With Wellington in Spain: A Story of the Peninsula
CHAPTER IX
Hard Pressed
"Stand back so that they cannot see you," commanded Tom, as thepeasants rushed madly at the entrance of the church that the troopershad defended so gallantly on the previous evening, and above whichthey were now stationed. "There is no need for us to risk theirbullets yet. Let them climb, and then we will use our spears againand teach them that, if anything, we are in a stronger position."
The advice came in time to save many a wound without shadow of doubt;for while two or three hundred of the maddened Portuguese had swarmedalong the walls of the house, and turning the corner abruptly hadthen made a fierce onslaught on the gate leading into the yard,or were endeavouring to clamber to the top of the wall, an almostequal number had selected the church door for their own particulareffort. They came on at the double, brandishing an assortment ofstrange weapons, weapons which, though they were not similar to thosecarried by the troops, and had seen many and many a summer, and, infact, were wont to be used more often in the peaceful employment ofagriculture, were still capable of giving terrible wounds, wieldedas they were by men who seemed actually to be maddened by the sightof the defenders. The affair in which Tom and his friends foundthemselves so strangely and unexpectedly mixed was, indeed, one ofthose sad exhibitions of savagery to be met with, alas! in time ofwar, when such war is accompanied by atrocities. Knowing somethingof the history of this Peninsula campaign, and guessing at the rest,Tom could realize that the Portuguese peasant had suffered severelyat the hands of vindictive troops who had been given a more or lessfree hand. The French bore an unenviable reputation for rapine,and history tells clearly that while the Spaniards had no verygreat cause of complaint, the Portuguese were often enough horriblytreated. And at this time, when the French were slowly being forcedin front of our armies towards the Portuguese frontier, driven inspite of their numbers out of a country they had sworn to hold, theatrocities committed were many. They did not stop at burning villagesand ruining crops. Defenceless people were killed and horriblyilltreated. Even the women and children were subjected to violence.And here was a direct result. One could hardly blame the peasants.Reprisals, terrible reprisals when the opportunity came, were but anatural sequence to violence.
"I have known these brutes waylay the rearguard of two battalionsmarching north, and capture everyone," said a trooper who was closeto Tom, craning his head so as to see the mob from over the edgeof the parapet. "Yes, monsieur, I have known them to capture ahundred men, and when the news reached us, and we, a full regimentof cavalry, galloped to the spot, we found every one of our brothersmurdered, done to death by torture. _Vraiment!_ It made our bloodboil. It makes us fight now till there is not a breath left in us."
Tom sighed. It was not often that he indulged in such a melancholyact; but the thing saddened him. In the midst of an attack it istrue that he could forget the reasons for it, could almost forgetthe nationality of the enemy, but in his more serene moments hecould not help but see the fact that these were but peasants, andthat their rage and hatred were natural. Nevertheless, to allow themto chop himself and his little command to pieces because the Frenchhad earned reprisals was a very different matter. Self-preservationis one of the first laws ingrafted in us, and in Tom it was acutelydisplayed.
"Keep lower, my friend," he warned the trooper. "Ah! They haverushed into the church, perhaps hoping that we have left a comradeor two there. Soon they will try the steps, and then there will be ahubbub. Stand back, you men with the spears; and recollect, no shots,no wasting ammunition. Beat them back with the spears or with yoursabres. Now, I will go to see how the others fare."
He left the faithful Andrews in charge of the party, and, passinginto the clergy house, popped his head into the room occupied alittle while before by Jack and Mr. Riley. They were gone; it wasevident that they had risen. Pushing on, he came to the windowscommanding the yard, and there discovered the truants.
"What's this?" he demanded somewhat curtly.
"Disobeying orders," smiled Mr. Riley, while Jack looked his friendup and down for a few seconds, as if he resented interference, andthen grinned widely.
"Never did see such a cormorant, sir," he said, addressing the navallieutenant. "Here he is; he gets up a row with these poor peasants,bottles us in bed, and expects us to stay there. Not if I know it!"
Jack hopped on one leg to the far window, steadied himself there, andthen slowly lifted a carbine which he had managed to secure.
"You go along and see to the defence generally, lad," cried Mr.Riley, slapping our hero on the back. "Jack and I couldn't beexpected to stay in that room when such an attack was being made.You leave us in charge of this part of the defences, and even if wecan't do much, we can at least encourage the men and see that allgoes well. It will leave you free to arrange other matters. Ah! Thebeggars have managed to get to the top of the wall; they've failedonce at the gate."
