded pursuit, and had appeared now in one part of the country, now in the other, where he had committed fresh outrages on the unfortunate inhabitants.
I feared that, as he had now come into our neighbourhood,--if Kanimapo was rightly informed,--he would attack Don Fernando"s house, from which he would obtain a richer booty than from ours or Castle Concannan. I mentioned my fears to Tim.
"It may be, Masther Barry; but if he pays Castle Concannan a visit first, it"s my belief that we"ll be after giving him such a drubbing that he"ll have no stomach for attacking any other place. We"ve a good store of ammunition at our house, and your uncles have a still larger; and with forty or well-nigh fifty true men inside the four walls, we shall be able to keep the enemy employed as long as they venture to stay within gun-shot."
On reaching the house, we found my mother and Norah mounted. Each of them held one of the children; while the rest of the horses were laden with the ammunition, and some of the more valuable property. I could nowhere find the doctor, and asked what had become of him. Presently I saw him returning with four blacks.
"I went away for an especial object," he said: "to hide my chests of natural history. The rogues would have broken them open, expecting to find them full of treasure; or should they burn the house, their contents would have been destroyed: so I thought the best way would be to conceal them in the woods, as I could not ask your father to convey them."
I congratulated him on his forethought, and it then occurred to me to ask what had become of Gab.
"Oh, the villain! I forgot all about him!" exclaimed the doctor. "He still remains shut up. Should the banditti destroy the house, he will be burned alive."
"Common humanity forbids that we should allow him to be thus put to death. We must take him with us," observed my father.
"He would only meet with his deserts," remarked the doctor. "However, as it won"t do to let him be at liberty, I will bring him out."
The doctor hurried into the house, and quickly returned driving Gab before him with a rope fastened round his wrists, so that, though he could use his feet, he could not run away.
The order was now given to advance,--my mother and sister, with the children, being placed in the centre, while our own servants and the villagers marched on either side; for though we hoped to reach Castle Concannan in safety, we could not tell at what moment Aqualonga and his band might arrive.
My father cast a regretful look at his house, which he was thus leaving to destruction. Tim, who observed it, cried out,--"Faith, masther dear, better to let the house burn than to lose all our lives, which would have happened, maybe, into the bargain; so we"ll just hope to live and fight another day, and go back and build it up again before long."
My father, giving Tim a friendly nod, turned away his head and pushed forward to the front, while the doctor and I brought up the rear. He was too good a soldier to omit sending out scouts to bring us timely notice of the approach of an enemy; but we pushed on as fast as we could move, with our firelocks ready for instant use, hoping that, even if attacked, we might fight our way to Castle Concannan, the distance not being great.
Our anxiety was soon relieved by our arrival at our destination. My eldest uncle came out to receive us. Gerald had faithfully delivered our father"s message, and they had immediately set to work to put the place in a state of defence. All the timber that could be collected had been brought in to barricade the windows and doors; and they had already begun to remove part of the roof which was thatched, and which, as it could easily be set on fire by arrows with burning tips, was likely to prove dangerous. The considerable force we brought enabled these operations to be rapidly carried on. The thatch was conveyed to a distance from the house, that it might not be employed for smoking us out, while all the men able to use saws and hammers set to work to fit and nail up the timbers. Every door and window was so strongly barricaded, that a cannon-shot only could have knocked them in.
My uncle had, fortunately, two small field-pieces. To enable these to be used with effect, ports were cut in the lower part of the doors on either side, with traps or portcullises to mask them till it was necessary to run them out and fire. All the windows were loopholed; and a number of large stones and bricks, taken from the walls of the outhouses, were carried up to the roof, to be hurled down on the heads of our a.s.sailants, should they attempt to escalade the walls.
Our men were then divided into four parties, that, should the house be attacked on every side at once, it might be effectually defended. Uncle Denis had charge of one of the guns; and as I had learned to load and fire one on board ship, I had command of the other, with Gerald and Tim under me.
The preparations occupied us the greater part of the night, and not till towards morning did we consider that the house was placed in a proper state of defence.
My mother and sisters, as well as my aunts and cousins, had rendered all the a.s.sistance in their power, and they now begged that they might be stationed in the upper part of the house, so as to throw stones on the heads of the enemy should they approach the walls. To this, however, my father and uncles would not consent, as they would thus be exposed to the shot of our a.s.sailants.
"Your proper duty, ladies, will be to help me, should any of our garrison be wounded," observed the doctor. "The fittest place will be the centre of the house, where you yourselves will run the least risk of being hurt. We cannot allow you to be exposed to danger, if it can be avoided."
To this they somewhat unwillingly agreed; and our minds were greatly relieved by believing that, as long as we could hold out, they would be safe.
The command of the fortress was entrusted by my uncles to my father, who, having seen so much fighting in his younger days, was considered the best soldier of the party; while Uncle Denis and I acted as his lieutenants.
