by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XII.
AN AMBUSCADE.
"The others will have the laugh at us when they come back," Sarto said.
"That will in no way trouble me," Frank said. "It has given us a coupleof hours' work, and it has passed the time away. If all has gone well,we shall hear the firing very soon; we may be sure that they won't beable to go fast through the wood, especially as they will have to becareful not to make any noise. Of course, it is all up hill too, andwill be as dark as pitch under the trees; they will have almost to crawlalong the last mile. I should not be surprised if it were another hourbefore they are in position to attack. And now that we are prepared torepel any attack upon us, and to hold out, if necessary, for three daysor even more on the provisions we have got, we ought to consider anotheralternative."
"What other alternative can there be?" Maffio asked.
"Let us suppose--and it is as well to suppose the worst--that Rubinifalls into an ambush. It makes no difference whether the woman leads himinto one, or whether she has been trapped and the ambush laid withouther knowledge. Suppose that they are ambushed and that none of them getback here?"
An exclamation broke from the others.
"I said that we will suppose the worst," Frank went on. "This manPrato, who is an old hand at such matters, would not improbably, if heexpected that Rubini would come to attack him, have at once sent off toanother band, or to men who sometimes act with him, and instead of theirmeeting thirty-eight men, they may meet sixty. In that case we mightcalculate that a third of Rubini's force would fall at the first volley;there they would be in the forest, without a guide, in the dark,surrounded by twice their number of men well acquainted with the place,and accustomed to traversing it at night. Now I ask you frankly, do youthink that many of them, or, indeed, any of them, would be likely to getback here? They might not all be killed; some might hide in the woods,and make their way down the mountain to-morrow, but the chance of any ofthem returning here seems to me to be small indeed, if things turn outas I have been saying."
"But you don't think, you can't think, Percival----" Sarto said, in atone of horror.
"I don't say that I think so, Sarto. I only say that it seems to me tobe possible; and, situated as we are, it is always as well to see what,if even the most unlikely thing takes place, could be done. Let ussuppose that the detachment has been cut to pieces: what is our look-outhere? We can defend the place, or rather we can defend ourselves, forthree or four days; but what would be the benefit of that? If the newsgot down to Bronte, it would be necessary to send two or three companiesup here to rescue us. If, as is very probable, no news got down there,we should have to surrender; and we know what that would mean,especially as, assuredly, we should have killed a good many of thebrigands in the course of the fighting. Thus, then, nothing would begained by our resistance. I was appointed to command that portion oftroops left here, in case of Rubini going away in pursuit of brigandswith the rest. I do not suppose that it was ever contemplated that onlyfive men would be left behind, still that does not alter the case. Theidea was, that the village might be attacked during the absence of partof the force, and that those here should maintain themselves untilRubini returned. But in the event of such a disaster as we aresupposing, so far from there being any advantage in holding this church,it would be a serious disadvantage; for we should risk our lives withoutany point whatever in our doing so."
"That is certainly true; but in that case, why should we have made thesepreparations for defence?"
"Simply because we hope, and have every reason to hope, that Rubini willreturn, and we are prepared to hold out until he does so. But, onceassured that the detachment will not come back, the whole matter ischanged."
"But how are we to be assured?"
"Ah! that is a very difficult question to answer. As long as there isthe slightest possibility of any part, however small, of the detachmentreturning, we are bound to hold on here. But, when can we feel certainthat this will not be the case, our duty would be to consult our ownsafety by retreating if possible to Bronte."
At this moment the sentry on the campanile ran in.
"I heard a sudden outburst of firing, Captain Percival, and it iscontinuing."
Followed by all the others, Frank ran up to the top of the tower. Therewas no doubt that a tough fight was going on: the reports of the musketscame in quick succession; sometimes there would be a short pause, andthen half a dozen shots would ring out close together.
For three or four minutes not a word was spoken; then, as the reportsbecame less frequent, Sarto exclaimed, "It is nearly over: Rubini hasdone his work."
Frank was silent, and Sarto added, "Do you not think so, Percival?"
"I hope so," Frank replied, "but I am very much afraid that it is notso. Had Rubini taken the brigands completely by surprise, there wouldhave been one crashing volley, then he would have rushed in with thebayonet, and it would have been all over in two minutes. Some of thebrigands might have escaped, but there can have been no pursuit, for inthe darkness in the forest there would have been no chance whatever ofovertaking men perfectly familiar with it. No, I think that they havefailed in taking them by surprise, and if they did fail to do so, thebrigands would either have moved off, in which case there would havebeen no fight at all, or have laid an ambush for our party, which wouldaccount for the heavy firing we have heard. Whether the ambush wassuccessful, or whether Rubini has beaten his assailants off, isuncertain."