The attack on the latter had, in fact, been easily driven off; forthe little room built over it projected a couple of feet beyond theface of the wall, and was provided with a wide door and a trap, whilea wooden crane swung outside. It was, therefore, a matter of nogreat difficulty to open the trap and fire directly down upon theattackers, while Howeley, the energetic commander of the post, hadalready contrived to gather a respectable number of paving stonesfrom the yard below, and with these had beaten down the attackers.
"Made 'em hop mighty quick, sir," he said. "There must have beentwenty dozen of the beggars, all as mad as hatters. But even madpeople feel blows when landed on their heads. You can see whathappened."
Tom peeped through the trap. Down at the foot of the gate were threepeasants prone and still, while two more were slowly crawling away.At a distance of fifty feet there was a bunch of a hundred, eyeingthe gateway with savage looks, and discussing the situation hoarsely.Then some went away at a run, returning in less than five minuteswith a long beam.
"Going to try a battering ram," said Tom, rather scared at the sight.
"We'll give 'em battering," came the reassuring words from therifleman.
"I've two men posted down in the yard with their carbines, and we'veknocked a couple of holes in the gates. If we can't reach the enemyfrom above here, the boys below can manage. They've filled up theirbarrels with pebbles scraped up from between the paving stones. Theshots will scare the peasants same as if they was birds."
A glance at the sturdy fellow showed that he had no fears withregard to his own particular defences, and, staying there a moment,Tom had full reason to trust him; for the mob outside were in suchtemper that delay was out of the question. Some fifty of their numberbegan to fire at the gateway and at the trapdoor above, while theircomrades picked up the huge beam and advanced at a run, shoutingloudly to encourage one another. Crash! went the end of the beamagainst the gates, shaking them severely. Then came the clatterof stones. Standing well above the attackers, Howeley and his twotroopers advanced in turn, elevated a paving stone, took careful aim,and then threw it downwards. With a shout of terror the attackerspromptly retired. A minute later, however, they came forward againat a run, and on this occasion a dozen of their number bore muskets.Stationing themselves in such position that they could fire throughthe open trap, they sent their bullets thudding into the ceilingof the room, making it impossible for Howeley and his men to takeeffective aim. Meanwhile the others ran in, and, picking up theirbeam, swung it backward in preparation for another blow.
"Jest you keep on tossing them stones over," commanded Howeley, as ifthe troopers could understand every word. "Savvy, me lads? Don't showup, but jest lift a stone same as this, standing well back, and heaveit through. It'll hit something."
It did. A howl from below, and a chorus of shouts and cries greetedthe stone, while one of the men holding the beam fell as if struck bya poleaxe.
"Savvy?" asked Howeley curtly.
"_Bien!_" came the equally curt answer.
"Then jest you look to it."
Howeley went off as if he were provided
with wings, and a moment ortwo later Tom heard him shouting to the troopers down in the yard.
"Jest give 'em mustard," he bellowed. "You've got that, me lads?Mustard's the stuff they're wanting. Let in at 'em."
A loud roar followed his words instantly, and then a second. Smokebillowed up through the trap, while a torrent of yells and cries camefrom the mob. Tom glanced over the edge, to find the beam lying onthe ground and the attackers in full flight, save for those struckdown by the slugs and bullets which had been discharged at them.
However, the fury of a mob is a thing to tremble at. The poorwretches outside came on again, bearing a ladder, and in a trice thelatter was safely wedged in the open trap. Desperate men swarmed onto it, and it looked as if there would soon be a contest at the top.But Howeley's paving stones were irresistible. They swept the rungsof the ladder clean, and in less than a minute the ladder was tosseddown and the frantic enemy was in full retreat.
"Well done!" cried Tom, delighted at the success gained in thisquarter, but sorry, nevertheless, for the peasants. "I can leaveyou here knowing that all will be well. What's that?"
He went racing back to the windows occupied by Jack and the navalofficer, to discover that a commotion had suddenly arisen in the yardover by the far containing wall. The tops of a dozen ladders could beseen against the skyline, perched against the outside of the wall,while the broad summit of the latter was thickly covered with defiantpeasants. They clustered thickly along the top, some firing theirmuskets at the figures in the window. Others had managed to drag uptwo ladders, and having dropped these into the yard were now swarmingdown.
