*CHAPTER XXXVII.*
*THE FIGHT FOR THE STRONGHOLD.*
It was a critical moment for those of the adventurers who had gained thetop of the well. Being without tridents and shields, they wereabsolutely at the mercy of any enemy who carried them. They were armedonly with swords, spears, or daggers, which were useless against theother weapons. It seemed as though they must all inevitably, within afew minutes, be lying at the mercy of their foes.
A second glance, however, revealed an unexpected piece of good fortune.Their enemies were no better armed than themselves! The members of thegarrison had dwelt in the place so long in peace and security that ithad become their habit to stack away their tridents in their stores, asarticles for which they had no use from day to day. Moreover, they knewthat their stronghold was reputed to be impregnable, and they neverdreamed of its being thus suddenly attacked.
Hence, when the outcry arose in the cavern in which was the old disusedwell, they had rushed in on the spur of the moment, wondering what thenoise could be, and armed only with those weapons which formed part oftheir everyday equipment.
Swords flashed from their scabbards on both sides, and a moment laterthe two parties were engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand fight. A numberof Fumenta's people had followed him up his side of the well, whilethose on the other side were hauling at their rope. Thus, for the timebeing, the adversaries were about equally matched in point of numbers aswell as weapons. It was pretty certain, however, that the defenderswould be reinforced at a much greater rate than the assailants could be,to say nothing of the fact that at any moment some of the former mightarrive on the scene bringing with them the dreaded tridents.
Ivanta turned to Jack and Gerald, and whispered a few words at themoment of drawing his sword.
'You have your pistols! Try to close the door and hold it fast. Thatwill give us time!'
The hint was sufficient. The two acted upon it at once, and calling toBob Reid to follow, they made a circuit, and avoiding the rush of thedefenders, got round to their rear. The first group passed withoutnoticing them, and there was no one else inside the door. But upon theother side of it they could see another group, who were running to thesupport of their friends, and two of them, who were in advance, werecarrying tridents.
It was doubtful which would reach the door first; but two shots rangout, and the trident-bearers dropped their weapons. They had each beenwounded in the arm. Their comrades, wondering what was wrong, and,startled by the reports of the firearms--added to by a hundred echoesfrom the rocky vault overhead--paused in their advance, and crowdedround the wounded men.
The three near the door on the inside took advantage of their halt tobang it to, and hastily shoot some bolts which they found upon it.
Then they turned to ascertain how it fared with their friends, and seewhat they could do to help them.
Ivanta and Fumenta had apparently been singled out for special attack,and each was defending himself against two or three adversaries. Bothwere fighting like heroes of old, and for a brief space the two chumspaused to watch them, spellbound by the fascination of the combat.
Fumenta was fighting as such an old war-dog might be expected to fight.Grim, hard-visaged, and stalwart, his grizzled locks shaking at everyturn of his head, he rained blows so quickly upon his foes that two hadalready fallen under them; and the others now seemed more anxious tokeep at arm's length than to trust themselves near enough to strike.
Ivanta, on his side, was fighting not less valiantly, but in somewhatdifferent fashion. As Gerald subsequently expressed it, he fought 'likethe king that he was.' In his flashing glance there was nothing of thecold gleam of hatred, bred of long experience as a hunted outcast, whichshowed in the eyes of the outlaw chief. Rather was there dignifieddisdain, and even something of pity for those with whom circumstancesforced him into conflict. In his whole appearance there was that whichreminded the spectators of a lion defending himself in contemptuousfashion against the attacks of a number of curs; while Fumenta might belikened rather to an old wolf driven to bay.
Suddenly one of those opposed to Ivanta lowered his sword, and steppedbackward, as if in surprise, crying out loudly, 'It is the king! Downwith your swords! It is the king!'
At this there was a general pause. The man's comrades imitated hisaction, and the rest of the defending force desisted also in surprise.Thus, for a space, there was a cessation of hostilities all round.
'What said you, Sedla?' cried one near the speaker. 'The king! Whatking? We serve Agrando! He is not here!'
'This is Agrando's overlord, King Ivanta,' the first one answered. 'Wemust not fight against him.'
'How do you know?' 'What does it mean?' 'How can we tell?' 'How can sucha thing have come about?' such were the questions which were called out,first from one and then from another.
