by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XIII.
THE INDIAN ATTACK.
For nearly half an hour the occupants of the tower remained withouthearing the smallest sound. Then there was a slight jarring noise.
"They are getting over the fence," Mr. Hardy whispered. "Go downnow every one to his station. Keep the dogs quiet, and mind, let noone fire until I give the signal."
Over and over again the clinking noise was repeated. Cautious asthe Indians were, it was impossible even for them to get over thatstrange and difficult obstacle without touching the wires withtheir arms. Occasionally Mr. Hardy and the boys fancied that theycould see dark objects stealing toward the house through the gloom;otherwise all was still.
"Boys," Mr. Hardy said, "I have changed my mind. There will benumbers at the doors and windows, whom we cannot get at from here.Steal quietly downstairs, and take your position each at a window.Then, when the signal is given, fire both your revolvers. Don'tthrow away a shot. Darken all the rooms except the kitchen. Youwill see better to take aim through the loopholes; it will be quitelight outside. When you have emptied your revolvers, come straightup here, leaving them for the girls to load as you pass."
Without a word the boys slipped away. Mr. Hardy then placed on around shelf nailed to the flagstaff, at about eight feet from theground, a blue-light, fitting into a socket on the shelf. The shelfwas made just so large that it threw a shadow over the top of thetower, so that those standing there were in comparative darkness,while everything around was in bright light. There, with a match inhis hand to light the blue-light, he awaited the signal.
It was a long time coming--so long that the pause grew painful, andevery one in the house longed for the bursting of the coming storm.At last it came. A wild, long, savage yell from hundreds of throatsrose on the still night air, and, confident as they were in theirposition, there was not one of the garrison but felt his blood growcold at the appalling ferocity of the cry. Simultaneously there wasa tremendous rush at the doors and windows, which tried thestrength of frame and bar. Then, as they stood firm, came a rain ofblows with hatchet and tomahawk.
Then came a momentary pause of astonishment. The weapons, insteadof splintering the wood, merely made deep dents, or glided offharmlessly. Then the blows redoubled, and then a bright lightsuddenly lit up the whole scene. As it did so, from every loopholea stream of fire poured out, repeated again and again. The guns,heavily loaded with buckshot, told with terrible effect upon thecrowded mass of Indians around the windows, and the discharge ofthe four barrels from each of the three windows of the room at theback of the house, by Fitzgerald, Lopez, and Terence, for awhilecleared the assailants from that quarter. After the first yell ofastonishment and rage, a perfect quiet succeeded to the din whichhad raged there, broken only by the ring of the ramrods, as thethree men and their assistants hastily reloaded their guns, andthen hurried to the front of the house, where their presence wasurgently required.
Knowing the tremendous rush there would be at the door, Charley andHubert had posted themselves at its two loopholes, leaving thewindows to take care of themselves for the present. The first rushwas so tremendous that the door trembled on its posts, massive asit was; and the boys, thinking that it would come in, threw theweight of their bodies against it. Then with the failure of thefirst rush came the storm of blows; and the boys stood with theirpistols leveled through the holes, waiting for the light which wasto enable them to see their foes.
As it came they fired together, and two Indians fell. Again andagain they fired, until not an Indian remained standing oppositethe fatal door. Then each took a window, for there was one at eachside of the door, and these they held, rushing occasionally intothe rooms on either side to check the assailants there.
In this fight Sarah had certainly the honor of first blood. She wasa courageous woman, and was determined to do her best in defense ofthe house. As an appropriate weapon, she had placed the end of thespit in the fire, and at the moment of the attack it was white-hot.Seeing the shutter bend with the pressure of the Indians againstit, she seized the spit, and plunged it through the loophole withall her force. A fearful yell followed, which rose even above thetremendous din around.
There was a lull so profound after the discharge of the lastbarrels of the boys' revolvers as to be almost startling. Runningupstairs, they fitted fresh chambers to their weapons, left theempty ones with their sisters, and joined their father.
"That's right, boys; the attack is beaten off for the present. Nowtake your carbines. There is a band of Indians down by the animals.I heard their war-whoops when the others began, but the lighthardly reaches so far. Now look out, I am going to send up a rocketover them. The cows are the most important; so, Charley, you directall your shots at any party there. Hubert, divide yours among therest."