The others saw the justness of his reasoning, and remained silent. Anoccasional shot was still heard.
"What do you think that means?" Maffio asked--for both he and Sarto werebeginning to feel a profound respect for the opinion of their companion.
"It means, of course, that one party or the other is pursuing fugitives,and I am afraid that it is a bad sign, for, as I have just said, our menwould hardly try and chase these brigands through the wood they knowvery well."
They waited another five minutes. Still shots were occasionally heard.
The conviction that Frank's worst anticipations had been but too surelyverified, forced itself upon the others.
"Will you stay here a short time longer?" Frank said to the others; "Iwill go down into the church. I should like to think over quietly whatwe had best do."
He walked up and down the church. It was a tremendous responsibility fora lad not yet seventeen to bear. Some of Rubini's party had escaped, andmight be making their way back in hopes of finding shelter and safety.What would be their feelings if they arrived and found the party gone?On the other hand, defend themselves as well as they might, six men mustfinally succumb before a determined attack by a large party of ruffiansexulting over their victory and thirsting for complete vengeance. But bythe time his companions returned from above he had made up his mind asto the plan that had best be adopted.
"We will take a middle course," he said. "We will leave the church, andconceal ourselves within a short distance of the door into the vestry.One of us must hide close to it, so that if any of our comrades come upand knock at the door for admission, he can bring them to us. We canthen learn what has happened. If even eight or ten have escaped, we willreturn to the church and hold it; if only one or two, we will, when thebrigands arrive and there is no chance of others coming, start forBronte."
"That is a capital plan," Sarto exclaimed; and a murmur from the othersshowed that they too warmly approved.
"There is no hurry," Frank went on. "We will eat a good meal before westart, then there will be no occasion to burden ourselves withprovisions. Before leaving, we will light fresh candles: there are fouror five pounds in the vestry. We will leave four alight in each floor ofthe tower, and the rest in different parts of the church, so that, whenthe brigands do arrive, they will think that we are watchful and wellprepared for them. It is not likely they will know exactly what strengthRubini had with him, but will think that we have at least ten or twelvemen with us, and will be sure to hesitate a little before they make anattack. They will take some
little time to burst in the great doors; andeven the door of the vestry is strong enough to bear a good deal ofbattering before they break that in, so that we shall get a good longstart of them. Of course they may pursue, but we can keep on the roadfor the first half-mile, and then turn off and make our way through theforest. We can't go very far wrong, as it is always a descent; besides,for aught they will know, we may have been gone a couple of hours beforethey get here. I think in that way we shall have done our duty to ourcomrades, and at the same time secured our own safety, for we have noright to throw away our lives when we can still do some work for Italy."
"It could not be better," Maffio said. "In that way we shall have theconsolation of knowing that none of our friends, who have been wounded,have dragged themselves here after we had left only to find that theywere deserted; while on the other hand it does away with the necessityof our throwing away our lives altogether uselessly. I revert to myformer idea, Percival. If ever I have sons, I will send them to one ofyour great schools in England. It is clear that the life there and yourrough games make men of you."
They first sat down and ate a hearty meal of bread and wine, and thenfresh candles were lighted and placed as Frank had directed. Then theyleft the church, locking the vestry door behind them. Sarto lay downbehind a tombstone ten yards from the door, and the others took theirplaces behind the low wall that ran round the church-yard. After waitingan hour Frank returned to Sarto.
"I am going," he said, "to conceal myself at the end of the village,close enough to the road to hear anything that is said by people comingalong. If, as I hope, they may be some of our men, I will join them andbring them on here, if not I will make my way here at once, and willgive a low whistle. Directly you hear me, retire and join us. It willgive us a few minutes' extra time, for you may be sure that when theysee the church lighted up, those who first arrive will wait for the restbefore running the risk of a shot from the tower. When all are gatheredno doubt there will be a good deal of talk as to how they had bestattack it."
Leaving Sarto, Frank made his way through the gardens until he arrivedat the end of the village, and then sat down behind a low wall, close tothe road. In half an hour he heard footsteps, and judged that six oreight men were coming from the forest.
