CHAPTER XVIII

BESIEGED

Three hours later our house, barricaded in every way possible, was in a state of siege and around it lay a band of Shawnee and Doeg Indians, some hundreds strong.

Nay, more, we knew from various signs that the whole village, or hamlet, of Pomfret was in the same condition, and that, indeed, the surrounding locality was attacked by the savages. From the church below our plantations there came at intervals of a few moments a flash, succeeded by a dull booming, which told us that the cannon that had stood on its tower for many years was being fired, and thereby put at last to the use for which it had been originally placed there. The ping of bullets from flint-locks, and muskets, and fuzees, as well as the more dead, hard sounds of musquetoons, were continuous also; the yells of the Indians rose sometimes high above the cheers of the white folks, and, to add to all, from every manor around was heard the ringing of the great bells in their cupolas, while the burning of beacons was to be seen. In our house we had taken every precaution that time would allow us, and, to all the ideas which our ancestors in the colonies had conceived for defending their homes and families against attack, we had added some more modern ones. Thus the ancient device of laying down on the lawns and paddock--across which the Indians must pass when they left the plantations and copses in which, at present, they remained--old doors with long nails thrust through them was carried out, in the hopes of maiming some of our aggressors. Broken glass was also plentifully strewn about, while, indoors, water was being boiled and kept to boiling heat, so as to be ready to empty on them if they approached us. Then, too, we had rapidly erected stockades and palisadoes which must check any onward rush; the mastiffs which had replaced those poor beasts that had been poisoned were brought up to the house by the bondsmen, whose duty it was to attend to them. The convicts and bondsmen themselves were now all aroused, and every door, shutter, and window was fast closed, so that the heat inside on this July night was scarcely to be endured.

It was inside the house that the greatest resistance--which, if it came to that, must be the last--would have to be made; and the saloon, as being the biggest apartment in the manor, as well as because it had windows looking on to both the back and the front of the house, was selected as our principal point of defence; and here we four--Lord St. Amande, Mr. Kinchella, Mary and myself--were assembled. Upstairs, in every room, were told off certain of the white servants, most of the blacks having hidden in the cellars where they shrieked and howled dreadfully; so that, if the enemy did force an entrance, they must undoubtedly soon be discovered; while the rest had run away. Of these white servants, Buck, the man who had been a highwayman, had command, with, under him, Lamb, the brother of my maid. And certainly, judging from the sounds we heard above, these men seemed to have thrown themselves into work of this nature with far more ardour than they ever did into their duties in the fields, for we could hear them laughing and talking, and even singing at such a dreadful time as this. "Ha, ha," we heard Buck roar.

"Ha, ha! This is indeed work fit for a gentleman to do; as good, i' faith, as a canter across Bagshot or Hounslow Heath, with the coach coming up well laden. Look now, look, Lamb, lad; look. Do'st see that red devil crawling up from out the plantation; at him, aim low and steady. So-so, wait till he cometh into the moonlight. Ha! now, steady, let go." Then there was a ping heard, a yell from outside, and next, above that, the voice of Buck again. "Fair! Fairly hit. Look how he kicks. So did I once shoot one of the Bow Street catchers who thought to take me at Fulham. Load, lad, load, though the next shot is mine," whereon the desperado fell to singing:

Oh, three jolly rogues, three jolly rogues, Three jolly rogues are we As ever did swing in a hempen string Under the gallow's tree.

In the saloon where we were, we had laid out upon a table the arms and ammunition we were using, or might have to use. My lord had no pistol with him since he carried always his sword, but Mr. Kinchella possessed one as, since the practice of carrying arm's had long since become universal in the colonies, not even clergymen went now without them--the Indians being no respecters of persons. Then there were my pistol and Mary's, which Gregory and my father had taught us to use and grow accustomed to, so that we could shoot a pear hanging on a tree--though now our tremblings and excitement were so great that 'twas doubtful if we could hit a man's body; and, for the rest, we had gathered together all the firearms in the house. To wit, there were my father's birding pieces as well as muskets for large balls, several blunderbusses and musquetoons, and some brass horse-pistols. Yet, as we asked each other, of what avail would these or, indeed, any defence be which we could make if once the Indians advanced to our doors in large numbers.

