Swift and Sure: The Story of a Hydroplane

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER IX--THE ATTACK ON CIUDAD BOLIVAR

  The station of Santa Marta was so small that its only permanent staffwas the station-master and a boy, the former being also signalman. Willhad seen him several times, and had once before visited the place in hishydroplane, so that the man was not at all surprised when he entered hisroom.

  "Good-morning, senor," said Will, knowing that, however urgent hismission was, the Spaniard would not pardon a neglect of the customarycivilities.

  "Good-morning, senor," returned the man. "I have easy work to-day. Alltraffic is suspended. It would give me great pleasure to be permittedto enjoy a ride in your wonderful vessel."

  "I am afraid your information is imperfect, senor. General Carabano hasseized railhead, and is coming before long with a train full of soldiersto make an attack on Bolivar. I have come to warn the Jefe. Will yousend a wire at once giving him information?"

  "This is surprising, senor. I had word from Bolivar that all trafficwas suspended, but no explanation. When will General Carabano arrive?"

  "Really, senor, there is no time for particulars. He is coming now; heis on the way; he may be here at any minute; and he intends to seize thestation and flay you alive if you don't join him."

  This had the intended effect of overcoming the Spaniard's habitualsluggishness. He quickly flashed a message to Bolivar, giving Will'sname (ludicrously misspelt) as his informant. In a few minutes hereceived an answer, saying that the message was received, and biddinghim secure what cash and valuables he had and leave the station.Meanwhile his wife, to whom he had explained the situation, got a fewthings together, dressed her child, and hurried down to the hydroplane,Will having offered to give them all a passage to the city. It occurredto him that the General would be delayed if the train could be switchedinto a siding adjoining the station. While the Spaniard was engaged atthe telegraph instrument, Will ran on to the line, rushed to thehand-switch, pulled it over, and locked it. Just as he was mounting theplatform again, he saw the smoke of the engine about two miles down theline.

  "There is no time to be lost, senor," he said, running into thestation-master's room. "The train will be here in four minutes or less.There'll be a smash if it runs into the siding at speed, but theengine-driver may see that the lever points the wrong way, and that willgive us time to get to the river."

  The two hurried out, and boarded the hydroplane, which Jose and theIndian had turned round within the narrow limits of the canal so thatits head pointed towards the Orinoco. Will felt that his little vesselwas much overloaded, especially as the forepart could not be used, orplaning would be impossible. He set off down the canal, and washalf-way to the river before the train arrived. The engine-driver hadslackened speed; evidently the General intended to stop and seize thestation, and probably also to question the station-master. A shout fromthe train warned Will that he had been seen, and he smiled to think ofMachado's rage and mortification. "He will wish he hadn't said so muchto Carabano," he thought.

  The changing of the points escaped the engine-driver's notice until hewas nearly on the siding. He jammed on the brakes, but was unable toavoid being switched off the main track; then he had to back out andalter the points. This took three or four minutes, so that by the timethe train had started again the hydroplane had turned into the Orinocoand was almost level with it. Will felt all the excitement andenjoyment of a race, though he was not now specially concerned to getfar ahead of the train: the warning had been given. The train followedthe more direct course, and the smoke of the engine was onlyoccasionally visible among the trees. Will, overladen as the littlecraft was, managed to keep abreast of the train, and so they ran on,neck and neck, until they were within seven or eight miles of Bolivar.Then Will heard a muffled explosion. He guessed what it meant, andfound a mile farther on that he was right. One of the arches of a longculvert had been blown up. There was a six or seven-mile march beforeGeneral Carabano.

  Will pushed on. As he drew nearer to the city he heard the sound offiring. Apparently Colonel Orellana had already developed his attack onthe south-east. "He wants to get in first, and turn liberator of theRepublic instead of Carabano," thought Will. In a few minutes he ranthe hydroplane alongside of the landing-stage, unchallenged: clearly noattack had been expected on this quarter. He left the vessel in chargeof the two natives and hastened along the Calle de Coco with thestation-master to seek the Jefe. He had already been introduced to thatworthy official; indeed, he had thoroughly enjoyed himself at a ballgiven by the Jefe during a short stay in the city with Mr. Jackson.