"There is no doubt they are on the watch there," one of them said; "thewindows in the tower are lit up,--we shall have some work to do beforewe finish with them. They fought bravely--I will say that for them; andalthough half their number fell at our first volley, they killed eightor ten of our men, and wounded as many more, before, when there wereonly about half a dozen of them left, they broke through us and ran. Itwas lucky that Phillipo's band arrived in time, for notwithstanding thesurprise, I doubt whether we should have beaten them, had we been alone.It was a good thought of Prato to send young Vico to follow that woman,and that he saw her talking to the officer."
Frank could hear no more, but rising quietly, he retraced his steps at arun, and as soon as he joined his companions gave a low whistle, whichin a minute brought Sarto to his side.
"It is as I feared," he said: "they laid an ambush for Rubini, and shotdown half his men at once; the rest kept together and fought till allbut six or seven were killed, and these burst through them and took toflight; and I am afraid that those shots we heard told that some even ofthese were overtaken and killed. Now let us be going; there were onlyabout eight men in the party who first came along, and we may be surethat nothing will be attempted until the rest arrive. The men hadnoticed our lights in the tower, and evidently expected that we shouldsell our lives dearly; at any rate, we can calculate upon at least halfan hour before they break into the church and find that we have left."
They were obliged to go cautiously before they gained the road beyondthe village, and then they broke into a trot.
"Half an hour will mean something like four miles," Frank said; "and asit is not likely that they can run much faster than we are going, we maysafely calculate that they will not overtake us for over an hour afterthey do start, and by that time we shall be well within five miles ofBronte. Indeed, with the slope in our favour, I am not sure that we maynot calculate upon reaching the town itself; they certainly ought not tobe able to run fifteen miles while we are running eleven."
"If they do we should deserve to be caught," Maffio said; "but I shouldthink that they would not follow us far, as, for anything they can tell,we may have left the church a couple of hours ago."
There were few words spoken as they ran steadily along. The thought ofthe slaughter of so many of their friends oppressed them all, and thefact that they had personally escaped was, at present, a smallconsolation. Frank had not been long enough with the company to make theacquaintance of many of the men, but he felt the loss of Rubiniextremely. At Genoa, during the voyage, and on the march to Palermo,they had been constantly together, and the older man had treated himwith as much cordiality and kindness as if he had been a young brother.Frank regretted now that he had not even more strongly urged his doubtsas to the expediency of the expedition, though he felt that, even had hedone so, his remonstrances would have been unavailing, so convinced wereRubini and Zippo of the sincerity and good faith of the woman. As itseemed, in this respect they had been right, and he had not pressed morestrongly upon them the probability of her being followed when she leftthe brigands after the murder of her husband. It was so natural a thingthat this should be so, that he wondered it had not struck him at once.Had he urged the point, Rubini might have listened to him, and his fatalexpedition might not have taken place.
It seemed to him a heartbreaking affair, and as he ran he wiped awaymore than one tear that ran down his cheeks. After keeping on at thesame speed for three or four miles, Frank heard, by the hard breathingof his companions, that their powers were failing; he himself wasrunning quite easily, his school training being of good service to him,and after the long runs at hare and hounds across country, four milesdown hill was a trifle to him. He had, too, the advantage of not havingto carry a musket and ammunition.
"We had better walk for a few hundred yards and get our breath again,"he said. And the order was thankfully obeyed.
"Are you ready to trot on?" he asked, five minutes later; and on ageneral assent being given, they again broke into a run.
The more he thought of it, the more persuaded Frank was that no pursuitwould be set on foot. Doubtless, the first step of the brigands would beto surround the church, and to place strong parties at both doors; theywould therefore know that the church must have been deserted for atleast half an hour before they obtained an entry, while possibly itmight have been two or three hours before; so on finding the place emptytheir impulse would be to go to the wine-shops and celebrate theirvictory, rather than to start upon a pursuit which offered smallprospects indeed of success. Every few minutes they halted for a momentto listen for the sound of pursuing feet, but everything was still andquiet; and so confident did they become as to their safety, that thelast three or four miles down into Bronte were performed at a walk.
"I must go and report to Bixio," Frank said, as they entered the town."You had better find a shelter somewhere."
"There is no occasion for that," Maffio replied. "The sky has beengetting lighter for some little time, and it must be nearly fiveo'clock. It was past two when we started."
"I will wait for another half-hour," Frank said, "before I rouse Bixio;he is always out by six, and bad news will keep."
Shortly before that hour he went to the general's quarters. The housewas already astir.
"The general will be down in a few minutes, captain," an orderly said."I called him a quarter of an hour ago."
In two or three minutes Bixio came down.
"Have you any news?" he asked hastily, when he saw Frank, whose downcastface struck him at once.
"Yes, general; and very bad news."