Outside--the place he had selected, leaving Lord St. Amande and Mr. Kinchella to be our immediate bodyguard--was O'Rourke in command of the overseers (who supposed him to be either a friend of the family or of one of the two gentlemen) and of some of the other bondsmen, and he was indefatigable in his exertions. He and they kept up a continual fire on the foe from their positions behind trees or under the porch, or from the stables in the rear, while, horrible to relate, as each shot was seen to be successful it was greeted by oaths of delight and dreadful cries; and, besides their shooting, they had also laid mines of gunpowder which would be exploded when the Indians advanced. Indeed, as Lord St. Amande remarked as he noticed this through the light-holes of the shutters, or went out himself to assist the others from time to time, whatever O'Rourke's past villainies had been he was this night going far towards effacing them.

"The fellow," he said, coming back to us after one of these visits outside, when I nearly fainted at seeing blood trickling down his forehead--he having been grazed by a bullet--"the fellow spoke truly when he said he was no coward at least. He exposes his burly body everywhere fearlessly, though these savages have learned to use their weapons with marvellous precision and scarcely miss a shot. But just now he caught one of them creeping through the grass to get nearer us, and, wrenching his tomahawk from him, beat out his brains."

Meanwhile the night grew late, and I, who had heard so many stories of how the Indians pursued their attack, though, heaven be praised, this was the first experience I had ever had of so dreadful a thing, knew very well that, if they meant to besiege the house itself, the time must now be drawing nigh. At this period of the year it was full daylight by four o'clock, when, if they were not first driven off and routed, the Indians would withdraw into the woods, and there sheltering themselves renew their attack at nightfall. But as to driving them off, it was, we deemed, not to be hope for. Outside assistance we could not expect. The booming of the church-roof cannon that still went on, the ringing of bells from neighbouring plantations with--worst of all! the lurid light in the sky that told of some other manor, or perhaps village, in flames, forbade us to think that. So we had none to depend on but ourselves--a handful of brave men and a number of almost useless, timorous women. And thus, knowing what must come, we waited for the worst.

"Promise me," I whispered to my lord at this moment, "promise me that, as the first Indian crosses the threshold and if all hope is gone, you will never leave me, or that, if you must do so, you will slay me first. To fall into their hands would be more bitter than death or the grave itself." And unwittingly, for I was sore distraught, I laid my hand upon his arm and gazed up into his eyes.

His eyes, glancing down, met mine as he said, "Joice, my dear, I shall never leave you now. Oh! sweetheart, in this hour of peril I may tell you what I might never have told you else, being smirched and blemished from my birth as I am. My dear, my sweet, I do love you so that never will I leave you if it rests with me, and if you die then will I die too."

After which, drawing me to him, he folded me in his arms and kissed me again and again, and stroked my hair and whispered, "My pretty Joice, I have loved you always; aye, from the very first time when I saw your golden head bending over your flowers in the garden."

Thus in this black hour our love was told, and he whom I have called "my lord" was so in very truth. Yet how dreadful was it to reflect, how dreadful now to look back upon even after long years, that this love, which surely should have been whispered in some soft tranquil hour, was told amid such surroundings. Outside was a host of savages thirsting for our blood, and, in the case of the women, worse than their blood; while our defenders, with but two exceptions, were all men who had been malefactors punished by their country's laws. Yet it cannot but be acknowledged that these men, sinners as they had been, were as brave as lions in our cause, and, had they been the greatest Christian heroes that ever lived, could not have striven more manfully against great odds. From Peter Buck upstairs still came the roars of encouragement to those whom he commanded, mixed with his ribald and profane snatches of verse, while, without, O'Rourke's voice was heard also encouraging and animating those who fought by his side. As for my lover, not even our new pledged vows could keep him by me; ever and again he plunged forth into the night, coming back sometimes with his sword dripping with blood, sometimes with a smoking pistol with which he had gone forth in his hand, and once bearing in his hand--oh! horror of horrors!--an Indian's head-band made of human fingers and toes, which he had wrenched away from a savage he had slain. As for Mr. Kinchella, never have I seen mortal man look more calm or more firm than he, as, sometimes supporting Mary with loving words, sometimes with kisses, he bade her trust in God that all might yet be well.

So we waited for the end that was to come.