"Into the yard!" shouted Tom at once, leading the way downstairs ata run, and dashing outside where the horses were quartered. He wasjoined by a dozen troopers within a few seconds, who all raced acrossthe yard, their sabres swinging in their hands. One of their number,a light horseman by the look of him, outdistanced his fellows, andgripping one of the ladders dragged it aside with all his force,and sent it thudding into the yard with a couple of the peasantsupon it. But a dozen and more of the latter had contrived to descendthe second ladder, and at once there began a desperate hand-to-handcontest, pikes and scythes being opposed to sabres.
"GRIPPING ONE OF THE LADDERS DRAGGED IT ASIDE WITH ALLHIS FORCE"]
"Hold them, lads!" came in stentorian tones from Mr. Riley, in spiteof his wound. "Hold them for a little, Tom. We'll have the other boysalong in a jiffy."
Stamping with impatience because common sense and lack of strengthtold him that he himself was unfit to join in the melee, and, infact, even to clamber down the steps, the naval lieutenant put togood purpose a stentorian voice trained in a service where lungpower is required, and where the weakling is useless. In spite ofthe roar of the mob Andrews and Howeley heard him, and, rallyingin his direction, went headlong down the stairs, with a number oftheir fellows with them. They arrived just in time to stem thetide of invasion. The ladder still remaining upright, and loadedwith peasants scrambling to the help of their comrades, was throwndown by a couple of the troopers. And then, for the space of fiveminutes perhaps, there was a fierce struggle in the yard. Thetroopers at a shout from Tom separated themselves and formed a ringround the invaders, while the latter, taken aback now that theyfound themselves cut off from all help by their comrades, retiredtowards the wall, their scythes held well in front of them, theireyes furtively seeking for some hole or corner which would give themsecurity.
"Hold!" cried Tom loudly, anxious to save unnecessary bloodshed. "Youmen keep your formation. Now," he went on sternly, addressing thePortuguese in their own tongue, "I give you a moment in which to laydown your arms, promising on the word of an Englishman that you shallnot be injured. Answer."
With a sullen clang the peasants tossed their arms to the pavement,and stood glowering at the troopers, fearful yet whether they wouldbe murdered.
"Form into line, two abreast," commanded Tom again. "Howeley, justget to your post and tell us if the enemy are near. I'm going toeject these fellows."
He waited till there came a hail from the rifleman.
"All clear, sir," he shouted. "Them fellers has had a stomachful andhas cleared."
"Then get below and make ready to open one of the gates. My lads,"he said, addressing the troopers, who regarded their prisoners withno very friendly looks, "these men have thrown down their arms on mypromise that they shall go unharmed. You will march beside them tothe gate and stand about in case of a rally. Pick up your wounded andkilled," he called to the peasants. "You will march straight acrossto the gate, and will pass out without attempting violence. Any manwho disobeys will be killed instantly. Let this be a lesson to you.Go to your comrades and tell them that we are well able to defendourselves, and that it would be better far for them and all if theyleft us alone. Now, march."
Looking forlorn and frightened, and regarding the troopers with eyeswhich showed even now, though rather cowed, their hatred of them,the peasants picked up their comrades, of whom a number had fallen,and bore them to the gate. Two minutes later they were gone, wendingtheir way from the defences sadly, and in different spirit from thatwhich had filled them a little while before. Crash went the gate.Howeley threw the bar into position and turned the key.
"Well done!" came from the window above in loud tones. "Well done allof you!"
Glancing up, Tom saw the jovial naval lieutenant waving eagerly tohim, while close at hand was Jack's grinning and perspiring face. Hewas actually shaking a fist at our hero.
"Lucky brute!" he growled in a voice so quaint, and with such queergrimaces, that even the French troopers could see the humour.
"Lucky brute to be able to hop about and take part in all theseskirmishes. Wouldn't I give something to be in your shoes."
"And right well ye'd do, sir, begging pardon," came from Andrews,whom the contest had worked up to a degree of excitement. "But it'swell for us all that Mr. Clifford's here, begging pardon, sir."
"Well said," shouted Mr. Riley. "Ah, I wish to goodness I could talkFrench! I'd make a speech in Tom's favour. I'd call for cheers."
"Then here's three cheers fer Mr. Tom," came from Andrews inbellowing tones, cheers in which the troopers joined lustily, forthey fully understood the gist of what was passing.
"And now?" asked Mr. Riley, wiping the perspiration from his face."Now, Tom, after that precious near squeak?"
