"It is useless to minister to him; he is no more."
The slavers looked at Leonard with awe not unmixed with admiration. Who had ever seen such a thing, that one whose strength had been a byword should be slain with the naked fist? They forgot that it is easy to kill the man whose head rests upon a stone.
Presently, however, their wonder gave way to rage. Xavier had been a favourite among them, and they were not minded that he should die unavenged. So they drew round Leonard scowling and cursing.
"Stand back," he said, "and let me pass. I fought your friend fairly; had I wished to take advantage of him, should I not have used this?" And for the first time he remembered and drew his Colt, the sight of which cooled their ardour somewhat, for they gave way. "Perhaps you will give me an arm, Father," Leonard went on, speaking to the priest, who was standing by. "I am much shaken."
Francisco complied, and they started towards Juanna, Otter guarding their rear with his sabre. Before they had gone ten yards, however, Pereira waddled towards them after a hasty consultation with one of his captains.
"Seize that man," he shouted; "he has killed the worthy Dom Xavier: having first insulted him, he has slain him by violence, and he must answer for it."
A dozen ruffians sprang forward at his bidding, only to be met by the sabre and pistol of Otter, with neither of which were they anxious to make a closer acquaintance. Leonard saw that the position was very grave, and a thought came into his mind. "You wish to escape from this place, Father?" he said rapidly to the priest.
"Yes," answered Francisco, "it is a hell."
"Then lead me as swiftly as you may to that bridge; I am hurt and weak, but there is succour beyond."
As he spoke the drawbridge, which was not ten yards away, fell with a crash.
"Run across, Juanna Rodd," cried Leonard in English.
She hesitated, then obeyed. It seemed to Leonard that the look upon her face said, "How can I leave you?"
"Now, Father," said Leonard, "make a rush for it," and leaning on the priest's shoulder he stumbled towards the bridge. But he would never have reached it had it not been for Otter.
"Treason!" roared Pereira; "stop him! Who let down the bridge?"
A man came on the attack; it was the same young captain that Leonard had offered to fight before the auction. In his hand was a knife already uplifted to fall on Leonard's back when Otter's sabre flashed and the man went down.
"Seize the bridge and hold it," roared Pereira again.
"Wind up! wind up!" yelled Otter in answer, as with sabre and pistol he held back the mob.
Those on the further side obeyed with such a will that Leonard and the priest rolled down the slanting planks.
"Otter!" cried Leonard—"good God! he will be killed!"
By way of answer Otter fired the last barrel of his pistol. Then with a yell, before his foes could close upon him he sprang like a wild cat straight at the iron chains of the bridge, which were used to secure it in its place when needful. At the moment they hung four feet or more above his head, but he grasped them and shouted to Soa to hoist away.
A man attempted to seize his legs, but Otter kicked him in the face and he fell into the water. Next second he was out of their reach and rapidly rising high into the air. Some threw knives and some fired pistol–shots after him, but none of these touched him.
"Ah! Yellow Devil," the dwarf cried as he swung, "look behind you: there is another devil, yellower and fiercer than you."
Pereira turned and all his company with him, and at that moment, with a crackling roar, a vast sheet of flame burst up from the morass. The reeds had caught at last in good earnest, and the strengthening wind was bringing the fire down upon them.
Chapter XIV
Vengeance
"Treachery! treachery!" screamed Pereira. "The reeds are fired, and that witch has betrayed us."
"Ha! ha! ha! ha!" cried Otter again from his airy perch. "Treachery! treachery! And what if the slaves are loosed? And what if the gates be barred?"
Hitherto the mob had been silent in their fear and wonder. There they stood closely packed, a hundred or more of them, staring first at Otter, then at the advancing flames. Now they found tongue.
"He is a fiend! Kill him! Storm the slave camp! To the gates!" they yelled in this language and in that.
For many it was their last earthly cry, since at that moment a sheet of flame burst from the rampart of the camp, followed by the boom of the cannon, and six pounds of canister swept through the crowd. Right through them it swept, leaving a wide lane of dead and dying; and such a shriek went up to heaven as even that place of torment had never heard.
Then they broke and fled this way and that, screaming curses as they went.
When Leonard and the priest had rolled down the rising bridge they found Juanna standing safely by the guard–house, surrounded by some of the Settlement men.
"To the gun!" he cried, "to the gun! Fire into them! I will follow you."
Then it was that he saw Otter left to his death and called out in fear. But Otter saved himself as has been told, and clambered down the bridge safe and sound.
Leaning on the dwarf and Francisco, Leonard, followed by Juanna, staggered along the earthwork to the place where the gun was mounted. Before he had gone a step he caught sight of the figure of Soa, outlined in bold relief against the background of the fire and surrounded by many of the freed Settlement men. At the instant when he saw her she was in the act of springing back from the breech of the gun, the lanyard in her hand. Then came the roar of the shot and the shriek of the smitten.
"Wow!" said Otter, "the old woman has not been idle. She is clever as a man, that one."
Another minute and they were helping to reload the piece, that is, except Soa, who was on her knees kissing Juanna's hands.
"Come, stop that!" said Leonard, sinking to the ground, for he was utterly exhausted. "Those devils have gone for their arms. They will try to storm us presently. Is the shot home, Peter? Then run her out, sharp; and you, Soa, screw her nose down." Next he bade the freed slaves arm themselves with stakes or anything that they could find, for of rifles they had but four, two of which they had found in the guard–house.
Presently the slavers came on with a yell, carrying long planks, by the help of which they hoped to cross the dike.
"Look out!" said Leonard, "they are going to open fire. Under the earthwork, every man of you!" And seizing Juanna who was standing near, he pulled her down into cover.
It was not too soon, for next instant a storm of bullets swept over them. Most of the men had understood and taken shelter, but some were too slow or too stupid. Of these one fell dead and two more were hit. Soa and Peter alone took no heed, and yet they remained unhurt. There stood the woman, while the bullets whistled round her, laying the gun as coolly as though she had served in the Royal Artillery, and with her was the head–man, Peter. Peter was shot through the waist–cloth and a ball cut its way through Soa's grizzled hair, but neither of them seemed to notice these trifles.
"They are mad, Baas," cried Otter, who was watching the enemy over the top of the embankment. "See! they are coming across the open."
Leonard looked. The dwarf was right: in their rage and hurry the slavers, half hidden in a cloud of smoke caused by their rapid firing, were advancing across the clear space instead of creeping along the edge of the dike. What was more, the necessity of carrying the planks caused them to pack in groups. Soa gave a final twist with her lever and waited, her hand on the lanyard. A bullet cut it in two, but without firing the gun, and she grasped the shortened cord.