"Come in here," Bixio said, opening the door of a sitting-room. "Now,what is it?"
"I grieve to have to report, sir, that I have arri
ved here with onlySarto, Maffio, and three other men of the detachment, and that I fearCaptain Rubini and the whole of the rest of the men have been killed."
Bixio started. "All killed!" he repeated, almost incredulously. "I trustthat you are mistaken. What has happened?"
Frank briefly related the circumstances.
"This is sad indeed--terrible," the general said, when he had broughthis story to a conclusion. "Rubini's loss is a grievous one; he was agood officer, and was greatly liked and trusted by us all; there weregood men, too, among his company. He had fifteen men of the thousandamong them. And you say this woman did not betray them?"
"No; the men I overheard, distinctly said that she was a traitress, andas soon as she was missed by them she was followed, and her meeting withthe officer observed."
"But what took you out beyond the village, Captain Percival? You havetold me the main facts of this most unfortunate expedition: please giveme the full details of what you did after they had left, and how youcame to escape."
"I felt uneasy from the first," Frank said. "Directly Rubini told meabout the woman, I suggested that she might be merely acting a part, inorder to lead them into an ambuscade; but both Rubini and Zippo, who waswith him when he met her, were absolutely convinced of her good faith.
"I also suggested that, even if they were right, the woman mightpossibly have been followed. Her disappearance after the murder of herhusband would be almost certain to excite suspicion that she intended toavenge herself by bringing our detachment down upon them. I communicatedthis suspicion to Sarto and Maffio, and we at once set to work to makethe church defensible."
He then related in detail the measures they had taken, and how he becameconvinced, by the sound of the distant conflict, that Rubini and hisparty had fallen into the ambuscade and been destroyed.
"For some time I could not make up my mind what course to adopt, sir: wemight have defended the tower for two or three days; but it was by nomeans certain--in fact, it was very improbable--that anything of whatwas going on would reach your ears. On the other hand, I could notwithdraw my little party, as, even if my worst suspicions were correct,some of Rubini's men might have escaped and might make their way back tothe church." He then proceeded to explain the plan he had adopted, andhow it had been carried out. "I do not know whether I have actedrightly," he concluded. "It was a terrible responsibility, but I canonly say that I consulted with Sarto and Maffio, who have had far moreexperience than I, and that they both approved of my plan. I hope,general, you do not think that I was wrong."
"Certainly not--certainly not. Your position was a most difficult one,and your preparations for defence were excellent; the alternatives thatyou had to choose between when you became convinced that Rubini had beendefeated were equally painful. If you stayed and defended the place, Imay almost say you would have thrown away the lives of yourself and thefive men with you. If you went, any wounded men straggling back from theforest would have found neither friends nor refuge. The middle courseyou adopted was admirable. You would at once have saved any poor fellowswho might arrive, while you ensured the safety of your little party. Byilluminating the church you secured for yourself a long start; and bygoing out so as to overhear the conversation of the first party ofbrigands who entered the village, you were able to assure yourself thatit was useless staying longer in hopes of any survivors of theexpedition coming in.
"I have received a message from Garibaldi, ordering me to move toTaormina, on the sea-coast. He has defeated Bosco at Milazzo; and theNeapolitan general and his troops have been permitted to take ship forNaples. He said that if I had not concluded my work here I could remainfor another week, as it would probably be a considerable time before thepreparations made for invading Calabria were completed. I was intendingto send off some messengers this morning to recall all the outlyingdetachments. That I shall do still; but I shall certainly remain herethree or four days longer, in the hope that some of Rubini's party mayhave escaped. If I thought there was the smallest chance of laying handson this scoundrel Prato and his band, I would march with a couple ofhundred men into the mountains. But we may be sure that he did not stopmore than an hour or two at the village, after he learned that yourparty had escaped; and by to-morrow morning they may be fifty milesaway, on the other side of Etna. However, as soon as our affair isover, I shall urge upon Garibaldi the necessity for sending a strongforce into the mountains to put down brigandage, and especially todestroy Prato's band."
The disaster that had befallen Rubini's column cast a great gloom overthe brigade: not a man but would gladly have undergone any amount offatigue to avenge his comrades; but all felt the impossibility ofsearching the great tract of forest which extended over the larger partof the slopes of Etna. Bixio however, determined to send off a strongparty to find and bury the dead, and two hours later a detachment ahundred strong left Bronte. Their orders were to attack the brigands ifthey found them in the village; if they had left, however, they were notto pursue. They were to sleep there, and in the morning to compel two orthree of the villagers to guide them to the scene of conflict, wherethey were to find and bury the dead. Every precaution was to beobserved, although it was regarded as certain that the brigands wouldnot have remained so near the village, but would only stop there a fewhours, and then place as great a distance as possible between it andthem.