"Any damage done?" asked our hero at once. He ran his eyes over thetroopers, and soon discovered that four had been wounded, though,fortunately, none of the wounds were severe.
"Then pitch those ladders up against the wall again and look aboutfor a strong plank. We'll make a bit of a platform above, where wecan post a few men. They'll be able to keep others of the peasantsfrom trying the same game. How are things passing at the church door?"
An inspection there proved that the enemy had retreated, thoughdoubtless some of them were within the church. However, for themoment at least, the bulk of the mob had gone, and Tom took advantageof the lull to make his preparations for feeding the defenders. Thekitchen fire was soon roaring up the chimney, while outside, in theyard, there was another blaze. A trooper, booted and spurred, andstripped to his shirt, bent over a huge basin perched on a low woodentable, and sturdily pummelled a mass of dough. Near at hand stoodanother, stripped like his fellow, thrusting his long moustachesupward toward his eyes.
"_Nom de nomme_, but this is soldiering!" he was saying to hiscomrade, as he added handfuls of flour from an open sack. "This iswhat a man can call campaigning."
"Eh? Ah!" the other grunted. "_Mais pourquoi?_"
"Hear him!" came the astonished answer, while the trooper held afloury hand aloft as if to show his amazement. "He asks why, when thereason is plain. _Dites donc, mon fou_; is it so often, then, thatwe fight under the eye and command of an English _garcon_? Poof! Thatis the charm of the thing. I tell you, yesterday I said to myself:'Pierre, you will be chopped to pieces before the sun comes upto-morrow. You and your comrades will be but mince meat.'"
The man kneading the dough shivered and grunted his disapproval."Gently, comrade," he growled. "You will spoil the tart I am making.What then?"
"What then? He asks what then? See here, _mon brave_, we havefighting, heaps of it, and it is the peasants--poor fools!--who arechopped to pieces. We have excitement and work fit for a soldier,I say, and, with it all, see also what we get. Ah! I smell meatcooking, and here is something that we have not seen for many a longday."
He went clanking his spurs across to a corner where the watchfulHoweley had deposited a huge jar of jam, and came staggering backwith it. The two men took the pan from the low table, lifted thedough from it, and, having thickly dusted the table top with flour,laid their dough upon it. Then came the task of rolling.
"Try that, mate," suggested Howeley, who was now watching theproceedings with a grin of expectation. "Wasn't meant for the job;but beggars can't be choosers."
He offered the barrel of an old firelock, the butt and lock of whichhad gone, and the trooper took it with a flourish. Dusting it well,like the table, he rolled the dough with the hand of an expert,and, having satisfied himself that his work was nearly finished, hepinched a corner from the dough and handed it to the rifleman.
"Try," he grunted.
"Real fine!" answered the Cockney. "I'm waiting for this here pie toget finished."
"Then the jam, Pierre."
The second trooper let it fall from the jar into the species of basinwhich his comrade had now contrived within a shallow pan, and watchedas the latter smoothed it down with a wooden ladle. On went thecovering of dough, while the cook with skilled eye and hand markedthe edges of the pie, dividing it into as many sections as there weredefenders.
"Now," he cried, "to the kitchen with it. If we are to be cut tofragments this evening, at noon we will at least dine like gentlemen.Take it, Pierre, and see that you do not get it burned. Then indeedwould your punishment be terrible."
Such rejoicing as there was over that meal! Divided into threeseparate messes, the defenders ate slices of frizzled ham in therecesses of the room above the doorway of the church. Others againwashed down the food with liberal allowances of the wine of thecountry, looking about them through the door opening above thegateway of the yard, while Jack and Mr. Riley held a reception inthe corridor from which windows opened into the yard, and therediscussed the good things sent them with many a jest and laugh. Yes,the spirits of the defenders were wonderfully buoyant. And why not?
"Why be miserable while we're alive?" asked Jack, cramming a pieceof that wonderful tart into his mouth; for, even if he were wounded,Jack could still show a remarkably undiminished appetite.
"First there's ham, and then there's jam," he sang, till anothermouthful kept him silent.
"Indeed, why not be jolly?" chimed in Mr. Riley. "Here we are alltight and weatherproof, as you might say. What's there to grumble at?But, seriously, how on earth is this matter to end? Those peasantshave drawn off for the moment; but will they retire from the contestfor good? Eh? Now, sir, what's the answer?"
Tom flushed at being addressed in such a manner, and munched steadilyat his food. But his deep-set eyes wore a far-away look which showedthat he was thinking.