In another moment the rocket flew up into the air, and as thebright light burst out a group of Indians could be seen at thegateway of each of the enclosures. As the brilliant light brokeover them they scattered with a cry of astonishment. Before thelight faded the twelve barrels had been fired among them.
As the rocket burst Mr. Hardy had gazed eagerly over the country,and fancied that he could see a dark mass at a distance of half amile. This he guessed to be the Indians' horses.
By this time the blue-light was burning low, and Mr. Hardy,stretching his hand up, lit another at its blaze, and planted thefresh one down upon it. As he did so a whizzing of numerous arrowsshowed that they were watched. One went through his coat,fortunately without touching him; another went right through hisarm; and a third laid Charley's cheek open from the lip to the ear.
"Keep your heads below the wall, boys," their father shouted. "Areyou hurt, Charley?"
"Not seriously, papa, but it hurts awfully;" and Charley stampedwith rage and pain.
"What has become of the Indians round the house?" Hubert asked."They are making no fresh attack."
"No," Mr. Hardy said; "they have had enough of it. They are onlywondering how they are to get away. You see the fence is exposedall round to our fire, for the trees don't go within twenty yardsof it. They are neither in front nor behind the house, for it ispretty open in both directions, and we should see them. They arenot at this side of the house, so they must be standing close tothe wall between the windows, and must be crowded among the treesand shrubs at the other end. There is no window there, so they aresafe as long as they stay quiet."
"No, papa," Hubert said eagerly; "don't you remember we left twoloopholes in each room, when we built it, on purpose, only puttingin pieces of wood and filling up the cracks with clay to keep outthe wind?"
"Of course we did, Hubert. I remember all about it now. Run downand tell them to be ready to pull the wood out and to fire throughwhen they hear the next rocket go off. I am going to send anotherlight rocket over in the direction where I saw the horses; anddirectly I get the line I will send off cracker-rocket aftercracker-rocket as quickly as I can at them. What with the fire frombelow among them, and the fright they will get when they see thehorses attacked, they are sure to make a rush for it."
In a minute Hubert came back with the word that the men below wereready. In a moment a rocket soared far away to behind the house;and just as its light broke over the plains another one swept overin the direction of a dark mass of animals, seen plainly enough inthe distance.
A cry of dismay burst from the Indians, rising in yet wilder alarmas three shots were fired from the wall of the house into theircrowded mass. Again and again was the discharge repeated, and witha yell of dismay a wild rush was made for the fence. Then the boyswith their carbines, and Mr. Hardy with the revolvers, opened uponthem, every shot telling in the dense mass who struggled tosurmount the fatal railings.
Frenzied with the danger, dozens attempted to climb them, and,strong as were the wires and posts, there was a cracking sound, andthe whole side fell. In another minute, of the struggling massthere remained only some twenty motionless forms. Three or fourmore rockets were sent off in the direction where the horse
s hadbeen seen, and then another signal rocket, whose light enabled themto see that the black mass was broken up, and that the whole plainwas covered with scattered figures of men and animals, all flyingat the top of their speed.
"Thank God, it is all over, and we are safe!" Mr. Hardy saidsolemnly. "Never again will an Indian attack be made upon MountPleasant. It is all over now, my dear," he said to Mrs. Hardy as hewent down the stairs; "they are off all over the country, and itwill take them hours to get their horses together again. Two of ushave got scratched with arrows, but no real harm is done. Charley'sis only a flesh wound. Don't be frightened," he added quickly, asMrs. Hardy turned pale and the girls gave a cry at the appearanceof Charley's face, which was certainly alarming. "A little warmwater and a bandage will put it all right."
"Do you think it will leave a scar?" Charley asked ratherdolorously.
"Well, Charley, I should not be surprised if it does; but it won'tspoil your beauty long, your whiskers will cover it: besides, ascar won in honorable conflict is always admired by ladies, youknow. Now let us go downstairs; my arm, too, wants bandaging, forit is beginning to smart amazingly; and I am sure we all must wantsomething to eat."
The supper was eaten hurriedly, and then all but Terence, who, as ameasure of precaution, was stationed as watchman on the tower, wereglad to lie down for a few hours' sleep. At daybreak they were upand moving.