Frank had offered to accompany the party, but Bixio refused to allow himto do so.
"You have had a sleepless night, and the anxiety you have suffered isquite sufficient excitement for a convalescent. You could do no good bygoing there, and had best lie down and take a few hours' sleep."
Before the party started Frank asked the captain in command to see ifhis horse had been carried off. "It was in a shed adjoining the priest'shouse," he said; "and it may still be there. The brigands would not belikely to make many inquiries; and when they discovered that we hadgone, probably made off directly they had eaten their supper; for hadwe, as might have been the case so far as they knew, started for Brontesoon after Rubini left, it would have been possible for reinforcementsto reach the village within an hour of daybreak. Even if one of thevillagers told them that the horse was there--which is not likely, forthe whole place must have been in a ferment at the news--the brigandsmay not have cared to carry it off, as it would be useless to them in ajourney over ground covered with forest and broken up by ravines andgorges."
The detachment returned two days later, bringing with it, to Frank'ssatisfaction, his horse and saddlery. They had been to the scene of theconflict, and had found and buried all the bodies with the exception ofa few, who must either have escaped or have been killed at aconsiderable distance from the spot where they were attacked. Thebrigands had, as Frank had expected, left the village before daybreak.They had on arriving opened fire at the windows of the church; and aquarter of an hour later, finding that no reply was made, hadendeavoured to force an entry. The great door, however, had defied theirefforts, and when at last they obtained access by breaking in the doorof the vestry, more than an hour had been wasted. The discovery that thechurch was untenanted had greatly disappointed and disquieted them, andafter carousing for a short time they hastily left.
Early on the day after the return of Frank and his comrades, one of themissing party reached the town: he was utterly worn out and broken down,having apparently wandered for thirty-six hours in the forest in a stateof semi-delirium. He had at last quite accidentally stumbled upon asmall village, and after being fed and cared for, had been brought downto Bronte in a cart. He was, he said, convinced that he was the onlysurvivor of the fight. The party had arrived within, as they believed, aquarter of a mile of the brigands' lurking-place, when a whistle washeard, and from the trees on both sides of the narrow path a volley wasfired, and half at least of the party dropped. Rubini, he believed, wasamong those who fell; at least he did not hear his voice afterwards.Zippo had rallied the men, who, gathering together, endeavoured to fighttheir way through their assailants.
W
hat the effect of their fire was, he could not tell, but his comradesdropped fast, and when there were but a few left, they threw down theirmuskets and rushed headlong into the forest. They scattered in variousdirections, but were hotly pursued; several shots were fired at him, butthey all missed. After running for half an hour he flung himself down ina clump of undergrowth. He had heard, as he ran, other shots, and had nodoubt that his companions were all killed. He lay where he was untilmorning, and then tried to find his way down to Bronte, but he had nodistinct recollection of what had happened after he left the bushes,until he found that wine was being poured down his throat, and that hewas surrounded by a group of pitying women.
The fury of the Garibaldians, on their arrival from the various villagesat which they had been posted, when they heard of the slaughter of theirfriends, was extreme; and many of the officers begged the general toallow them to make one effort to find and punish the brigands, but Bixiorefused.
"We have a far greater business on our hands," he said. "Italy has tobe freed. The first blow has been struck, and must be followed up atonce; brigandage can wait--it is an old sore, a disgrace to a civilisedcountry; but Italy once freed, this can be taken in hand. We might spendweeks, or even months, before we could lay hands on Prato's band; thevillagers and woodmen would keep them informed of every movement wemade, while not only should we gain no information, but all would beinterested in putting us upon the wrong track. It is not to be thoughtof. Moreover, I have Garibaldi's orders to march to Taormina, and if wehad lost five hundred men instead of fifty, I should obey that order,much as I should regret being obliged to march away and leave themassacre unavenged."
The day after the fugitive had arrived, the force left Bronte. Themountainous nature of the country to the north prevented a direct marchtowards Taormina. They therefore took the road round the foot of Etna,through Bandazza to Gairre, which lay nearly due east of Bronte, andthen followed the line along the coast to Taormina. Here the troops werehalted, while Bixio, with Frank and a small escort, rode on to Messina,as the general wished to confer with Garibaldi, and to ascertain how thepreparations for the invasion of Calabria were proceeding.