  There was a great commotion in the streets. Officers and orderlies weregalloping in all directions, troops hastening from one part of the cityto another, many of the men being civilians armed for the nonce.Shopkeepers were barricading their windows; peons were throwingbarricades across the principal streets; here and there were theinevitable loafers, lolling against the walls and smoking as if all waspeaceful and serene. Will hurried along, towards the Alameda, and cameto the Town Hall, the portico of which was thronged. He pushed his wayin, with the station-master, and sent up his name. He waited for sometime; nobody came to fetch him; and in fact, the Jefe was so busilyengaged in arranging for the defence of the city that he had scarcelyheeded the functionary who informed him of Will's presence. It wasdoubtful whether his name was properly pronounced. Will was, however,determined to see him. He felt a certain compunction in leaving hisfriends captive at the hacienda while he occupied himself with theaffairs of a State to which he owed nothing. He reflected that if hehad lain low until the rebels had started, he might have found anopportunity of releasing them--unless perchance General Carabano hadbrought them with him. Certainly he owed it to them to make animmediate application to the Jefe on their behalf.

  At last he grew impatient, and asked a passing official whether he couldnot go up to the Jefe.

  "His Excellency is too much engaged to give audience, senor," was thereply, and the man passed on without waiting for more.

  Suddenly remembrance came to Will.

  "Isn't your aunt's uncle engaged in the administration?" he asked thestation-master.

  "My mother's cousin, senor. I was not aware that you knew it."

  "Then please will you send a message to your mother's cousin and seewhether he cannot bring us to the Jefe," said Will, stifling atemptation to shake the man.

  "But he is a high official, senor; he may be displeased."

  "Good heavens! Don't you see it's the chance of your life! You are theman who sent the warning telegram from Santa Marta. Get your mother'scousin to take you to the Jefe: he may make you superintendent of theline."

  This vision of glory was sufficiently dazzling to overcome thestation-master's reluctance to trouble his relative. Mentioning theofficial's name, he was led along a corridor and ushered into hispresence. A few words explained his errand; then the assistantsecretary said he would certainly introduce him to the Jefe as the manwhose timely warning had been so valuable. Will accompanied them to theroom in which the Jefe sat, among a throng of officers. The assistantsecretary presented his relative, magnifying his promptitude and zealfor the State. The Jefe embraced him: then, recognizing Will, gave hima finger.

  "The Republic thanks you, senor," he said to the station-master; "thePresident will reward you. Your warning gave us time to blow up theculvert, and if I can hold the rebel Colonel Orellana at bay, I may beable to vanquish General Carabano himself. By a malign stroke of fate,scarcely an hour before I received your message, three hundred of mybest troops left by steamer for Caracas, sadly reducing my garrison."

  "Did you not receive a telegram from Caracas ordering the dispatch ofthese reinforcements, Excellency?" asked Will.

  "That is true, senor," replied the Jefe, with a look of surprise.

  "The order was fabricated, Excellency," said Will at once. "It was partof General Carabano's plan, managed with the connivance of one of yourtelegraph staff. His name is--let me think: Perugia
--no, Pereira."

  "Do you say so, senor?" cried the Jefe, springing up in agitation. "Howdo you know it?"

  "I overheard a conversation between General Carabano and my Company'stelegraphist, who has joined the rebels."

  "Caramba! could anything be more unfortunate--or more atrocious! CaptainGuzman, be so good as to have this Pereira instantly arrested. Wouldthat I could recall the troops! But by this time they are twelve milesdown-stream."

  An idea struck Will.

  "I have my hydroplane at the quay, Excellency," he said, "and if thesteamer left only an hour ago I can easily overtake it if you will giveme an order recalling the troops. In less than three hours they will beat your Excellency's disposal."

  The Jefe grasped both his hands and shook them warmly.

  "I cannot sufficiently thank you, senor. You will do the State a greatservice. If the troops return within that time they will be here almostas soon as General Carabano; it may be our salvation. Do not delay, Ibeg you."

  "I must have a written order, Excellency."

  "Assuredly. Senor Crespo" (addressing the assistant secretary), "kindlymake out the order for my signature at once."

