Chapter 6: The Attack On The Village.
A day or two later a Malay ran at full speed into the village, andsaid a few words which caused a perfect hubbub of excitement. Themen shouted. The women screamed and, running up the ladders totheir tree abodes, began gathering together the various articles ofvalue, in their eyes. The chief came up to the boys and, by signs,intimated that a large number of hostile natives, belonging toseveral villages, were advancing to attack them; and that they mustfly into the interior.
This was very unwelcome news for the lads. Once removed fartherfrom the sea the tribe might, not improbably, take up their abodethere, as they would fear to return to the neighborhood of theirenemies. This would be fatal to any chance of the lads being takenoff by a passing ship. After a few words together, they determinedto oppose the movement. Will, in a loud voice and with threateninggestures, intimated that he disapproved of the plan, and that heand his companion would assist them in defending their village.
The Malays paused in their preparations. Their faith in their whitevisitors was very great and, after a few minutes' talk amongthemselves, they intimated to the boys that they would obey theirorders. Will at once signed to a few men to stand as guards roundthe village, to warn them of the approaching enemy; and then setthe whole of the rest of the population to work cuttingsharp-pointed poles, boughs, and thorny bushes. With these a circlewas made around the trees upon which the village was built.Fortunately the hostile Malays had halted in the forest, two orthree miles away, intending to make their attack by night and, asthe news of their coming had arrived at noon, the villagers had,before they ceased work late in the evening, erected a formidablehedge round the village.
Some of the women had been set to work manufacturing a number oftorches, similar to those used by them for lighting theirdwellings, but much larger. They were formed of the stringy bark ofa tree, dipped in the resinous juice obtained from another. Willhad one of these fastened to each of the trees nearest to thehedge. They were fixed to the trunks on the outside, so that theirflame would throw a light on the whole circle beyond the hedgewhile, within, all would be shadow and darkness.
It was very late before all preparations were completed. Will thenplaced a few men as outposts, some hundred yards in the forest, inthe direction from which the enemy were likely to approach. Theywere ordered to give the alarm, the moment they heard a noise; andwere then to run in and enter the circle by a small gap, which hadbeen left in the abbatis for the purpose. Many of the men then tooktheir posts, with their bows and arrows, in the trees near thehedge. The others remained on the ground, ready to rush to anypoint assailed.
For several hours no sound save the calls of the night birds, andthe occasional distant howls of beasts of prey, were heard in theforest; and it was not until within an hour of morning--the hourgenerally selected by Malays for an attack, as men sleep at thattime the heaviest--that a loud yell, at one of the outposts, toldthat the enemy were close at hand.
Two or three minutes later the scouts ran in, and the gap throughwhich they had entered was at once filled up with bushes, which hadbeen piled close at hand for the purpose. Aware that their approachwas discovered, the enemy abandoned all further concealment; andadvanced with wild yells, intending to strike terror into thedefenders of the village. As they advanced the torches were alllighted and, as the assailants came within their circle of light, ashower of arrows from the Malays on the ground, and in the treesabove, was poured into them.
Yells and screams told that the volley had been a successful onebut, discharging their arrows in turn, the Malays, with demoniacyells, rushed against the village. The advance, however, wasarrested suddenly when they arrived at the abbatis. From behind itsshelter, so deadly a rain of arrows was poured in that they soonshrank back, and bounded away beyond the circle of light, whiletaunting shouts rose from its defenders.
For a time they contented themselves by distant shouting; and then,with a wild yell, charged forward again. Several dropped from thefire of arrows, from those in the trees and behind the abbatis but,discharging their arrows in return, the assailants kept on untilthey again reached the impediment. Here they strove furiously tobreak through--hacking with their krisses, and endeavoring to pullup the stakes with their hands--but the defenders, in the shadebehind, sent their arrows so fast and thick that the assailantsagain shrank back, and darted away to shelter.
Throughout the night there was no renewal of the attack and, in themorning, not a foe was visible. Two or three scouts went out toreconnoiter; but no sooner did they enter the forest than one ofthem was shot down, and the rest sent flying back.
"I believe the scoundrels are going to try to starve us out," Willsaid. "Let us speak to the chief, and ask how much provisions theyhave got."
After much pantomime, Will succeeded in conveying his meaning tothe chief; and the latter at once ordered all the inhabitants toproduce their stock of food. This was unexpectedly large, and Willthought that there was sufficient for a fortnight's consumption. Henow made signs of drinking, but the reply to this was dishearteningin the extreme. A few gourds full of water were brought forward,and two or three of the close-woven baskets in which water is oftencarried, in this country. There was, in fact, scarce enough to lastthe defenders for a day. The stream from which the village drew itssupply of water was about a couple of hundred yards away;consequently the villagers fetched up their water as they neededit, and no one thought of keeping a store.
Will looked in dismay at the smallness of the supply.
"If they really intend to starve us out, Hans, we are done for. Nodoubt they reckon on our water falling short. They would know thatit was not likely that there would be a supply here."
The natives were not slow to recognize the weak point of theirdefense One or two of the men, taking water baskets, were about togo to the stream; but Will made signs to the chief that they mustnot do this. The only hope was that the enemies would draw off; butif they saw that water was already short, they would be encouragedto continue to beleaguer the place. Will was unable to explain hisreasons to the chief; but the latter, seeing how great was theadvantage that they had already gained, by following the counsel oftheir white visitors in the matter of the hedge, acquiesced at oncein their wishes.
Will then ascended to one of the huts, and carefully reconnoiteredthe whole ground. There was, he saw, at the end farthest from thestream, a slight dip in the land extending into the forest.Beckoning the chief to join him, he made signs that, at night, thewarriors should issue silently from the village at this point, andmake noiselessly through the wood. They would then take a widecircuit, till they came upon the stream; and would then, working upit, fall upon the enemy in the rear.