"Eh?" asked Jack, prodding him with the prong of a broken forkdiscovered in the kitchen. "Do we draw off as victors, receivingwell-deserved promotion for this--er--this--shall we say, gallantaction? or shall we, in fact----?"
"Be paid the compliment of appearing in the _Gazette_ as 'missing'?My word, that would be hard luck after such a business! Now, Tom?"
"More pie," said the latter deliberately. "Whilst we live we'll eat.But who can say what'll happen? We've given those poor fellowsa regular drubbing; but I don't believe they've done with us. Idon't like this drawing off, and the silence we now have; it meansmischief. I'd give a heap to know what they are up to."
Once the meal was finished, and the horses' wants seen to, thedefenders of the place occupied themselves in a hundred differentways. Some cleaned their carbines and burnished their scabbards;others indulged in the luxury of a wash at the pump in the yard;while Tom, on whom the responsibility of everything depended, walkedslowly from one end to the other of the defences.
"I'd give a heap to be able to guess rightly what the enemy are upto," he said, for perhaps the tenth time, to Andrews, who seemed tohaunt his side. "One sees little or nothing of them."
"Next to nothing, sir," agreed the rifleman, with knitted brows."But they ain't up to no good, I'm sure of it. You can see 'em comefrom the village at times and stare over here at us. Then they'lldisappear again, while boys and young men scuttle about, and carryarmfuls of something that I ain't sure of at this distance. There'sbeen knocking, too, in the church."
"Hum!" Tom pondered over the information. He listened acutely, for hewas just at the edge of the platform above the church door. But fromthat position, indeed from any position held by the defenders, it wasimpossible to look into the place. Yes, there was knocking, comingfrom the interior of the church, and----
"I heard a heavy fall, as if stones had been dislodged!" heexclaimed. "Come down below with me, Andrews."
They ran to the stairs, and scuttled down at their fastest pace.Making their way along the corridor they were soon at the kitchen,and then entered a storeroom beyond. It had been ransacked by Howeleyand his helpers, and had provided an ample supply of good things. Butit was not the contents of the room that interested Tom; it was thewall, the party wall, on the far side of which was the church.
"Listen," he said. "There!"
A glance at the rifleman's face was sufficient to show that he, too,had gathered the full meaning of those blows.
"Can't get at us by fair means, as you might say, sir," he grunted,"so they're agoing to break through the wall. It'll be a teaser tohold 'em if they once get through."
"Couldn't be done," agreed Tom. "There's not room enough here formore than four men. We should be driven back into the yard, and, ofcourse, an attack would be made in other quarters. It is a teaser!"
His face was drawn and stern as he retraced his footsteps, andstopped to discuss the situation with Mr. Riley.
"Of course we could pile all the bales and boxes we could findagainst this side of the wall," he said. "But that would not helpus; the peasants would pull them into the church. There's no way ofblocking up the passage either, and the difficulty of the situationseems to be this: we have now another place to defend, and no men tospare for the work. I think we shall have to try a sortie."
"Or retire up here and hold on to the last," said the navallieutenant, his face serious. "But they'd smoke us out, or burn thewhole place over our heads. I know well the temper of such men asthese. Harmless enough as a general rule, but demons now that theyare roused. They've suffered frightfully at the hands of the French,and they have made up their minds to retaliate in the best way theycan. Well?"
"I'll see," answered Tom shortly. Turning on his heel, he went offwith Andrews, and clattered down the stairs to the yard. Yes, therewas nothing for it but to defend the upper story of the house, or----
"Or make for the church again," suggested Andrews, for our hero hadspoken his thoughts aloud. "You could clear out those fellows who areworking there in a twinkling, carry all the grub and wine in--andthere you are, as good as ever you were, and better."
"But with a wall still," said Tom dryly. "They could come in herethen, and knock the wall down just the same. We should have thempouring in through the church door and through this other opening.Still, there's a lot in the suggestion. Tell me, can you see anyoneelsewhere than in and around the village?"
They had mounted to the top of the house, and could obtain a clearview. Both stared out in all directions, and kept silent for a fewminutes.
"Heaps at the village, sir," reported Andrews after a while. "Afew here and there, watching the surroundings. No big body of themanywheres as I can see."
"Nor I; let's get below."
As if bent on a purpose, Tom led the way
to the yard, and then divedinto the stable. There were the two nags they had seen when firstthey established themselves in the place, contentedly munching at thehay with which a thoughtful trooper had provided them. Tom pulled adoor open and entered the cart shed.
