Part 16 (1/2)
Black-deer raised his knife, whose bluish blade flashed in the fire-light, but by a supreme effort Monkey-face succeeded in freeing himself, bounded like a wild beast, and disappeared in the bushes with a hoa.r.s.e laugh.
The knife had slipped, and only cut the flesh, without inflicting a serious wound on the clever Indian.
There was a moment of stupor, but then all rose simultaneously to rush in pursuit of the fugitive.
”Stay,” Tranquil shouted in a loud voice, ”it is now too late. Make haste to attack the Palefaces before that villain has warned them, for he is doubtless meditating fresh treachery.”
The Chiefs recognized the justice of this, advice, and the Indians prepared for the combat.
CHAPTER X.
THE BATTLE.
In the meanwhile, as is stated a little while ago, Captain Watt had a.s.sembled all the members of the colony in front of the town.
The number of combatants amounted to sixty-two, including the females.
European ladies may think it singular that we count the females among the combatants: in truth, in the old world the days of Bradamante and Joan d'Arc have happily pa.s.sed away for ever, and the fair s.e.x, owing to the constant progress of civilization, is no longer reduced to the necessity of fighting side by side with men.
In North America, at the period of which we write, and even at the present day, on the prairies and the clearings, it is not so; when the war-yell of the Indians suddenly echoes on the ears of the pioneers, the women are constrained to give up the labour of their s.e.x, to take a rifle in their delicate hands, and fight boldly in defence of the community.
We could, if necessary, cite several of these heroines with soft eyes and angelic countenances who, on occasion, have valiantly done their duty as soldiers and fought like perfect demons against the Indians.
Mrs. Watt was anything rather than a heroine, but she was the daughter and the wife of a soldier; she was born and brought up on the Indian borders; she had already smelt powder several times and seen blood flow, but, before all, she was a mother. As her children had to be defended, all her feminine timidity had disappeared and made way for a cold and energetic resolution.
Her example electrified all the other women of the colony, and all had armed, resolved to fight by the side of their husbands and fathers.
We repeat here that, what with men and women, the Captain had sixty-two combatants around him.
He tried to dissuade his wife from taking part in the fight, but the gentle creature whom he had seen hitherto so timid and obedient, plainly refused to give up her project, and the Captain was compelled to let her do as she pleased.
He therefore made his arrangements for defence. Twenty-four men were placed in the entrenchments under the orders of Bothrel. The Captain himself took the command of a second party of twenty-four hunters, intended to act anywhere and everywhere. The females, under the orders of Mrs. Watt, were left in charge of the tower, in which the children and the invalids were shut up, and the arrival of the Indians was then awaited.
It was about one in the morning when the Canadian hunter and the p.a.w.nee Chief left the colony; by about half-past two all was ready for the defence.
The Captain made a last round of the entrenchment in order to ensure himself that all was in order, then, after ordering all the fires to be extinguished, he secretly left the colony by a concealed door in the palisades, of whose existence only himself and Sergeant Bothrel were cognizant.
A plank was placed across the ditch, and the Captain crossed, only followed by Bothrel and a Kentuckian of the name of Bob, a daring and broad-shouldered fellow, to whom we have already had occasion to refer.
The plank was carefully hidden so as to serve for their return, and the three men glided through the darkness like phantoms.
When they had gone about one hundred yards from the colony, the Captain halted.
”Gentlemen,” he then said in a voice so faint that they were obliged to stoop down to hear him; ”I have chosen you because the expedition we are about to attempt is dangerous, and I wanted resolute men with me.”
”What is to be done?” Bothrel asked.
”The night is so dark that those accursed Pagans could if they liked reach the very edge of the ditch, and it would be impossible for us to notice them; I have, therefore, resolved to set fire to the piles of planks and roots. A man must know how to make sacrifices when needed; these fires which will burn a long while will spread a brilliant light, enabling us to see our enemies for a long distance and fire at them with certainty.”