The Cryptogram: A Story of Northwest Canada

  CHAPTER XXVI.

  AS TWILIGHT FELL.

  For more than twenty-four hours I had taken no repose, and as nothingoccurred to rouse me, I slept longer than I intended. When I opened myeyes languidly the room was so dark that I could scarcely make out achair against the wall, and the window-panes were crusted with frost andsnow. At once I was wide awake, and all the incidents of the morningflashed into my mind. I knew that this was the time when the attack wasexpected, and for a moment I sat up and listened anxiously, but I heardonly a distant hum of voices.

  "All is well so far," I thought. "I hope no precautions have beenneglected, for when the storm bursts it will be sudden and fierce."

  I threw off the blankets that covered me, and leaped out of bed. Hastilydonning my fur capote, cap and mittens, and taking my loaded musket, Ileft the quarters without encountering any person.

  I paused outside to look about, and the scene that met my eyes was adreary one. The inclosure was shrouded in the murky gray gloom oftwilight. It was bitterly cold, and snow was falling fast. The variousoutbuildings loomed dimly here and there between the narrow paths andhigh-banked drifts. The only ray of light visible was behind me, andshone from the window of Flora's room. As I turned from a briefcontemplation of it, I saw a man passing and hailed him. He proved to beBaptiste.

  "Why was I not wakened?" I demanded sharply. "Here is the night upon us,and I wished to be up at noon."

  "Mr. Menzie's orders, sir," he replied. "He said you were not to bedisturbed."

  I questioned Baptiste further, and learned that there had been no alarmduring the day, and that not an Indian had shown himself. He alsorelieved my mind concerning the preparations for holding the factor'shouse.

  "They moved everything in," he said; "food and blankets, all the powderand ball, four sledges, and the wounded men."

  "And the dead, Baptiste?"

  "They are buried, sir--under the snow."

  "Ah, then no time has been wasted," said I. "If the worst comes we shallbe ready--"

  "There is nothing more to be done, Carew," interrupted a voice at myelbow. "No step that prudence or forethought could dictate has beenomitted."

  The speaker was Captain Rudstone, who had approached unperceived.

  "Has your sleep refreshed you?" he added.

  "Very much," I replied. "I feel fit for another stretch of fighting.What is the situation now?"

  "The calm before the storm, to my mind," he declared. "Sentries areposted to command a view from every side of the fort. Both towers willbe abandoned at the first alarm, and all the men will rush to thequarter whence it comes, those are the general orders. If the redskinsprove too strong for us, we will retreat to the factor's house."

  "Ay, and hold it," said I. "The place is impregnable, Rudstone!"

  "That remains to be seen," he answered. "Go and get some supper, Carew,while you have the chance."

  "Then you think the attack is imminent?"

  "Yes, it may come at any moment."

  "But Baptiste tells me the Indians have made no sign all day."

  "True enough," assented the captain, "and that's the worst of it. Theyare hatching some deep-laid deviltry, be sure! I have my suspicions, andI communicated them to Menzies. He agrees with me that the attack willprobably burst upon us in the form of a--"

  He never finished the sentence. The words were stifled on his lips by atremendous explosion that seemed to shake the very ground, and rattledand thundered far away into the heart of the wilderness. A crash offalling debris followed, and then the night rang with shrill clamor andblood-curdling whoops.

  "_Nom de Dieu!_ we are lost!" wailed Baptiste.

  "My God, what does it mean?" I cried, clutching Captain Rudstone's armwith a trembling hand.

  "My prediction, Carew," he answered hoarsely. "It has come--it is what Iexpected. The devils have tunneled under the snow and planted a powderbag against the stockade. They have blown a breach."

  "We'll keep them out of it as long as we can," I shouted. "Hark! thefighting has begun."

  The captain and I had already set off on a run, and Baptiste was hangingat our heels. Shouting and yelling rose from all parts of the fort, andblended with the wild cheers of the savages. Dark forms loomed right andleft of us as we sped on. Guided by the clamor and by the great columnof smoke that was stamped blackly against the driving snow, we soonreached the scene of the explosion, which was the northeast watch-tower.

  It is impossible to describe the sight that was revealed to us by thefirst rapid glimpse. All that day the redskins must have been burrowinga passage beneath the drifts from the woods to the fort. They hadplanted a bag or cask of powder at the very base of the tower, and blownit into a heap of ruins, out of which could be seen sticking the bodiesof the two poor fellows who had been on duty there. As yet only a smallforce of Indians--those who had approached by the tunnel--were stormingthe breach, and these were being held at bay by a dozen of our men whohad reached the spot before the captain and myself. Muskets werecracking, and tomahawks were flying through the air; the yells ofinvaders and invaded made a horrible din.

  At the first I saw some hope of holding the sheltered place--of beatingthe enemy off. I plunged into the thick of the fight, emptying my guninto the breast of a red devil, and bringing the butt down on the headof another. We pressed close up to the sides of the tower, and gainedfootholds on the ruins. Hand to hand we fought desperately, shooting andstriking at the Indians and keeping them on the outside of the fort. Notmany of them had firearms, and so far as I could see, but one of our menhad fallen.

  "Stand up to it!" I shouted. "Hold your ground!"

  "Hit hard!" cried Captain Rudstone. "Finish all you can before the mainrush comes!"

  Flushed with triumph, half-crazed by the thirst for blood, we did notpause to reflect that the scale must soon turn the other way. Face toface, weapon to weapon, we held the savages at bay, sending one afteranother to his last account. Meanwhile more men kept joining us, until,excepting a few who were on duty at other points, our whole availableforce was present. I heard Andrew Menzies giving directions. I sawFather Cleary on my left and Christopher Burley on the right, bothstriking at the painted faces behind the shattered walls.

  "This is hot work, Carew," Captain Rudstone found a chance to shout inmy ear, "and it's precious little use to keep it up. The devils willsoon be at us in their hundreds. Now is the time to make a safe retreatto the house."

  "I think the same," I answered, as I dodged a whizzing tomahawk; "and ifMenzies don't soon give the command I will."

  The words were scarcely out of my mouth when the clamor took a deeper,shriller pitch. We all knew what it meant--the tide was turning. Throughthe gaping holes in the watch tower stamped against the snowy mist, wesaw a dark mass rolling forward--scores and scores of painted Indians.