STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
I got rather confused, and am to this day, about how the time went;things that only took a few minutes seeming to be hours in happening,and what really did take a long time gliding away as if by magic. Ithink I was very often in a half-delirious state; but I can wellremember what was the cause of the silence above.
Captain Dyer was the first to see, and taking a rifle in his hand, hewhispered an order or two; and then he, with two more, rushed into thepassage, and got the door drawn towards us, for it opened outwards; butin so doing, he slipped on the floor, and fell with a bayonet-thrustthrough his shoulder, when, with a yell of rage--it was no cheer thistime--our men dashed forward, and dragged him in; the door was pulledto, and held close; and then those poor wounded fellows--heroes I call'em--stood angrily muttering.
I think I got more excited over that scene than over any part of thestraggle, and all because I was lying there helpless; but it was of nouse to fret, though I lay there with the weak tears running down mycheeks, as that brave man was brought down, and laid near the grating,with Mother Bantem at work directly to tear off his coat, and begin tobandage, as if she had been brought up in a hospital.
The door was forsaken, for there was a new guard there, that no onewould try to pass, for the silence was explained to us all first, therewas a loud yelling and shrieking outside; and then there was a littlethin blue wreath of smoke beginning to curl under the door, crawlingalong the top step, and collecting like so much blue water, to spreadvery slowly; for the fiends had been carrying out their wounded anddead, and were now going to burn us where we lay.
I can recollect all that; for now a maddening sense of horror seemed tocome upon me, to think that those few poor souls left were to be slainin such a barbarous way, after all the gallant struggle for life; butwhat surprised me was the calm, quiet way in which all seemed to takeit.
Once, indeed, the men had a talk together, and asked the women to jointhem in a rush through the passage; but they gave up the thoughtdirectly, for they knew that if they could get by the flames, there weremore cruel foes outside, waiting to thrust them back.
So they all sat down in a quiet, resigned way, listening to the crackleoutside the door, watching the thin smoke filter through the crevices,and form in clouds, or pools, according to where it came through.
And you'd have wondered to see those poor fellows, how they acted: why,Joe Bantem rubbed his face with his handkerchief, smoothed his hair andwhiskers, and then got his belts square, as if off out on parade, beforegoing and sitting quietly down by his wife.
Measles lay very still, gently humming over the old child's hymn, _Oh!that'll be joyful_, but only to burst out again into a fit of grumbling.
Another went and knelt down in a corner, where he stayed; the rest shookhands all round, and then, seeing Captain Dyer sitting up, and sensible,they went and saluted him, and asked leave to shake hands with him,quite upsetting him, poor fellow, as he called them, in a faint voice,his "brave lads," and asked their pardon, if he'd ever been too harshwith them.
"God bless you! no, sir," says Joe Bantem, jumping up, and shaking thehand himself, "which _that_ you've never been, but always a good officeras your company loved. Keep a brave heart, my boys, it'll soon be over.We've stood in front of death too many times now to shew thewhite-feather. Hurray for Captain Dyer, and may he have his regiment inthe tother land, and we be some of his men!"
Joe Bantem gave a bit of a reel as he said this, and then he'd havefallen if it hadn't been for his wife; and though his was rather stronglanguage, you see it must be excused, for, leave alone his wounds, andthe mad feeling they'd bring on, there was a wild excitement on the menthen, brought on by the fighting, which made them, as you may say,half-drunk.
We must all have been choked over and over again, but for that grating;for the hotter the fire grew above, the finer current of air swept in.The mutineers could not have known of it, or one of their first actsmust have been to seal it up. But it was half-covered by some creepingflower, which made it invisible to them, and so we were able to breathe.
And now it may seem a curious thing, but I'm going to say a little moreabout love. A strange time, you'll perhaps say, when those poor peoplewere crouching together in that horrible vault, expecting their deathmoment by moment. But that's why it was, and not from any want ofretiring modesty. I believe that those poor souls wished to shew thosethey loved how true was that feeling; and therefore it was that wifecrept to husband's side and Lizzy Green, forgetting all else now, placedher arms round my neck, and her lips to mine, and kissed me again andagain.
It was no time for scruples; and thus it was that, being close to them,I heard Miss Ross, kneeling by the side of Captain Dyer, ask him,sobbing bitterly the while--ask him to forgive her, while he lookedalmost cold and strange at her, till she whispered to him long andearnestly, when I knew that she must be telling him all about the eventsof that morning. It must have been, for with a cry of joy I saw himbend towards her, when she threw her arms round him, and clasped hispoor bleeding form to her breast.
They were so when I last looked upon them, and every one seemed lost inhis or her own suffering, all save those two children, one of whom wasasleep on Mrs Maine's lap, and the other playing with the gold knot ofCaptain Dyer's sword.
Then came a time of misty smoke and heat, and the crackling of woodwork;but all the while there was a stream of hot pure air rushing in at thatgrating to give us life.
We could hear the black fiends running round and round the burningbuilding, yelling, and no doubt ready to thrust back any one who triedto get out. But there seemed then to come another misty time, fromwhich I was roused by Lizzy whispering to me: "Is it very near now?"
"What?" I said faintly.
"Death," she whispered, with her lips close to my ear. "If it is, prayGod that he will never let us part again in the land where all ispeace?"
I tried to answer her, but I could not, for the hot, stifling blindingsmoke was now in my throat, when the yelling outside seemed to increase.There was a loud rushing sound; the trampling of horses; the jinglingof cavalry sabres; a loud English hurray; and a crash; and I knew thatthere was a charge of horse sweeping by. Then came the hurried beatingof feet, the ring of platoon after platoon of musketry, a rapid,squandering, skirmishing fire; more yelling, and more English cheers;the rush, again, of galloping horses; and, by slow degrees, the sound ofa fierce skirmish, growing more and more distant till there came anotherrapid beating of hoofs, a sudden halt, the jingle and rattle of harness,and a moment after, bim--bom--bom--bom! at regular intervals; and Iwaved my hand, and gave a faint cheer, for I could mentally see it all:a troop of light-horse had charged twice; the infantry had come up atthe double; and now here were the horse-artillery, with their lightsix-pounders, playing upon the retreating rebels where the cavalry werenot cutting them up.
That faint cheer of mine brought out some more; and then there was aterrible silence, for the relief seemed to have come too late; but acouple of our men crawled to the grating, where the air reviving them,they gave another "Hurray!" which was answered directly.
And then there was a loud shout, the excited buzz of voices, thecrashing of a pioneer's axe against the framework of the grating; andafter a hard fight, from which our friends were beaten back again andagain, we poor wretches, nearly all insensible, were dragged out about aquarter of an hour before the burning house fell with a crash. Thenthere was a raging whirlwind of flame, and smoke, and sparks, and thecellar was choked up with the burning ruin.