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Mass' George: A Boy's Adventures in the Old Savannah, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 52 |
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_ CHAPTER FIFTY TWO. Our officers and gentlemen made a very shabby parade that evening, when just before sundown word was passed from the sentries that a party was approaching from the Spaniards, and it was decided to go outside and meet them, so as not to show the poverty of our resources within the defences, and the sore straits to which we had been brought. So the General and Colonel Preston, with about half a dozen gentlemen, went out to meet the new enemy, while Morgan contrived that I should, as Captain Bruton's son, be where I could see and hear all that was going on. And, as I said, our officers and gentlemen made a very shabby parade, for their clothes were torn and stained, and there were no brave uniforms now, such as they wore the last time the Spaniards from the south came to demand that we should leave the place. But if they had no scarlet and gold to show, there was a grim sternness about our people that was very impressive, something which taught the visitors that ours were no feather-bed soldiers, but men who could face fire and use the sword. Of that party of six who went out to meet the Spaniards, there was not one who was not injured, though slightly, while the little body-guard of eight soldiers who followed them was in similar plight. Our numbers were hastily selected by the General, on seeing that while a larger number had come away from the main body of the Spaniards, only eight approached the gates. Everything was done so deliberately that I noticed that the General carried his left arm in a scarf, and that the hair had been all cut away in a patch at the back of Colonel Preston's head, so as to admit of its being strapped with plaister. Another officer had a cut on his left cheek which had divided the lip; another wore a bandage in the shape of a red silk handkerchief, and another carried his injured hand in his breast. One and all had been wounded, but there was not a man who did not seem full of fight, and ready to stand his ground come what might. On the other hand, although they had been in an engagement that day, and had pursued the Indians, the Spaniards were smooth-looking and well-dressed; not a hair seemed to be out of place, so that they presented a remarkable contrast to our grim-looking set. They paused at a few yards' distance, and I stood gazing over the top of the fence at their dress and weapons, all of which looked clean and well-kept, quite in keeping with the dignified, well-dressed wearers, who were looking at our people with a kind of tolerant contempt. As they drew near, I recognised two of them as being of the party who had come before, and these two spoke to a broad-shouldered, swarthy-looking man, who nodded from time to time as if receiving his instructions. Then he stepped forward, looking from one to the other, and said, bluntly-- "Which of you is captain?" There was a pause, every one being surprised at hearing our language so plainly spoken. "You can address yourself to me," said the General, quietly. "Oh, that's all right then. You see--" "Stop a moment," said the General. "You are an Englishman?" "I was," said the man; "but I've thrown in my lot here now, and I'm a Spaniard." "Indeed?" "Yes; that's it. I'm settled among them, and they're not bad sort of people, let me tell you. I just say this by way of advice to all of you, who seem to be in a tidy pickle." "Were you instructed to say this, sir?" said the General, coldly. "Well, no, not exactly; only having once been an Englishman, and meeting Englishmen, I wanted to do you a good turn if I could." "Thank you. Now your message." "Oh, that's short enough. The Don here says I'm to tell you that he is glad he arrived in time to save your lives, all of you, for if he hadn't come you'd all have been massacred." "Go on," said the General. "And that he supposes you see now what a mad trick it was to come and settle down here among the Indians. Let me see; what was next?" muttered the man; and he turned sharp round, and spoke to the Spanish leader for a minute or so, and then came back and went on-- "That he came once before and gave you fair warning that you were trespassing on the lands of his Majesty the King of Spain, and that he wants to know how soon you are going." "Is that all?" "Yes," said the man, "I think that's about all. It isn't exactly what he said, because Spanish lingo's awkward stuff to put into plain English; but that's about what it all meant; and, speaking as a friend, I should advise you to get a passage up north as soon as you can." "Thank you." "Shall I say you're going to sheer off?" "Tell your leader or officer, sir," said the General, coldly, "that his message is insulting." "Oh, come, now," said the man, "it was as civil as could be." "That we are here in the dominion of his Majesty the King of England, upon our own lands, and that his demand is absurd. I do not wish to be insulting in return for the service he has done us and his own people by giving these savages so severe a lesson, but you may ask him what he would say if I came down with a strong party and ordered him and his people to quit the Spanish settlement." "Am I to tell him that?" said the ambassador. "Yes; and that we are here, and mean to stay, even to holding our homes by force of arms if it is necessary." "Oh!" said the man, staring and looking from one to the other. "Isn't that foolish talk! You see we are very strong, while you are--" "Not so very weak as you think for, sir." "But I'm sure you don't want us to turn you all out by force, and burn down your settlement, though it seems to me as if there isn't much left to burn," he added, as he glanced round at the distant heaps of burned timber and ashes. "We will build it all up ready for you, sir, against your expedition comes," said Colonel Preston, sharply. "Oh, come, come," said the man; "that's all brag. Look here: take my advice, make friends with the Dons here, and let me say you'll pack off quietly, because they mean mischief if you do not go." "You have had my answer, sir," said the General, haughtily. "Tell your leader that, for his own sake, I hope he will not drive us to extremities. We are prepared to fight, and fight we shall to the end." "Oh, very well," said the man, in a grumbling tone; "I'm only a messenger. I've given our people's orders, and now I'm ready to take back yours. Only don't say, when you're all made prisoners and marched off to our plantations, that I didn't as an Englishman give you a timely hint." The General bowed, and the man stood staring at him for a few moments, and then from one to the other, in an undecided way. "Then you won't go?" he said at last. The General made a sign to Colonel Preston. "No, sir; we will not go," said the latter, firmly. "Oh, very well. 'Tarn't my fault. I like peace, I do; but if you will have it rough, why, it's your own fault." He turned away, and talked to the two leading Spaniards for a few moments, the elder of the two stamping his foot imperiously as he frowned and pointed to us. The man shrugged his shoulders, and came back. "Look here," he said, roughly; "the Dons say they won't stand any nonsense, and you are to go." "Tell him he has had his answer, Preston," said the General. "Oh, yes, I know about that answer," said the man; "and I'm to tell you that if you do not give up at once, you will all be driven off, and you must expect no mercy then." The colonel glanced at the General, who nodded, and the former said, half-mockingly-- "Tell your leaders we are here, and if the King of Spain wishes for this part of his Britannic Majesty's possessions, he will have to send a stronger force than you have brought, to take it; and as for you, my friend, your position as a kind of envoy protects you; but if I were you I should be careful. Your speech tells me plainly that you have been a sailor." "Well, suppose I have," said the man, sharply. "And I should say that you have deserted, and become a renegade." "What?" "I would not speak so harshly to you, but your conduct warrants it. An Englishman to come with such cowardly proposals to your fellow-countrymen! Faugh!" The man seemed to grow yellow as he gazed at the colonel; then, turning away, he spoke hurriedly to the two Spanish officers, who stood gazing at our party for a few moments, then bowed, and stalked back. "Well, Preston," said the General; "shall we have to give up?" "To them?" cried the colonel, sharply. "No! Do you know what Bruton will say?" "How can I?" "Well, sir, he will say, 'let them come, and if they drive us out of here, we will retire into the forest.' But, bah! I am not afraid. All Spanish bombast. Ah, young Bruton, what do you say to this?" he continued, as they entered the gates, and he caught sight of me. "I'm not old enough to say anything about it," I replied; "but I think a great deal." "And what do you think?" said the General, smiling, as he laid his hand upon my shoulder. "That they will be afraid to fight, sir." _ |
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