Mr. Hardy requested that neither his wife nor daughters should gooutside the house until the dead Indians were removed and buried,as the sight could not but be a most shocking one. Two of the peonswere ordered to put in the oxen and bring up two carts, and therest of the men set about the unpleasant duty of examining andcollecting the slain.
These were even more numerous than Mr. Hardy had anticipated, andshowed how thickly they must have been clustered round the door andwindows. The guns had been loaded with buckshot; two bullets hedropped down each barrel in addition; and the discharge of thesehad been most destructive, more especially those fired through theloopholes at the end of the house. There no less than sixteenbodies were found, while around the door and windows were thirteenothers. All these were dead. The guns, having been dischargedthrough loopholes breast-high, had taken effect upon the head andbody.
At the fence were fourteen. Of these twelve were dead, anotherstill breathed, but was evidently dying, while one had only abroken leg. Unquestionably several others had been wounded, but hadmanaged to make off. The bullets of revolvers, unless striking amortal point, disable a wounded man much less than the balls ofheavier caliber. It was evidently useless to remove the Indian whowas dying; all that could be done for him was to give him a littlewater, and to place a bundle of grass so as to raise his head. Halfan hour later he was dead. The other wounded man was carriedcarefully down to one of the sheds, where a bed of hay was preparedfor him. Two more wounded men were found down by the cattleenclosures, and these also Mr. Hardy considered likely to recover.They were taken up and laid by their comrade. Three dead bodieswere found here. These were all taken in the bullock carts to aspot distant nearly half a mile from the house.
Here, by the united labor of the peons, a large grave was dug, sixfeet wide, as much deep, and twelve yards long. In this they werelaid side by side, two deep; the earth was filled in, and the turfreplaced. At Hubert's suggestion, two young palm trees were takenout of the garden and placed one at each end, and a wire fence waserected all round, to keep off the animals.
It was a sad task; and although they had been killed in an attackin which, had they been victorious, they would have shown no mercy,still Mr. Hardy and his sons were deeply grieved at having causedthe destruction of so many lives.
It was late in the afternoon before all was done, and the partyreturned to the house with lightened hearts, that the painful taskwas finished. Here things had nearly resumed their ordinary aspect.Terence had washed away the stains of blood; and save that many ofthe young trees had been broken down, and that one side of thefence was leveled, no one would have imagined that a sanguinarycontest had taken place there so lately.
Mr. Hardy stopped on the way to examine the wounded men. He hadacquired a slight knowledge of rough surgery in his early life uponthe prairies, and he discovered the bullet at a short distanceunder the skin in the broken leg. Making signs to the man that hewas going to do him good, and calling in Fitzgerald and Lopez tohold the Indian if necessary, he took out his knife, cut down tothe bullet, and with some trouble succeeded in extracting it. TheIndian never flinched or groaned, although the pain must have beenvery great while the operation was being performed. Mr. Hardy thencarefully bandaged the limb, and directed that cold water should bepoured over it from time to time, to allay the inflammation.Another of the Indians had his ankle-joint broken: this was alsocarefully bandaged. The third had a bullet wound near the hip, andwith this Mr. Hardy could do nothing. His recovery or death woulddepend entirely upon nature.
It may here be mentioned at once that all three of the Indianseventually recovered, although two of them were slightly lamed forlife. All that care and attention could do for them was done; andwhen they were in a fit condition to travel their horses and asupply of provisions were given to them. The Indians had maintainedduring the whole time the stolid apathy of their race. They hadexpressed no thanks for the kindness bestowed upon them. Only whentheir horses were presented to them, and bows and arrows placed intheir hands, with an intimation that they were free to go, didtheir countenances change.
Up to that time it is probable that they believed that they wereonly being kept to be solemnly put to death. Their faces lit up,and without a word they sprang on to the horses' backs, and dashedover the plains.
Ere they had gone three hundred yards they halted, and came back atequal speed, stopping abruptly before the surprised and ratherstartled group. "Good man," the eldest of them said, pointing toMr. Hardy. "Good," he repeated, motioning to the boys. "Goodmisses," and he included Mrs. Hardy and the girls; and then thethree turned-and never slackened their speed as long as they werein sight.
