Fortunately, however, the manor-houses of Canada were built with the one idea of defence against Indians, and even now there were hopes for the defenders. A wooden ladder which could be drawn13 up in case of need hung down from the upper windows to the ground upon the river-side. De Catinat rushed round to this, followed by the friar. He felt about for the ladder in the darkness. It was gone.
Then indeed his heart sank in despair. Where could he fly to? The boat was destroyed. The stockades14 lay between him and the forest, and they were in the hands of the Iroquois. Their yells were ringing in his ears. They had not seen him yet, but in a few minutes they must come upon him. Suddenly he heard a voice from somewhere in the darkness above him.
“Give me your gun, lad,” it said. “I see the loom15 of some of the heathen down by the wall.”
“It is I. It is I, Amos,” cried De Catinat. “Down with the ladder or I am a dead man.”
“Have a care. It may be a ruse,” said the voice of Du Lhut.
“No, no, I’ll answer for it,” cried Amos, and an instant later down came the ladder. De Catinat and the friar rushed up it, and they hardly had their feet upon the rungs when a swarm16 of warriors burst out from the door and poured along the river bank. Two muskets18 flashed from above, something plopped like a salmon19 in the water, and next instant the two were among their comrades and the ladder had been drawn up once more.
But it was a very small band who now held the last point to which they could retreat. Only nine of them remained, the seigneur, Du Lhut, the two Americans, the friar, De Catinat, Theuriet the major-domo, and two of the censitaires. Wounded, parched20, and powder-blackened, they were still filled with the mad courage of desperate men who knew that death could come in no more terrible form than through surrender. The stone staircase ran straight up from the kitchen to the main hall, and the door, which had been barricaded21 across the lower part by two mattresses23, commanded the whole flight. Hoarse24 whisperings and the click of the cocking of guns from below told that the Iroquois were mustering25 for a rush.
“Put the lantern by the door,” said Du Lhut, “so that it may throw the light upon the stair. There is only room for three to fire, but you can all load and pass the guns. Monsieur Green, will you kneel with me, and you, Jean Duval? If one of us is hit let another take his place at once. Now be ready, for they are coming!”
As he spoke26 there was a shrill27 whistle from below, and in an instant the stair was filled with rushing red figures and waving weapons. Bang! Bang! Bang! went the three guns, and then again and again Bang! Bang! Bang! The smoke was so thick in the low-roofed room that they could hardly see to pass the muskets to the eager hands which grasped for them. But no Iroquois had reached the barricade22, and there was no patter of their feet now upon the stair. Nothing but an angry snarling28 and an occasional groan from below. The marksmen were uninjured, but they ceased to fire and waited for the smoke to clear.
And when it cleared they saw how deadly their aim had been at those close quarters. Only nine shots had been fired, and seven Indians were littered up and down on the straight stone stair. Five of them lay motionless, but two tried to crawl slowly back to their friends. Du Lhut and the censitaire raised their muskets, and the two crippled men lay still.
“By Saint Anne!” said the old pioneer, as he rammed29 home another bullet. “If they have our scalps we have sold them at a great price. A hundred squaws will be howling in their villages when they hear of this day’s work.”
“Ay, they will not forget their welcome at Sainte Marie,” said the old nobleman. “I must again express my deep regret, my dear De Catinat, that you and your wife should have been put to such inconvenience when you have been good enough to visit me. I trust that she and the others are safe at the fort by this time.”
“May God grant that they are! Oh, I shall never have an easy moment until I see her once more.”
“If they are safe we may expect help in the morning, if we can hold out so long. Chambly, the commandant, is not a man to leave a comrade at a pinch.”
The cards were still laid out at one end of the table, with the tricks overlapping30 each other, as they had left them on the previous morning. But there was something else there of more interest to them, for the breakfast had not been cleared away, and they had been fighting all day with hardly bite or sup. Even when face to face with death, Nature still cries out for her dues, and the hungry men turned savagely31 upon the loaf, the ham, and the cold wild duck. A little cluster of wine bottles stood upon the buffet32, and these had their necks knocked off, and were emptied down parched throats. Three men still took their turn, however, to hold the barricade, for they were not to be caught napping again. The yells and screeches33 of the savages came up to them as though all the wolves of the forest were cooped up in the basement, but the stair was deserted34 save for the seven motionless figures.
“They will not try to rush us again,” said Du Lhut with confidence. “We have taught them too severe a lesson.”
“They will set fire to the house.”
“It will puzzle them to do that,” said the major-domo. “It is solid stone, walls and stair, save only for a few beams of wood, very different from those other cottages.”
“Hush!” cried Amos Green, and raised his hand. The yells had died away, and they heard the heavy thud of a mallet35 beating upon wood.
“What can it be?”
“Some fresh devilry, no doubt.”
“I regret to say, messieurs,” observed the seigneur, with no abatement36 of his courtly manner, “that it is my belief that they have learned a lesson from our young friend here, and that they are knocking out the heads of the powder-barrels in the store-room.”
But Du Lhut shook his head at the suggestion. “It is not in a Redskin to waste powder,” said he. “It is a deal too precious for them to do that. Ah, listen to that!”
The yellings and screechings had begun again, but there was a wilder, madder ring in their shrillness37, and they were mingled38 with snatches of song and bursts of laughter.
“Ha! It is the brandy casks which they have opened,” cried Du Lhut. “They were bad before, but they will be fiends out of hell now.”