  He turned to speak to his officers. The station-master, finding himselfforgotten, stood looking very ill at ease. In a few moments the orderwas signed, and Will took his leave. Hurrying through the streets, heremembered that he was hungry and stopped at a shop to buy bread andcheese. But putting his hand into his pocket for the money, hediscovered that he was without a single peseta.

  "I came away in a hurry," he said to the scowling shopkeeper. "Look,here is an order signed by the Jefe; my mission is urgent, I will payyou when I get back, at the offices of the British Asphalt Company ofGuayana."

  "Very well, senor," said the man, to whom the name of the Company waswell known: and Will hurried off, carrying enough food to providehimself and his two companions with a substantial meal.

  Five minutes afterwards he sprang on board the hydroplane, cast off, andset her going at full speed. The current was with him, and the vesselwhizzed along at forty knots, Azito standing with his pole a few feetfrom the wind screen, holding in his left hand a hunch of bread fromwhich he took a bite occasionally. Will employed his left hand in thesame way, steering with the right.

  Caracas, he knew, was several hundreds of miles distant from CiudadBolivar by water. The steamer would run with the tide to the mouth ofthe river, or strike out by one of its arms to the sea, and then followthe coast-line. Will knew that he could overtake it long before itreached the mouth. Indeed, in less than half-an-hour Azito reportedthat he saw its smoke in the distance. Five minutes afterwards it wasclearly visible as a spot on the river's broad expanse, and in yetanother five minutes the hydroplane was alongside, Will shouting to thecrowded deck that he had a message of recall from the Jefe. The steamerslowed down and stopped: Will clambered on board and handed the order tothe officer in command. The vessel was instantly put about; the engineswere forced to their utmost, and huge volumes of black smoke poured fromthe funnels, the hydroplane being made fast with a rope and towed.

  The steamer was now moving against the current, and it seemed to Will togo at a snail's pace in comparison with the hydroplane. He became sobored with the slow progress and the officer's questions about hisvessel that he made up his mind to quit the steamer and hasten back inadvance, to inform the Jefe that the troops were on the way to hisrelief. He called to Jose to start the motor and drive the hydroplanealongside, slipped over by means of a rope, and was soon careering aheadof the steamer at three times its speed.

  When he arrived within a few miles of the city he heard heavy firing,and as he drew nearer he recognized that the attack was being pressed intwo quarters. Evidently General Carabano had made a very rapid marchfrom the broken culvert. On reaching the quay, he left Jose and Azitoin charge of the hydroplane as before, and hurried along the desertedstreets to the Town Hall. The Jefe was absent. He had taken thecommand against General Carabano on the south-west, while Captain Guzmanwas engaged with Colonel Orellana on the south-east. Will hastened onto find the Jefe. He discovered him a short distance south of the town,on rising ground, his front protected by the walls of two or threegardens.

  The Jefe was decidedly flurried. He had only three or four hundred menagainst a force which he estimated to number nearly eight hundred. Willwondered how so many had been squeezed into the train. They must havebeen packed like sardines. Three guns had been drawn to the spot andunlimbered behind the walls; but the Jefe, when Will told him that thesteamer was coming down at full speed, explained with much vehemencethat when his artillerymen tried to fire the guns they found that thepowder was mixed with sand. Will was not surprised. Some official hadno doubt made a little fortune out of the contract.

  General Carabano's attack had been twice rolled back, but he had nowdivided his force into two portions. One threatened the front of theJefe's position, from the reverse slope of a hill about a quarter of amile distant; the other was working through a small wood to the west,with the evident intention of taking the position in flank. Indeed,just after Will arrived, an enfilading fire broke out on the right, andbegan to thin the ranks of the men holding the gardens, for the woodthrough which the enemy was approaching was at a somewhat higher level,so that the defenders lost the protection of the wall running at rightangles to their front. The position was already no longer tenable, andthe Jefe, who had no great confidence in his men's steadiness, began towithdraw them by twenties behind barricades thrown up at the end of twostreets leading towards the middle of the city. The retirement washailed with loud shouts by the enemy, who, emboldened by their success,came pouring out of the wood, pressing the Government troops hard. Thelast of these to leave the gardens were closely followed by the mainbody of the enemy under General Carabano himself. They came yellingforward right up to the barricades. Then, however, they were met by agalling fire from the men already in position; and the General's voicecould be heard ordering them to scatter and take refuge in the gardenswhich had lately sheltered their opponents.