The chief was dubious; but Will made an imperative gesture and thechief, in a humble manner, agreed to do as he was ordered. The daypassed slowly and, before nightfall, the supply of water wasentirely finished. Once or twice scouts had gone out, to see if theenemy were still round the village; but returned, each time, withthe news that they were there.
The last time, just before nightfall, Will directed two or three ofthem to take water buckets, and to go in the direction of thestream; signing to them, however, to return the moment they sawsigns of the enemy. They were soon back and, as Will had expected,the sight of the water buckets showed the enemy that the garrisonof the village were badly supplied, in that respect; and tauntingshouts arose from the woods, asking them why they did not go downto drink.
Will felt certain that the Malays would now draw the greater partof their number down to the side of the stream; and that therewould therefore be the more chance of the garrison making their wayout, at the other end of the village. Three hours after it wasdark, the chief mustered all his men. They were about five-and-forty,in all. Will signed that each should take with him a water basket orlarge gourd so that, in case they failed in defeating the enemy, andbreaking up the blockade, they might at least be able to bring asupply of water into the village. Will then, with much difficu
lty,explained to the chief that the old men, boys, and women remaining inthe village were, the moment they heard the sound of the attack uponthe enemy's rear, to shout and yell their loudest, and to shootarrows in the direction of the enemy.
A few sticks had already been pulled up at the point of the hedgethrough which Will intended to make a sally, and the band nowpassed noiselessly out. The chief himself led the way, the whiteboys following behind him. Lying upon their stomachs, they crawlednoiselessly along down the little depression and, in ten minutes,were well in the wood; without having met with an enemy, althoughthey had several times heard voices among the trees, near them.
They now rose to their feet and, making a wide detour, came down,after a quarter of an hour's walk, upon the stream. Here the gourdsand baskets were filled; and then, keeping along by the waterside,they continued their march. Presently they saw a number of fires,round which many Malays were sitting. They crept noiselessly upuntil within a few yards and then, with a yell, burst upon theenemy. Numbers were cut down at once; and the rest, appalled bythis attack on their rear, and supposing that the inhabitants ofsome other village must have arrived to the assistance of thosethey were besieging, at once fled in all directions. Thoseremaining in the village had seconded the attack by wild shouts, soloud and continuous that their besiegers had no reason to supposethat their number had been weakened.
For a few minutes the pursuit was kept up; then the chief recalledhis followers, with a shout. The water baskets--many of which hadbeen thrown down in the attack--were refilled, and the party madetheir way up to the village, where they were received with shoutsof triumph.
The panic of the Malays had been, in no slight degree, caused bythe appearance of the two boys; who had purposely stripped to thewaist, and had shouted at the top of their voices as, waving thekrisses which they had borrowed, they fell upon the foe. The ideathat white devils were leagued with the enemies against them hadexcited the superstitious fear of the Malays to the utmost; andwhen, in the morning, scouts again sallied from the village, theyfound that the enemy had entirely gone--the fact that they had noteven returned to carry off the effects which had been abandoned, inthe first panic, showing that they had continued their flight,without stopping, to their distant villages.
The chief, like an able politician, took advantage of theimpression which his white visitors had created and, the same day,sent off messengers to the villages which had combined in theattack against them, saying that the white men--his guests--werevery angry; and that, unless peace was made, and a solemn promisegiven that there should be no renewal of the late attempts, theywere going to lay a dreadful spell upon the villages. Women andchildren would be seized by disease, and the right arms of thewarriors wither up.
This terrible threat carried consternation into the Malay villages.The women burst into prolonged wailings, and the bravest of the mentrembled. The messenger said that the white men had consented toabstain from using their magical powers until the following day;and that the only chance to propitiate them was for deputationsfrom the villages to come in, early the next morning, with promisesof peace and offerings for the offended white men.
It was not for some time afterwards that the lads learned enough ofthe language to understand what had been done; but they guessed,from the exultation of the chief, and the signs which he made thattheir late enemies would shortly come in, in an attitude ofhumiliation, that he had in some way succeeded in establishing ascare among them.
On the following morning deputations--consisting of six warriors, andwomen bearing trays with fruit, birds, and other offerings--arrived atthe village. The men were unarmed. At their approach, the chief madesigns to the boys to take a seat at the foot of the principal tree; andthen, accompanied by his leading warriors, led the deputation--with muchceremony--before them. The women placed their trays at their feet, and themen addressed them in long speeches, and with many signs of submission.
The boys played their part well. As soon as they saw what wasrequired of them they signified, with an air of much dignity, thatthey accepted the offerings; and then went through the ceremony ofshaking hands, solemnly, with each of the warriors. Then they madea speech in which, with much gesticulation, they signified to thevisitors that a terrible fate would befall them, should they againventure to meddle with the village.
Much awed and impressed, the Malays withdrew. The boys made aselection, from the baskets of fruit, for their own eating; andthen signified, to the chief, that he should divide the rest amongthe inhabitants of the village. When this was done, the boysascended to their tree and passed the day there quietly; thevillagers indulging in feasting, singing, and rejoicing over theirvictory.
"The worst of all this is," Will said to Hans, "that the more theyreverence us, and the more useful they find us, the more anxiousthey will be to keep us always with them. However, there is onecomfort: we are safe, as long as we choose to remain here; and thatis more than we could have hoped for, when we first landed from thewreck. It is curious that the Malays, who have no hesitation inattacking English ships, and murdering their crews, have yet a sortof superstitious dread of us. But I suppose it is something thesame way as it was in England, in the days of the persecution ofold women as witches: they believed that, if left to themselves,they could cast deadly spells, and yet they had no hesitation inputting them to death. I suppose that it is something of the samefeeling, here."