The Indians of the South American pampas and sierras are a veryinferior race to the noble-looking Comanches and Apaches of theNorth American prairies. They are generally short, wiry men, withlong black hair. They have flat faces, with high cheek bones. Theircomplexion is a dark copper color, and they are generally extremelyugly.
In the course of the morning after the fight Mr. Cooper rode overfrom Canterbury, and was greatly surprised to hear of the attack.The Indians had not been seen or heard of at his estate, and he wasignorant of anything having taken place until his arrival.
For the next few days there was quite a levee of visitors, who cameover to hear of the particulars, and to offer their congratulations.All the outlying settlers were particularly pleased, as it wasconsidered certain that the Indians would not visit that neighborhoodagain for some time.
Shortly afterward the government sales for the land beyond MountPleasant took place. Mr. Hardy went over to Rosario to attend them,and bought the plot of four square leagues immediately adjoininghis own, giving the same price that he had paid for Mount Pleasant.The properties on each side of this were purchased by the twoEdwards, and by an Englishman who had lately arrived in the colony.His name was Mercer: he was accompanied by his wife and two youngchildren, and his wife's brother, whose name was Parkinson. Mr.Hardy had made their acquaintance at Rosario, and pronounced themto be a very pleasant family. They had brought out a considerablecapital, and were coming in a week with a strong force to erecttheir house. Mr. Hardy had promised them every assistance, and hadinvited Mrs. Mercer to take up her abode at Mount Pleasant with herchildren, until the frame house which they had brought out could beerected--an invitation which had been gladly accepted.
There was great pleasure at the thought of another lady in theneighborhood; and Mrs. Hardy was especially pleased for the girls'sake, as she thought that a little female society would be of verygreat advantage to them.
The plots of land next to the Mercers and E
dwards were bought, theone by three or four Germans working as a company together, theother by Don Martinez, an enterprising young Spaniard; so that theHardys began to be in quite an inhabited country. It is true thatmost of the houses would be six miles off; but that is close, onthe pampas. There was a talk, too, of the native overseer of theland between Canterbury and the Jamiesons selling his ground inplots of a mile square. This would make the country comparativelythickly populated. Indeed, with the exception of Mr. Mercer, whohad taken up a four-league plot, the other new settlers had in nocase purchased more than a square league. The settlements wouldtherefore be pretty thick together.
In a few days Mrs. Mercer arrived with her children. The boys gaveup their room to her--they themselves, with Mr. Fitzgerald and fourpeons, accompanying Mr. Mercer and the party he had brought withhim, to assist in erecting his house, and in putting up a strongwire fence, similar to their own, for defense. This operation wasfinished in a week; and Mrs. Mercer, to the regret of Mrs. Hardyand the girls, then joined her husband. The house had been builtnear the northeast corner of the property. It was therefore littlemore than six miles distant from Mount Pleasant, and a constantinterchange of visits was arranged to take place.
Shortly afterward Mr. Hardy suggested that the time had now comefor improving the house, and laid before his assembled family hisplans for so doing, which were received with great applause.
The new portion was to stand in front of the old, and was toconsist of a wide entrance-hall, with a large dining anddrawing-room upon either side. Upon the floor above were to be fourbedrooms. The old sitting-room was to be made into the kitchen, andwas to be lighted by a skylight in the roof. The present kitchenwas to become a laundry, the windows of that and the bedroomopposite being placed in the side walls, instead of being in front.The new portion was to be made of properly baked bricks, and was tobe surrounded by a wide veranda. Of the present bedrooms, two wereto be used as spare rooms, one of the others being devoted to twoadditional indoor servants whom it was now proposed to keep.
It was arranged that the carts should at once commence goingbackward and forward to Rosario, to fetch coal for the brickmaking,tiles, wood, etc., and that an experienced brickmaker should beengaged, all the hands at the farm being fully occupied. It wouldtake a month or six weeks, it was calculated, before all would beready to begin building; and then Mrs. Hardy and the girls were tostart for a long promised visit to their friends the Thompsons,near Buenos Ayres, so as to be away during the mess and confusionof the building. An engagement was made on the following week withtwo Italian women at Rosario, the one as a cook, the other asgeneral servant, Sarah undertaking the management of the dairyduring her mistress' absence.