  It was obvious that the barricades could not be taken by direct assaultwithout heavy loss, but the General was equal to the difficulty. Whilehis men kept up a dropping fire from the garden, the flanking force,under Captain Espejo, skirmishing along under cover of broken country,gained a point some hundred yards beyond the barricades, and then,swinging to their right, charged through a cross lane, a movement whichthreatened the rear of the defenders and placed them between two fires.The Jefe saw his peril in time, and withdrew his men hurriedly from thebarricade, occupying houses commanding the intersection of the streetswith the lane.

  He had barely completed this operation when he saw his mistake. He wasin a trap. His force was no longer mobile. The enemy, protected by thebarricades which he himself had raised, could prevent him from leavingthe houses, while he, though the buildings to some extent commanded thebarricades, was quite unable to bring to bear upon the enemy a firedestructive enough to drive them away. General Carabano's intentionswere soon clear. He ordered up Captain Espejo, and left him to hold theJefe in check, while preparing himself to detach the rest of his men andpress on by a flank march towards the centre of the city, which waspractically undefended. This division of his force, which would havebeen hazardous in face of superior numbers, was perfectly safe in theunfortunate situation in which the Jefe was placed.

  During these exciting moments Will had remained with the Jefe. Thatpoor harassed man was in great distress of mind at having allowedhimself thus to be cut off.

  "How long will the steamer be?" he asked Will anxiously, standing at awindow.

  "It can't be far off, Excellency," replied Will. "Shall I go and hurryup the reinforcements?"

  "It is a generous offer, senor, but impossible to carry out. You wouldcertainly be shot."

  "I am not so sure, Excellency. Captain Espejo's men are all beyond thebarricades: the General is now some distance away; if you
pour in a hotfire on the barricades when I slip out I think I might escape."

  "You are a stranger, senor. You have no reason to imperil your life inour unhappy cause."

  "But the very existence of my Company depends on your crushing GeneralCarabano, Excellency. I am willing to take the risk."

  "I can say no more, senor. Give me a signal when you reach the door andI will do my best for you."

  Will instantly ran down the stairs. He stood at the door for a momentto make sure that the street to the right was clear; then, shouting tothe Jefe, he sprinted away. Instantly there was a rattle of musketryfrom the windows above. Will ran a few yards up the street, one or twobullets whizzing perilously close, then darted into an alley on hisright and made at full speed towards the river.

  The city seemed to be deserted. All the civilians had barricadedthemselves in their houses. When Will reached the quay, he saw thesmoke of the steamer about a mile away. Springing into the hydroplane,he started it down-stream, and on meeting the vessel, swung round andexplained in a few hurried sentences to the officer in command what washappening. The officer, who appeared to be a capable soldier, was aliveto the situation. If General Carabano swooped down on the rear ofCaptain Guzman's force, engaged in an unequal struggle with ColonelOrellana in the south-east of the city, he might easily crush thedefence in that quarter. He could then join hands with Captain Espejoand sweep the city from end to end. It was obviously the first duty ofthe reinforcements to save the garrison on the southeast from beingcrushed, and there was no time to be lost.

  Accordingly the steamer went on until it reached the quay. The troopswere landed, hastily formed up, and led up the steep hill streetstowards the danger point, from which the sound of continuous firing, nowmuch louder than when Will came through the city, showed that CaptainGuzman was being hard pressed.

  The reinforcements had barely begun the advance when a loud outburst offiring was heard, apparently not more than a few hundred yards away.There could be no doubt that General Carabano had crossed the city andwas now falling on the rear of the garrison. Will had had no militarytraining or experience, but he realized how critical the situation was.If Captain Guzman's defence was broken, it was doubtful whether, evenwith the aid of the reinforcements, the city could be saved. Theofficer, Colonel Blanco, ordered his men to double and to refrain fromshouting.

  "Go back, senor," he cried to Will: "you will be in danger."

  "Not a bit of it," replied Will, in the grip of intense excitement.

