The Freebooters Part 61

"Forward!" the Scalper shouted.

The Mexicans rushed on their enemies with indescribable rage. A heroic and gigantic struggle then began, a combat impossible to describe of three hundred men against thirty: a horrible and merciless carnage, in which none demanded quarter, while the Texans, certain of all falling, would not succ.u.mb till buried under a pile of hostile corpses. After twenty minutes, that lasted an age, only twelve Texans remained on their legs. The Captain, Tranquil, Quoniam, and nine sailors, remained alone, accomplishing prodigies of valour.

"At last!" the Scalper shouted, as he dashed forward to seize Dona Carmela.

"Not yet," Tranquil said, as he dealt a blow at him with his axe.

The Scalper avoided the blow by leaping on one side, and replied with his machete; Tranquil fell on his knee with a pierced thigh.

"Oh!" he said in despair; "She is lost! My G.o.d, lost!"

Carmela understood that no hope was left her; she therefore placed the dagger against her bosom, and said to the Scalper--"One step further, and I fall dead at your feet!"

In spite of himself, this savage man, terrified by the resolution he saw flashing in the maiden's eye, hesitated for a second, but, rea.s.suming almost immediately his old ferocity, he shouted--"What do I care, so long as you belong to no one else!"

And he rushed toward her, uttering a fearful yell. Terrified at the immense danger to which his daughter was exposed, the hunter collected all his strength, and by a superhuman effort, once more stood menacingly before his enemy. The two men exchanged a terrible glance, and rushed on each other.

Carmela, almost dead with terror, lay stretched out between the two foes, forming with her person a barrier they did not dare to pa.s.s, but over which they crossed their machetes, whose blades met with an ill-omened clang. Unfortunately, Tranquil, weakened by his wound, could not, despite his indomitable courage, sustain this obstinate contest for any length of time, and consequently he only delayed for a few moments the fearful catastrophe he wished to prevent. He understood this; for, while wielding his machete with far from common dexterity, and not allowing his enemy time to breathe, he looked anxiously around him: Quoniam was fighting like a lion by his side.

"Friend!" he said in a heart-rending voice; "in the name of what you hold the dearest, save her--save Carmela!"

"But yourself?"

"Well," the hunter said n.o.bly, "it is no matter what becomes of me, providing that she escapes this monster, and is happy."

Quoniam hesitated for a moment; a feeling of regret and pain rendered his face gloomy. But at a last glance from the hunter, a glance laden with an expression of despair impossible to describe, he at length decided on obeying him, and lowering his axe, which was dripping with blood, and red up to the wood, he stooped down to the maiden. But she suddenly started up, and bounding like a lioness, shrieked frenziedly--

"Leave me! leave me! He is dying for me, and I will not abandon him."

And she resolutely placed herself by her father's side. At this movement of the girl, for whom they were fighting so desperately, the two men fell back a step, and lowered the points of their machetes; but this truce was but of shout duration, for after a moment of respite, they rushed once more on each other. Then, Texans and Mexicans recommenced the fight with new fury, and the contest went on more terrible than before.

CHAPTER XXV.

FORWARD!

In the meanwhile, Master Lovel made his men row vigorously, in order to reach land as soon as possible. But whatever desire he might have for haste, it was impossible for him to reach the sh.o.r.e so soon as he might have wished, for not knowing the coast, and steering, as it were, blindly, his boat ran several times upon submarine reefs, which caused him to lose a considerable amount of time by forcing him to change his course; hence, when he at last reached the sh.o.r.e, the Captain had landed long before.

The old sailor had his boat tied up to the Captain's, in order that they could be used if required, and then leaped ash.o.r.e, followed by his men, and advanced cautiously inland. He had not proceeded many yards, however, ere a tremendous noise reached his ears, and he saw the sailors who accompanied the Captain debouch from the hollow way in disorder, and closely pursued by Mexican soldiers.

Master Lovel did not lose his heart under these critical circ.u.mstances: instead of rushing into the medley, he ambushed his men behind a clump of Peru and mahogany trees that stood a short distance off, and prepared with perfect coolness to make a diversion in favour of his comrades when the favourable moment arrived.

The Texans, with their backs to a rock, not ten yards from the sea, were fighting desperately against an immense number of enemies. A minute later, and all would have been over, but suddenly the cry of "Forward!

_Texas y Libertad!_" was raised in the rear of the Mexicans, accompanied by a tremendous noise and a deadly discharge, almost at point-blank range, scattered terror and disorder through their ranks. It was Master Lovel effecting his diversion, in order to save his Captain, or his adopted son, as he called him in his simple devotion.

