when they lookedbeyond the walls, were blinded by the rain, and saw nothing besides thedark veil which shrouded them.
Our hero, with a guide, whom he kept close to him, reached the verytrench of the fort, on the south-western angle, at the very moment thatthe other bands gained their destined posts. Then crouching down, theycould scarcely have been distinguished from the rocks and coarse herbagewhich covered the ground, even had the clouds cleared off, and allowedthe stars to give their light.
There the hardy mountaineers waited, scarcely daring to breathe, for theHadji's preconcerted signal to commence the attack. Silent, as tenantsof the grave, they watched, while not a human being within the fortperceived the thick clustering foe, or dreamed that danger was nigh.
The rain had ceased, and the tempest had passed away, when the pale coldlight of dawn began, by imperceptible degrees, to appear; yet, before ithad thrown a gleam of brightness on the scene, the deep sonorous voiceof the Hadji, uttering the cry of "Allah! Allah!" broke the stillnessof the air, and was taken up on all sides by the eager warriors, as theyrushed impetuously to the assault. They had gained the summit of theramparts, before the sentinels could recover from their panic. Vain wasthe slight resistance they could offer, as they sunk beneath thepowerful arms of their assailants.
Wherever the Russian soldiers turned, as they rushed in disorderedaffright from their huts, they found themselves surrounded by foes.Even on the side they considered impracticable, Alp Beg, with hisyouthful and active followers, assaulted them; while on the sea-side,Ivan and his band had sprung over the entrenchments, and had driventhose who attempted to withstand him from the walls. A few of the mostdetermined of the garrison made a desperate rush towards the guns, whichvomited forth a shower of grape; but in a few minutes, the men who firedthem were cut down by the mountaineers.
On every side arose those tremendous cries which quailed the stoutesthearts. Innumerable foes seemed to be hurled from out of the obscurityof the sky among the Russians, as the Circassians leaped over thetrenches. Arslan Gherrei and the Hadji had met with the greatestopposition in front; but the latter, fighting his way, had joined hisson Alp, on the right, while the brave commander of the fortress,rallying a strong body of troops, met the former chieftain in hisvictorious course. The Russians opened a tremendous fire, beneath whichmany of their assailants fell, as encouraged by their officer's example,they advanced to meet them, the Circassians rushing to their verybayonets' points.
So bravely did the former fight, that many of the Circassians were for atime driven back; and Arslan Gherrei found himself surrounded byRussians. Many of the most daring advanced to seize him, but his swordkept them at bay; yet they seemed determined to overwhelm him: when ourhero, on seeing so large a body of defenders still keeping together, ledon some of his men, and fought his way towards the spot. There was justsufficient daylight to distinguish objects at no great distance; when,catching sight of the heroic Arslan Gherrei, hard pressed, and defendinghimself singly against a host of foes, he shouted loudly his name, andstrained every nerve to reach him. He almost shrieked with eagerness,as he fell, like a tiger, on the intervening combatants, till he hewed away to the rescue of the noble chieftain. And, once again, those twobrave warriors fought side by side, their foes giving way before them:none could withstand their arms. Then as their followers united, theenemy retreated to a building in their rear, into which some foundentrance, and opened a heavy fire on the assailants, while the restremained without, fighting with their backs to the walls.
The firing lasted but a few minutes; when a terrific explosion tookplace. The earth shook with violence; and the combatants, interruptedin their deadly strife, were covered with the falling ruins, andobscured by smoke and dust.
Ivan looked around. Arslan Gherrei stood unharmed near him. Aroundthem, and amid the fallen building, lay strewed the bodies of their lateopponents, and of many of their own party, killed by the descendingruins.
Wherever Ivan moved, the daring young page was by his side, fearless ofthe strife. Unharmed by the swords of the foe, and the falling ruins,he pursued his way, fighting as bravely as the boldest warrior, andregarding only his master's safety.
By the light of the burning rafters, which blazed furiously, Ivaneagerly hastened in search of his friend; and as the smoke and dustcleared off, he caught sight of a human being, endeavouring to extricatehimself from the ruins of a small building. He leaped over the smokingruins, towards the spot, followed by some of his men. In a few minuteshe had the happiness of lifting his friend Stanisloff in his arms, andseeing his fetters knocked off, while loud shouts proclaimed thesatisfaction of his liberators.