Evidently the garrison of this isolated post knew nothing as yet ofAgrando's revolt. No news of it had reached them, nor had anymessengers come from Agrando instructing them that he was now at warwith his overlord, and expected them to espouse his cause. Neither, asit seemed, were they--with one or two exceptions--acquainted withIvanta's person. Of those then present, only the one who had firstspoken knew him by sight.
Ivanta was quick to take advantage of this favourable turn.
'It is well that you spoke,' he haughtily said. 'It explains, I suppose,why you and your friends have attacked me. Otherwise, you would beguilty of treason! Down with your weapons, all of you!'
'But,' objected one who was evidently an officer, 'if you are KingIvanta--I ask, sir, with all respect--why have you forced an entrance inthis strange fashion?'
'And,' said another dubiously, 'how comes it that the great King Ivantais here attacking us hand and glove with the outlaw Fumenta and hisband--the sworn enemies of our master Agrando?'
Ivanta smiled.
'I can understand your perplexity, my friends. Strange things havehappened outside these walls of which I see you have as yet heardnothing. Let your chief officers confer with me, and I will give themthe information which I see you are in need of.'
There ensued some discussion, carried on in a low tone amongst three orfour who were the leaders of the garrison. Evidently there weredifferences of opinion among them. Some were for submitting to Ivanta;while the others, doubtful of his identity, and fearing some trick, werefor continuing the combat.
Suddenly one of the little council broke away from the others and lookedangrily at Fumenta.
'You may do as you please with those others!' he cried. 'That gentlemanmay be King Ivanta or he may not! What is certain is that yonder oldvillain is Fumenta, the leader of the outlaw bands, and I for one havean old-standing grudge against him, which I mean to take this chance ofpaying off!'
With sudden fury and upraised hand, in which gleamed a naked dagger, hemade a rush at the one he had denounced. Fumenta had been quietlytalking to some of his people, and just then had his back to hisassailant.
Another moment and the weapon would have been buried in his breast, whenMalto, who had been standing near, threw himself between the two. Therewas a smothered exclamation, a blow, then Malto reeled back and wascaught by Malandris; while, with a cry like an enraged tiger, Fumentadarted upon the would-be assassin.
One hand closed upon the man's throat, and the other upon his wrist.There was a brief, fierce struggle; then the assailant was lifted highin the air and flung down with terrible force upon the rocky floor,where he lay prone without a sign of life.
The assailant was lifted high in the air and flung downwith terrible force.]
Fumenta glanced round as though to challenge the man's friends to tryconclusions with him; but as no one seemed inclined to take the quarrelupon himself, he turned to where he now saw Malto lying, supported by agroup of anxious friends.
The young fellow was evidently badly wounded, for he had fainted, andMalandris was engaged in trying to stanch the blood which flo
wed from awound in the breast.
'Let me come to him! Leave him to me!' cried Fumenta. 'He offered hislife to save mine; it is my place to care for him!'
They made way for him, and formed a circle around to guard the two fromany more treacherous attacks; while Ivanta, seeing that these events hadroused bad blood on both sides, applied himself to preventing thethreatened renewal of the fighting.
Sedla, however, the one who had recognised Ivanta, was, fortunately,firm in his refusal to take sides against him; and his particularfriends were content to follow his lead. Those who were for continuingthe strife thus found themselves in a minority; and, recognising this,they sullenly submitted.
All this time there had been much knocking and banging at the closeddoor on the one side; while, on the other, men had come scrambling upthe well, adding, every moment, to the numbers of Ivanta's supporters,and bringing with them this time the tridents which had been left below.
Very soon Ivanta was in a position to dictate his own terms to thosepresent; but there was still the rest of the garrison to be considered.
After some talk, Sedla undertook to act as negotiator with these, andpresently the door was thrown open, and he and his friends stood in theentrance.
It was a curious scene, that which followed. Behind Sedla, at a littledistance, was Ivanta, at the head of rank after rank of men, all armedwith their tridents and shields. On the other side of the doorway therewere again to be seen rank upon rank of the garrison, similarly armed,and evidently ready for the fray, yet wondering what had been going onbehind the closed door, and doubtless curious to know, before theybegan, who it was they were to fight, and what it was all about.
Sedla cleverly took advantage of this natural curiosity to gain ahearing for what he had to say, and followed it up so tactfully that heeventually gained over the whole garrison.
Thus was the place captured with but little actual fighting; and Ivantagained thereby a valuable base for the supply of his aerial fleet, aswell as a stronghold in which he and his following could find securerefuge in case of necessity.