Part 88 (2/2)
As Winston waved him on, he spotted Atiba approaching
across the clearing, Serina at his side. The Yoruba still had his cutla.s.s at his waist, and Serina, her white s.h.i.+ft torn and stained from the underbrush, was now carrying a Spanish flintlock. When she saw Briggs, she hesitated a second, startled, then advanced on him.
”My d.a.m.nd Niger!” The planter abruptly recognized them and started to reach for his pistol. ”The very one who tried to kill me, then made off with my _mulata_ . . .”
Serina lifted her musket and c.o.c.ked it, not missing a step. ”Leave your gun where it is, Master Briggs, unless you want me to kill you. He is free now.”
”He's a d.a.m.n'd runaway.” Briggs halted. ”And I take it you're in with him now. Well, I'll not be having the two of you loose on this island, that much I promise you.”
Serina strode directly to where he stood. ”I am free now too.” Her voice was unwavering. ”You can never take me back, if that's what you have come here to do.”
”We'll d.a.m.n'd well see about that. I laid out good money for the both .
”There are many free _preto_ on this island. To be black here does not mean I have to be slave. It is not like an Ingles settlement. I have learned that already. The Spaniard at the _vigia_ told me there is a free nation of my people here.”
Atiba had moved beside her, gripping the handle of his cutla.s.s. ”I do not know why you have come, wh.o.r.eson _branco_, but there will be war against you, like there was on Barbados, if you ever try to enslave any of my peoples living in this place.”
”There'll be slaves here and plenty, sirrah. No runaway black is going to tell an Englishman how to manage his affairs. Aye, there'll be war, you may depend on it, till every runaway is hanged and quartered. And that includes you in particular . . .”
He was suddenly interrupted by a barrage of firing from the woods behind them, and with a curse he whirled to stare. From out of the trees a line of Spanish militia was emerging, together with a column of blacks, all bearing muskets. They wore tall helmets and knelt in ranks as they methodically began firing on the English infantry. Briggs paused a second, then ducked and bolted.
”Hugh, we've got to get out of here. Now.” Katherine seized his arm and started to pull him into the shelter of the breastwork.
Shouts rose up, while helmets and breastplates jangled across the clearing as the English infantrymen began to scatter. Morris immediately c.o.c.ked his musket and returned fire, bringing down a Spanish musketman, then yelled for his men to find cover. In moments the morning air had grown opaque with dark smoke, as the infantry hurriedly retreated to the trees on the opposite side of the clearing and began piling up makes.h.i.+ft barricades of brush.
”Senhor, I think the d.a.m.nable war has already begun,” Atiba yelled to Winston as he followed Serina around the corner of the breastwork.
”That it has, and I for one don't want any part of it.” He looked back.
”Katy, what do you say we just take our people and get on down to the Point? Let Morris try and fight them over the rest.”
She laughed, coughing from the smoke. ”They can all be d.a.m.ned. I'm not even sure whose side I want to be on anymore.”
While Briggs and Calvert huddled with Morris behind the barricade being set up by the English infantrymen, the four of them quickly made their way around the side of the fort, out of the shooting. Bartholomew was waiting by the oak door, the seamen crowded around. Now the fortress was smpty, while a musket battle between the Spanish and the English raged across the clearing on its opposite side.
”I've told the lads,” he shouted above the din. ”They're iust as pleased to be out of here, that I'll warrant you, now that we've lost all chance to surprise the town. I'd say we're ready to get back over to the Point and see what it is we've managed to come up with.”
”Good.” Winston motioned them forward.
As he led them down the trail, Katherine at his side, he felt a tug at his sleeve and turned to see Atiba.
”I think we will not be going with you, my friend.” The Yoruba was grim. ”Dara says if there is to be a war against the Ingles _branco_ here, then we must join it. This time I believe a woman's counsel is wise.”
”You'd get tangled up in this fray?”
”It could be a d.a.m.nable long war, I think. Perhaps much years. But I would meet these free people of my blood, these Maroons.”
”But we're going to take the harbor here. You could . . .”
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