"Bravo! bravo!" roared Buck from upstairs, evidently in praise of some shot that had just been fired. "Bravo, our battalion! Faith! if our lily mistress gives us not our freedom after this she's not the lass I take her for. Stop those women squealing in there," he continued, calling into another room where some of the white servant-women were huddled together; "one would think the devil or the Indians were amongst them already, or that the former had got them before their time. And Lamb, my lad, go down and ask the gentlefolks for some drink for us; 'tis as hot as Tyburn on a bright summer morning, and my thirst as great as that of any gallant gentleman riding there in the cart."

Lamb came down a moment afterwards, a smart, bright-looking young man--though now begrimed with much burnt powder--and was sent back with a great jar of rum and water, while, ere he went, I whispered to him:

"Tell Buck that I have heard his words about your freedom, and that 'tis granted. From to-night all who have defended my house are free, and shall have their note of discharge and can remain and work for me for a wage, or go where they list."

"Thank you, lady," said the young man. "I'll tell him," with which he darted out and up the stairs with the drink, and a moment afterwards we heard Buck crying for a cheer for Mistress Joice.

But now I heard my lord's voice call out, "Stand by to fire the train. Wait; don't hurry. Stop until they pass the palisadoes. See, now. Now!"

Then, as there came a fearful glare from outside, accompanied by a dull concussion or noise like the roaring of flames up a great chimney, and by horrid screams of agony, we knew that the powder on the lawn was fired and that many of the foe had been blown to pieces or dreadfully injured.

Yet, above all this, there pealed loud the horrid yell of all the Shawnee warriors and their allies, the Doegs--and the yell was nearer now than it had hitherto been. 'Twas answered, however, by a ringing British cheer from those outside and those in the rooms above, while still Buck was heard inspiring the latter to take cool aim and shoot slow.

But to defend the house from the outside was now no longer possible; our gallant little band was driven back, and so my lord, O'Rourke, and the overseers came all in, and rapidly the last door that had been left open was barred tight, every shutter closed even more fast than before, every loophole secured except those from which we could shoot at the oncoming enemy. And against windows and doors the heavy furniture was piled, both with a view to resist their being forced open and to stop any bullets that might come through, while the order was sent upstairs to have the boiling water ready to empty on the heads of the besiegers as they neared the house.

To Mary and me, who had never seen aught of bloodshed before, and whose lives had been so peaceful and calm in this my old home, you may feel sure that the dreadful scenes we were passing through were most terrifying and appalling. For, not to calculate the ruin to my house and its surroundings, to my trodden-down plantations and devastated furniture, who could tell what would be the result of the night's work? That the manor would be burnt to the ground was the least to be expected, and what might follow was too awful to consider. That all the men in the house would be put to death, or taken away to be tortured, was a certainty, we thought, once the Indians had gained the victory and forced an entrance. As to the women's fate, that was not to be dwelt upon. Happily, we had our lovers to slay us at the last moment, or, even should they themselves be slain, and so fail us, there were the weapons to our hands with which to bring about our doom, if necessary.

O'Rourke was wounded badly already, his arm being now roughly bandaged. Yet, beyond begging for some drink, he desisted not in his efforts but instantly took up his place in the hall, on which an attack might at once be anticipated and from which he could easily reach us should he be required in the saloon. And with him went the overseers. From above, we knew that Buck and his party were still firing on the advancing foe--who were now on the lawn and close on the porch--and once he called out to us that the "niggers" were bringing up small trees and brushwood, evidently with the intention of firing the house. But that which warned us more surely than all that our bitterest hour was at hand, was the sound we heard at the shutters of the saloon window.

That sound was the sharp clicking noise made by the tomahawks of the Indians on the wood of those shutters and on the iron bars.

They were cutting away the last defence between us and them!

My lord advanced to the table on which were all the pistols primed and loaded--for Mary and I had attended to each one as it had been emptied--and bade Kinchella stand behind him. Then he drew me to him, and folded me once more in his arms and kissed me, saying:

"My dearest one, my heart's only love, here we stand together for, perhaps, the last time. If I can shield you with my life I will, if I should lose that life I pray God to bless you ever. Now, Kinchella," turning to him, "stand you also by my side as you once stood by it when I wanted a friend badly enough, God He knows; and, as you befriended me in those days, so will I befriend you now if 'tis in my power. Kiss your girl, Kinchella, as I have kissed mine, and then forget for the time being that you are a clergyman and remember nothing but that you are a man fighting for her you love."

And, even as he spoke, still louder grew the clicking of the tomahawks outside.