  He ran along beside the Colonel, wishing that he had had the forethoughtto borrow a rifle before he left the Jefe. He did not pause to considerthat he was properly a non-combatant; he was in fact too much excited tothink of his own position at all.

  The head of the little column soon came in view of a large plaza, sofull of smoke that it was impossible to see whether the men firing werefriends or foes. But in a few moments Will caught sight of a number ofIndians, wearing green feathers, swarming out of one of the streetsopening on the plaza.

  "They are General Carabano's bloodhounds," cried Will.

  "Charge!" shouted the Colonel.

  With a great shout the men sprang impetuously forward. Behind theIndians Will saw General Carabano's towering form. He was evidentlytaken by surprise at the sudden appearance of a force from an unexpectedquarter; but he called to his men to swing round, and with wild cries,in no order, Indians and Venezuelans charged straight for the head ofthe column. There was no time to fire. The two bodies came togetherwith a shock, and then began a desperate hand to hand fight in whichbayonets, clubbed rifles, lances, machetes, swords, revolvers, allplayed a part.

  Will began to wish he had not been so impetuous. He was in the thick ofit now, pressed upon so closely that it was impossible to escape fromthe mellay. For some minutes he dodged this way and that, with no otherthought than to avoid the enemy's weapons. He was in some measureprotected by the very denseness of the struggling mass, which was jammedso tight that there was little room for wielding arms of any kind. Butpresently, as the swaying throng thinned a little, a furious llanerolunged at him with his bayonet. It shaved his shoulder almost by ahair's-breadth, only missing his chest because the man stumbled over oneof Blanco's soldiers who had just fallen. Will's blood was up. Beforethe llanero recovered his footing, Will let drive at him with his rightfist, at the same time gripping his rifle by the barrel with the left.A vigorous wrench forced it from the man's hand. Will had just time tochange it to his right hand when two yelling Indians sprang at him withmachetes. He parried the stroke of one, catching it on the barrel, anddropped on his knee, in the nick of time to evade a sweeping blow fromthe weapon of the other, which shaved the top clean off his sun-helmet.

  "Bravo!" shouted Colonel Blanco, felling the first man with hisrevolver. Then Will, springing up as the second Indian stumbled pasthim, brought the stock of the rifle down on the man's head, and he felllike a log.

  By this time the rest of Colonel Blanco's column had forced its way intothe plaza and closed round the surging mass of men. Their rifles wereloaded; they fired one volley into the rear ranks of the enemy, carefulnot to hit their friends; then they too clubbed their rifles and joineddoughtily in the fray. They were fresh; General Carabano's men wereweary with their forced march and the ensuing struggle. The General'sloud voice could be heard above the din, shouting to his men to reformtheir ranks. But he might as well have harangued a flock of sheep. Norwas there more order in Colonel Blanco's force. There was not so muchmethod in the fighting as in a Rugby scrimmage.

  Numbers began to tell. There were signs of wavering among the enemy.Colonel Blanco seized the moment to shout to his men to press home thecharge. Some of the Indians were seen making across the plaza, almostsweeping the General off his feet. He slashed at them as they passed,commanding them to stand; but his men were falling back; Colonel Blancohad succeeded in forming a line; and the General, recognizing that thegame was up, ordered the retreat. Will was amazed to see how fast sobig a man could run. Colonel Blanco set off at the head of his men inpursuit, but the enemy scattered, running like hares into the variousstreets on the south side of the plaza. Several were overtaken and cutdown, but the remainder made good their escape and fled from the cityinto the open country.

  There were still sounds of firing to the southeast, and Colonel Blancoswung his column round to go to the relief of Captain Guzman. Hereached him at a moment when his men, exhausted with their longstruggle, were giving way before the superior numbers of ColonelOrellana. The sudden appearance of the reinforcements turned the tide.Seeing Government troops instead of those of General Carabano, which hehad expected, Colonel Orellana recognized that their plan had in someway miscarried, and drew off his men in good order. Colonel Blancodeemed it inadvisable to pursue until he had assured himself of therelinquishment of the attack on the Jefe. Hurrying back across thecity, he found that Captain Espejo had learnt of his chief'sdiscomfiture, and was already in full flight. The raid had failedutterly; and Colonel Blanco, joining hands with the Jefe, declared thatthe revolution was snuffed out.