As he spoke there came another burst of whoops39, and high above them a voice calling for mercy. With horror in their eyes the survivors glanced from one to the other. A heavy smell of burning flesh rose from below, and still that dreadful voice shrieking40 and pleading. Then slowly it quavered away and was silent forever.
“Who was it?” whispered De Catinat, his blood running cold in his veins41.
“It was Jean Corbeil, I think.”
“May God rest his soul! His troubles are over. Would that we were as peaceful as he! Ah, shoot him! Shoot!”
A man had suddenly sprung out at the foot of the stair and had swung his arm as though throwing something. It was the Flemish Bastard. Amos Green’s musket17 flashed, but the savage5 had sprung back again as rapidly as he appeared. Something splashed down amongst them and rolled across the floor in the lamp-light.
“Down! Down! It is a bomb!” cried De Catinat
But it lay at Du Lhut’s feet, and he had seen it clearly. He took a cloth from the table and dropped it over it.
“It is not a bomb,” said he quietly, “and it was Jean Corbeil who died.”
For four hours sounds of riot, of dancing and of revelling42 rose up from the store-house, and the smell of the open brandy casks filled the whole air. More than once the savages quarrelled and fought among themselves, and it seemed as if they had forgotten their enemies above, but the besieged43 soon found that if they attempted to presume upon this they were as closely watched as ever. The major-domo, Theuriet, passing between a loop-hole and a light, was killed instantly by a bullet from the stockade, and both Amos and the old seigneur had narrow escapes until they blocked all the windows save that which overlooked the river. There was no danger from this one, and, as day was already breaking once more, one or other of the party was forever straining their eyes down the stream in search of the expected succour.
Slowly the light crept up the eastern sky, a little line of pearl, then a band of pink, broadening, stretching, spreading, until it shot its warm colour across the heavens, tinging44 the edges of the drifting clouds. Over the woodlands lay a thin gray vapour, the tops of the high oaks jutting45 out like dim islands from the sea of haze46. Gradually as the light increased the mist shredded47 off into little ragged48 wisps, which thinned and drifted away, until at last, as the sun pushed its glowing edge over the eastern forests, it gleamed upon the reds and oranges and purples of the fading leaves, and upon the broad blue river which curled away to the northward49. De Catinat, as he stood at the window looking out, was breathing in the healthy resinous50 scent51 of the trees, mingled with the damp heavy odour of the wet earth, when suddenly his eyes fell upon a dark spot upon the river to the north of them. “There is a canoe coming down!” he cried. In an instant they had all rushed to the opening, but Du Lhut sprang after them, and pulled them angrily towards the door.
“Do you wish to die before your time?” he cried.
“Ay, ay!” said Captain Ephraim, who understood the gesture if not the words. “We must leave a watch on deck. Amos, lad, lie here with me and be ready if they show.”
The two Americans and the old pioneer held the barricade, while the eyes of all the others were turned upon the approaching boat. A groan broke suddenly from the only surviving censitaire.
“It is an Iroquois canoe!” he cried.
“Impossible!”
“Alas52, your excellency, it is so, and it is the same one which passed us last night.”
“Ah, then the women have escaped them.”
“I trust so. But alas, seigneur, I fear that there are more in the canoe now than when they passed us.”
The little group of survivors waited in breathless anxiety while the canoe sped swiftly up the river, with a line of foam53 on either side of her, and a long forked swirl54 in the waters behind. They could see that she appeared to be very crowded, but they remembered that the wounded of the other boat were aboard her. On she shot and on, until as she came abreast55 of the fort she swung round, and the rowers raised their paddles and burst into a shrill yell of derision. The stern of the canoe was turned towards them now, and they saw that two women were seated in it. Even at that distance there was no mistaking the sweet pale face or the dark queenly one beside it. The one was Onega and the other was Adele.
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1
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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2
stockade
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| n.栅栏，围栏；v.用栅栏防护 | |
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3
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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4
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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7
wiles
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| n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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bastard
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| n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子 | |
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9
defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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10
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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12
negligent
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| adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的 | |
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13
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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14
stockades
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| n.（防御用的）栅栏，围桩( stockade的名词复数 ) | |
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15
loom
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| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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17
musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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salmon
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| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
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parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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barricaded
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| 设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的过去式和过去分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守 | |
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barricade
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| n.路障，栅栏，障碍；vt.设路障挡住 | |
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mattresses
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| 褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 ) | |
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24
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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25
mustering
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| v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的现在分词 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发 | |
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26
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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27
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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28
snarling
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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29
rammed
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| v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
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overlapping
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| adj./n.交迭（的） | |
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savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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32
buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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33
screeches
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| n.尖锐的声音( screech的名词复数 )v.发出尖叫声( screech的第三人称单数 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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34
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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35
mallet
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| n.槌棒 | |
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36
abatement
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| n.减(免)税，打折扣，冲销 | |
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37
shrillness
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| 尖锐刺耳 | |
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38
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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39
whoops
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| int.呼喊声 | |
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40
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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41
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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42
revelling
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| v.作乐( revel的现在分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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43
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
tinging
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| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的现在分词 ) | |
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45
jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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46
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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47
shredded
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| shred的过去式和过去分词 | |
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48
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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49
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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50
resinous
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| adj.树脂的，树脂质的，树脂制的 | |
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51
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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52
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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53
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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54
swirl
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| v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形 | |
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55
abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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