"Good!" he exclaimed. "Two of them--light carts too. Call Howeley andhis men."
The riflemen came plunging down at once, and stood at attention.
"Get the carts out and the horses harnessed in," Tom ordered. "Whenthat's done, load one of the carts with food. We shan't want water orwine, though you can take a small cask of the latter. Don't overload.Now you, my friend," he went on, addressing one of the troopers,"hurry to the rooms above, and bring down a mattress and someblankets. Quick with it!"
"You're going to--beg pardon, sir," began Andrews, using hisaccustomed formula. "You ain't going to take French leave of thembeauties! Never!"
His smile told of his delight, and of his agreement with the order.
"Take my compliments to Mr. Riley and your own officer, and help themboth to descend," said Tom. "When they are safely in the cart on themattress I have ordered, and armed, Andrews----"
"Yes, sir."
"And armed with carbines, you get to the top of the building and lookabout you carefully. If all's clear, let me know. Then slip down tojoin us. Now, I'll collect the other men."
Very silently and swiftly did the troopers obey his orders. At anearlier date they might very well have demurred and hesitated,delaying, perhaps, to discuss the matter; for why should they giveobedience to one who was, nominally at least, their prisoner? But Tomhad won their confidence, and that is a great thing where troops areconcerned. They merely looked their surprise when ordered to repairto the yard and mount their horses, while the man posted over thechurch door bared his sabre, as if determined that no fault of hisshould allow a slinking peasant to mount secretly and discover themovement of the garrison.
"Wait till I call you," whispered Tom. "Then run down to the yard andmount your horse. You understand?"
The fellow grinned at him, a grin of interest and friendship.
"_Parbleu!_ An enemy, he!" he grunted, spitting into the palm thatgripped his sabre. "By all the fiends, but I, Jacques, would welcomethe English as brothers."
The clatter of hoofs told of moving horses, or preparations downbelow. Not that it was likely to disturb the enemy, for the horsesmoved often enough, particularly when being watered. Men slippedsilently from their defensive posts and crept into the yard, while acouple of brawny troopers bore the injured Jack to the cart, smilingserenely at his angry protestations.
"Treat me as if I were a child," he growled, as Tom came intohearing. "Who said I couldn't walk?"
"I'll leave you behind if you're a trouble," came the answer."Fiddlesticks, Jack!"
"Or cut his diet down," laughed Mr. Riley, who already lay on themattress placed on the cart. "That's it, my lad; cut his grub short.That'll make our Jack less fiery. What's up?"
"Going for an airing," came the answer. "Now, men," said our hero,addressing the troopers, who were mounted by now. "You'll fall in oneither side of the carts, which will be driven by two selected byyourselves. Spare horses will be led by others. If I have it reportedthat the coast is clear, we will throw the gates open and ride out.A sharp trot once we reach the road will take us away from thevillage. After that----"
"After that, monsieur?" asked one of the men eagerly.
"We will see. You are prisoners at this moment just as much as weare. If we get through, perhaps we'll call it quits. You'll ride forthe army of France, and we for our comrades."
That brought a grin of pleasure to the bronzed faces of the men. Theywould have cheered had not the need for silence been there. Instead,they picked up their reins, and fell in on either side of the carts,waiting for the signal to open the gates. Tom went back to the sentryhe had posted over the church doorway.
"All clear," was the report. "There is still knocking."
"Then get to your horse and mount. I am following."
Tom clambered once more into the yard, and looked up at the windowwhich Andrews occupied.
"All clear," came the gentle hail.
"Then fall in--time we were moving."
All were mounted within a minute, save Howeley, who stood at thegates. "Open," called Tom.
"Open it is, sir," said the rifleman, throwing the gates wide at once.
"Forward!"
Steadily, and without sign of undue haste, the cavalcade rode fromthe yard into the open, leaving a place which, though it hadrevictualled them and offered excellent cover, might, were they tohold it longer, lead to disaster. They moved away into the open inregular order, the carts in their midst bearing their wounded andtheir supplies with them as became good soldiers.
"Trot!" commanded Tom, and at the word the troop set their horsesinto faster motion, Andrews at their head leading them off obliquelytowards a point where the road was accessible.
"Hear 'em!" ejaculated Jack, by no means dismayed, as a torrent ofyells and cries came from the village and from a number of pointsabout them. "They don't seem overpleased at our leaving."