The Rifle Rangers Part 33

A group of his comrades joined him, and we were hurried into the light.

"_Mil diablos_!" exclaimed one of the soldiers, recognising Raoul; "our old friend the Frenchman! _Parlez-vous francais_, _Monsieur_?"

"Spies!" cried another.

"Arrest them!" shouted a sergeant of the guard, at the moment coming up with a patrol, and we were both jumped upon and held by about a dozen men.

In vain Raoul protested our innocence, declaring that we were only two poor fishermen, who had wet our clothes in drawing the nets.

"It's not a fisherman's costume, Monsieur," said one.

"Fishermen don't usually wear diamonds on their knuckles," cried another, s.n.a.t.c.hing a ring from my finger.

On this ring, inside the circlet, were engraven my name and rank!

Several men, now coming forward, recognised Raoul, and stated, moreover, that he had been missing for some days.

"He must, therefore," said they, "have been with the Yankees."

We were soon handcuffed and marched off to the guard-prison. There we were closely searched, but nothing further was found, except my purse containing several gold eagles--an American coin that of itself would have been sufficient evidence to condemn me.

We were now heavily chained to each other, after which the guard left us to our thoughts. They could not have left us in much less agreeable companions.h.i.+p.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

HELP FROM HEAVEN.

"I would not care a _claco_ for my own life," said Raoul, as the gate closed upon us, "but that you, Captain--_helas! helas_!" and the Frenchman groaned and sank upon the stone bench, dragging me down also.

I could offer no consolation. I knew that we should be tried as spies; and, if convicted--a result almost certain--we had not twenty hours to live. The thought that I had brought this brave fellow to such a fate enhanced the misery of my situation. To die thus ingloriously was bitter indeed. Three days ago I could have spent my life recklessly; but now, how changed were my feelings! I had found something worth living to enjoy; and to think I should never again--"Oh! I have become a coward!" I cursed my rashness bitterly.

We pa.s.sed the night in vain attempts at mutual consolation. Even our present sufferings occupied us. Our clothes were wet through, and the night had become piercingly cold. Our bed was a bench of stone; and upon this we lay as our chains would allow us, sleeping close together to generate warmth. It was to us a miserable night; but morning came at last, and at an early hour we were examined by the officer of the guard.

Our court-martial was fixed for the afternoon, and before this tribunal we were carried, amidst the jeers of the populace. We told our story, giving the name of the boy Narcisso, and the house where he was lodged.

This was verified by the court, but declared to be a _ruse_ invented by my comrade--whose knowledge of the place and other circ.u.mstances rendered the thing probable enough. Raoul, moreover, was identified by many of the citizens, who proved his disappearance coincident with the landing of the American expedition. Besides, my ring and purse were sufficient of themselves to condemn us--and condemned we were. We were to be _garrotted_ on the following morning!

Raoul was offered life if he would turn traitor and give information of the enemy. The brave soldier indignantly spurned the offer. It was extended to me, with a similar result.

All at once I observed a strange commotion among the people. Citizens and soldiers rushed from the hall, and the court, hastily p.r.o.nouncing our sentence, ordered us to be carried away. We were seized by the guard, pulled into the street, and dragged back towards our late prison.

Our conductors were evidently in a great hurry. As we pa.s.sed along we were met by citizens running to and fro, apparently in great terror-- women and children uttering shrieks and suddenly disappearing behind walls and battlements. Some fell upon their knees, beating their b.r.e.a.s.t.s and praying loudly. Others, clasping their infants, stood s.h.i.+vering and speechless.

"It is just like the way they go in an earthquake," remarked Raoul, "but there is none. What can it be, Captain?"

Before I could reply, the answer came from another quarter.

Far above, an object was hissing and hurtling through the air.

"A sh.e.l.l from ours! Hurrah!" cried Raoul.

I could scarcely refrain from cheering, though we ourselves might be the victims of the missile.

The soldiers who were guarding us had flung themselves down behind walls and pillars, leaving us alone in the open street!

The bomb fell beyond us, and, striking the pavement, burst. The fragments went cras.h.i.+ng through the side of an adjoining house; and the wail that came back told how well the iron messengers had done their work. This was the second sh.e.l.l that had been projected from the American mortars. The first had been equally destructive; and hence the extreme terror of both citizen and soldier. Every missile seemed charged with death.

Our guard now returned and dragged us onward, treating us with increased brutality. They were enraged at the exultation visible in our manner; and one, more ferocious than the rest, drove his bayonet into the fleshy part of my comrade's thigh. After several like acts of inhumanity, we were thrown into our prison and locked up as before.

Since our capture we had tasted neither food nor drink, and hunger and thirst added to the misery of our situation.

The insult had maddened Raoul, and the pain of his wound now rendered him furious. He had not hands to touch it or dress it. Frenzied by anger and pain to a strength almost superhuman, he twisted off his iron manacles, as if they had been straws. This done, the chain that bound us together was soon broken, and our ankle "jewellery" followed.

"Let us live our last hours, Captain, as we have our lives, free and unfettered!"

I could not help admiring the spirit of my brave comrade.

We placed ourselves close to the door and listened.

We could hear the heavy cannonade all around, and now and then the distant shots from the American batteries. We would wait for the bursting of the bombs, and, as the hoa.r.s.e thunder of crumbling walls reached our ears, Raoul would spring up, shouting his wild, half-French, half-Indian cries.

A thought occurred to me.

"We have arms, Raoul." I held up the fragments of the heavy chain that had yoked us. "Could you reach the trap on a run, without the danger of mistaking your way?"

Raoul started.

"You are right, Captain--I can. It is barely possible they may visit us to-night. If so, any chance for life is better than none at all."

By a tacit understanding each of us took a fragment of the chain--there were but two--and sat down by the door to be ready in case our guards should open it. We sat for over an hour, without exchanging a word. We could hear the sh.e.l.ls as they burst upon the housetops, the cras.h.i.+ng of torn timbers, and the rumbling of walls rolling over, struck by the heavy shot. We could hear the shouts of men and the wailing of women, with now and then a shriek louder than all others, as some missile carried death into the terror-struck crowd.

"_Sacre_!" said Raoul; "if they had only allowed us a couple of days, our friends would have opened these doors for us. _Sacr-r-r-e_!"

This last exclamation was uttered in a shriek. Simultaneously a heavy object burst through the roof, tearing the bricks and plaster, and falling with the ring of iron on the floor.

Then followed a deafening crash. The whole earth seemed to shake, and the whizzing of a thousand particles filled the air. A cloud of dust and lime, mixed with the smoke of sulphur, was around us. I gasped for breath, nearly suffocated. I endeavoured to cry out, but my voice, husky and coa.r.s.e, was scarcely audible to myself. I succeeded at length in ejaculating:

"Raoul! Raoul!"

I heard the voice of my comrade, seemingly at a great distance. I threw out my arms and groped for him. He was close by me, but, like myself, choking for want of air.

"It was a sh.e.l.l," said he, in a wheezing voice, "Are you hurt, Captain?"

"No," I replied; "and you?"

"Sound as a bell--our luck is good--it must have struck every other part of the cell."

"Better it had not missed us," said I, after a pause; "we are only spared for the _garrotte_."