The order was now given to those of the men who wished to do so to lie down and rest, while we kept a look-out from the battlements,--for so I may call the upper part of the house,--that the enemy might not take us by surprise. It was, as I have said, a square, strongly-built stone house, with a courtyard on one side, beyond which were several out-buildings. Had we possessed a stronger force, these would have been fortified and occupied; but, as it was, we had only men sufficient to garrison the house, and we were compelled to leave these to their fate.
Our horses were brought inside, as were several mules; but the rest of the live stock--the oxen, pigs, sheep, and goats--had to be deserted.
The house stood on slightly elevated ground, sloping away gradually on three sides, the fourth being that on which the courtyard was situated.
The night was drawing on, but as yet we had seen no signs of an enemy.
It was possible that, after all, Aqualonga and his band might not come; they might have encountered some of the patriot troops and been driven back. We hoped that such might be the case.
I was looking out on the side turned towards our house, when Gerald joined me. "I can"t sleep for thinking of the work we are to be engaged in," he said. "After all the trouble we have taken, it will be quite a pity if the banditti disappoint us."
"I cannot quite agree with you," I answered. "Remember that they are not likely to come here till they have paid our house a visit; and if they go there, they are sure to burn it, in revenge at finding us gone, and nothing within which they greatly value."
As I was speaking, I observed a bright light in the direction of our house, and pointed it out to Gerald. "What do you think that means?" I asked.
"I don"t know," he said. "Perhaps some native with a torch going through the woods."
"I fear very much that it will increase," I answered. "See! it is already doing so! Gerald, I am afraid Aqualonga and his party have really come, and finding that we have escaped, have in revenge set fire to our house. I trust that they will not treat the whole village in the same way. It is bad enough for those who have friends to go to, but it will be sad indeed for the poor people to be burned out of their homes."
"You take things very coolly, Barry," exclaimed Gerald. "The villains!
Can they have dared to burn our house? I hope that they will come here; and we"ll give them a tremendous thrashing!"
"Depend on it, they"ll not disappoint us," I observed. "See! see how the flames are ascending! I have no longer any doubt of what has happened."
As we were speaking we were joined by my father and Uncle Denis, whose opinion confirmed our worst fears. The burning of our house was the signal for us to prepare for an immediate attack, as the enemy would not take long in traversing the distance between the two places; and unless they should take it into their heads to destroy the village, they would very soon appear before Castle Concannan. Those of the garrison who had lain down to sleep were aroused, and all the men were ordered to their posts. I hurried to mine; while my father remained on the roof to give us notice of the approach of the enemy. I opened the port through which my gun was to be fired, and looked out. The shades of night were fast floating away, and I could see down the slope to a thick wood which covered the opposite side of the valley. My gun was loaded with langrage, which was likely to prove far more effective than a single shot; for, though that could reach to a distance, it would not, like the pieces of iron, scatter death and destruction around. With a slow match in my hand, I stood ready for action. A few men only were stationed near me, all of whom seemed resolute and determined to fight to the last.
I felt very impatient, waiting to hear the expected word of command from my father, to fire. Several times I peeped through the port. At length I saw a body of men emerge from the wood. They halted for a minute or more,--being apparently the advanced guard,--till they were joined by others. My father must have seen them, but he did not give the order to fire. At length I saw the whole ma.s.s advancing, and at the same moment my father"s voice sounded loud and clear through the building,--"Be prepared, my men! The enemy are coming; but reserve your fire till you receive my orders, and then take good aim, and don"t throw a shot away."
My uncle now came over to where I was posted. "The enemy appear to intend attacking us only on this side," he observed; "I hope they may, for we shall then be able to sweep them down as they ascend the open slope. They have no scaling-ladders with them, I am thankful to see, or our task would be more difficult. I will lend you a hand, Barry, in fighting your gun, till I am called back to my own. We must take care that while we are reloading none of them succeed in creeping through the port; they are daring fellows, and may make the attempt."
We had kept the port closed, a man being stationed to lift up the trap the moment the order to fire should be given. For a minute or more perfect silence reigned through the house; every one stood eagerly waiting for my father"s orders. At length his voice was heard. "Fire!"
he shouted; and at the same moment, as if his command had been addressed to the enemy, they began blazing away, the shot rattling like hail against the walls.
Our port being unmasked, we ran out the gun, depressing it so as to sweep the hill-side, and fired. Loud shrieks and cries arose as the iron shower went crashing among them; but as we immediately closed the port, we could not see how many fell. Still they advanced; and as they did so our garrison kept firing away, with right good will, from every loophole in the house. We meantime reloaded our gun and again ran it out; but the enemy scarcely waited for its discharge. Its effects were even more deadly than at first, for their front ranks were almost up to the walls. Before the smoke had cleared away some of them dashed forward towards the port, by command of their leader, for we heard his voice giving the order; but we had our pikes raised to receive them, and two, if not more, were killed as they attempted to force their way in.
The others for a moment holding back, enabled us to close the port, at the same time that some of the men on the roof hurled down on their heads a shower of stones, which must have killed or disabled many more.