In the mean time, the venerable Hadji and his gallant son had clearedthe fort of all who opposed them. Young Alp drove the Russians to thewater's edge, so that at the time the magazine blew up, all oppositionhad ceased. As the victors hurried through the fort, the sound ofcannon from the ship of war in the harbour, proclaimed that some oftheir enemies had reached the shore, and were being protected in theirembarkation. A party, therefore, hurried off to assist Alp in capturingthe remainder of their defeated foes, or in utterly destroying them.
As the sun rose in majestic splendour over the mountains, what a sceneof havoc and destruction it revealed! On every side were the bodies ofthe slaughtered Russians, ghastly with the terrific wounds of the broadbladed cama, which had pierced home to the breasts of the victims, doingits work surely. Their countenances were livid, and their limbsdistorted into every frightful attitude. Among them, near the walls,lay many bodies of the mountaineers, their sabres firmly clasped intheir clenched hands, scarcely shewing the small death wound caused bythe bullet. Some lay pierced by the bayonets of the defenders of thecastle, as they leaped from the parapet among them.
Farther in the centre, amid their slain husbands and fathers, were thebodies of several women and children, who, rushing from their huts, atthe first terrific sound of the onslaught, had been, in the darkness andconfusion, overthrown, unknowingly slain, and trampled upon, by thefierce combatants of either side. Round the smoking ruins of themagazine which had exploded, were the blackened remains of the gallantcommander of the fort, and of the few faithful soldiers who had takenrefuge with him in the building attached to it; and, crushed amid theheaps of earth and stones, were the bodies of several of the fiercemountaineers who were attacking it.
Some of the store-houses and barracks had likewise caught fire, and wereblazing up furiously, to add to the destruction and confusion. Partiesof the victors were hurrying over the fort, some ransacking the quartersof the officers, others piling the arms of the conquered, and otherscollecting the prisoners who had lain down their arms. The cannonadingsoon ceased, and the brig of war was seen standing out of the harbour,carrying away the poor remains of the garrison, who had first escaped tothe shore, though the greater part had either been slain, or madeprisoners.
None of the chiefs of note had fallen, they being well protected forthis species of fighting, by the coats of chain armour they wore undertheir dress; but it was a dearly-bought victory to their followers,three score of whom had perished by the bullets of the Russians, and bythe explosion of the magazine.
Achmet Beg, notwithstanding his advanced age, had not been able torestrain his ardour; but with somewhat of the fiery valour of hisbrother the Hadji, when the shouts of the combatants arose, had quittedhis post outside, and, scaling the ramparts, with many of his followers,joined in the fray. Overcome with fatigue he stood like the statue ofan aged Mars, leaning on his sword reeking with the blood of his foes,and covered with the dust and smoke of the combat.
Alp Beg now returned from the pursuit of the enemy, whom he had almostcut to pieces before the remnant succeeded in escaping to the boats ofthe brig. Among the latter, was probably the Count Erintoff; as whenIvan and Thaddeus went in search of his corpse, it was no where to befound. The chieftains then assembled in the centre of the fort; whenour hero led forth his rescued friend, who was received with warm and
sincere congratulations by his gallant liberators. Few words passedbetween them; for there was still much to be done, and all were anxiousto return to give assurance to their friends of their success.
By Ivan's side stood young Conrin, amid the fierce and bearded warriors;one bright and glowing spot alone remained on his otherwise pale cheek,and his eyes burned with the same unearthly lustre which they had shewnafter the former combat. His lip at times quivered, and his arm stilltrembled with the exertion he had undergone, as his hand grasped aweapon marked with many a red stain. Alas! that one so young, andseemingly of so gentle a nature, should engage in scenes of bloodshedlike this! The boy gazed up in his master's face with a look expressiveof such satisfaction and joy, that he had escaped the dangers of theattack, that Ivan relented from the displeasure he had felt at theyouth's rashness, and, placing his hand on his shoulder, said:
"It was for your safety, my brave, but rash, Conrin, that I