The Mexicans, who already believed themselves victors, were terrified at this unforeseen attack, which, owing to the vigour with which it was carried out, they supposed to be made by a considerable body of these terrible freebooters, commanded by the Jaguar, whose reputation was already immense in the ranks of the American army. Persuaded that the Texans had landed in force, and had only given way in order to make them fall more surely into the trap, they hesitated, fell back in their turn, and finally being seized with a panic terror which their officers could not succeed in mastering, they broke and fled in all directions, throwing their arms away.

The Texans, revived by the providential arrival of the old sailor, and excited by their Captain's voice, redoubled their efforts. Tranquil tied a handkerchief round his thigh, and supported by Quoniam, who, during the action, had not left him for an instant, he retreated to the boats, leading Carmela, and followed by the Captain and his brave sailors. The latter, like lions at bay, turned at each instant to dash with axes and bayonets at the few soldiers their officers had at length succeeded in rallying, but who did not venture to press too closely the terrible adversaries, whom, since the beginning of the action, they had learned to appreciate and consequently to fear.

Still fighting, the sailors at length reached the boats prepared for their reception. Captain Johnson ordered the wounded to be placed in the launch, and getting into the other boat with Tranquil, Quoniam, and the sound men, he put off from the sh.o.r.e, towing the boat that served as an ambulance. This daring retreat, effected under the enemy's fire, was carried out with admirable precision and skill. One part of the crew of the pinnace fired at the Mexicans who lined the beach, while the other portion pulled vigorously in the direction of the brig.

Ere long the coast disappeared in the fog, the shouts of the enemy became less distinct, the shots ceased, the lights flashing on the sh.o.r.e died out one after the other, and all grew silent again.

"Ah!" the Captain said with a sigh of relief, as he offered his hand to Master Lovel, "without you, father, we were lost."

"Aha!" the old sailor answered with a hearty grin, and rubbing his hands joyously, "I suspected that if you had a secret from me, it was because you meditated some act of folly, so that is why I came after you."

The Captain merely replied to his worthy mate's remark by a fresh squeeze of the hand. Carmela, with her hands clasped and eyes raised above, was praying fervently, while returning thanks to Heaven for her miraculous deliverance.

"This is the girl you have saved," Tranquil said; "it is to you I owe the recovery of my daughter, and I shall not forget it, Captain."

"Nonsense, old hunter," the Captain said, laughingly, "I only kept the promise I made you; did I not pledge myself to help you, even at the risk of my life?"

"And you were uncommonly near losing your stake," Master Lovel observed.

"After all, though," he added gallantly, "though I am no connoisseur, I can perfectly understand a man risking his skin to board so neat a corvette."

This sally restored the gaiety of the sailors, which the grave events that had occurred had temporarily dissipated.

"Are we really out of danger, father?" the maiden asked with a shudder of fear, which she was unable to conceal.

"Yes, my child; keep your spirits up," the hunter answered, "we are now in safety."

At this very moment, the sailors, as if wishing to confirm the Canadian's a.s.surance, or perhaps with the wish to mock the enemies they had so barely escaped, struck up one of those cadenced songs which serve to mark time, and the words of which each repeats as he lays out on his oars. Master Lovel, after turning and returning several times the enormous quid that swelled his right cheek, made a signal to the crew of the pinnace, and struck up in a rough voice a stanza, which all repeated in chorus after him. This song, which was as interminable as a sailor's yarn, would, in all probability, have lasted much longer, if the Captain had not suddenly ordered silence by an imperious gesture.

"Is a new danger threatening us?" Tranquil inquired anxiously.

"Perhaps so," the Captain replied, who had for some time been scanning the horizon with a frowning brow.

"What do you mean?" the hunter asked.

"Look!" the Captain said, extending his hand in the direction of the fishing Tillage, to which we before alluded.

Tranquil hastily took up the night gla.s.s: a dozen large boats, crowded with soldiers, were leaving a small creek, and pulling out to sea. The water was lumpy, the breeze blew strongly, and the over-crowded long boat advanced but slowly, as it was compelled to tow the pinnace. The peril which they fancied they had escaped, burst out again in a different shape, and this time a.s.sumed really terrific proportions, for the Mexicans were rapidly approaching, and would soon be within gunshot.

The brig, whose tall masts were visible, was, it is true, only two cables' length, at the most, from the Texan boats, but the few men left on board were not nearly sufficient to make the requisite manoeuvres to enable the brig to help its boats effectually. The position grew with each moment more critical, and the Captain sprang up.

"Lads," he said, "the ten best swimmers among you will jump into the sea, and go to the ship with me."

"Captain," the hunter exclaimed, "what do you propose doing?"

"To save you," he simply answered, as he prepared to carry out his design.

"Oh, oh," Master Lovel said hastily, "I will not allow such an act of madness."

"Silence, sir," the Captain interrupted him rudely. "I am the sole commander."