STORMING THE BARRICADE
'Steady, lads!' called out the Professor, by whose side stood Alphonse, his hat awry, his keen eyes shining. 'If they break through we must make a sortie. I shall lead the way.'
'With Alphonse beside you, monsieur,' cried the Frenchman. 'But I am thinking Ho-Hung can wield a stake, and Jong also. Those two perched on our barricade could deal hard blows to these ruffians, while we at the loopholes could shoot down those who have fire-arms. What says monsieur?'
'That the plan is excellent. Hung! Jong!' He shouted, and at once gave them their instructions. The movement did indeed help the defenders wonderfully, for few of the attackers had fire-arms, and those who had could use them with difficulty only owing to the press. With swinging blows the two Chinamen beat back the mob tearing at the barricade, while the more dangerous of the latter were shot down from the loopholes. Then the Professor again stood before them.
'Good people,' he shouted, so that all could hear, 'I beg of you to retire. You see for yourselves that we are able to oppose you, and already numbers of your brothers have fallen. Let that suffice. Go now before worse happens.'
For one whole minute, perhaps, there was silence outside, while not a man moved. No doubt the opposition had taken the mob by surprise, for elsewhere they had been able to rob and murder without danger or difficulty. The sight of wounded and fallen men unnerved a few, and made them wish that the stairway were not so crammed and that retreat were possible. But deep embedded in the hearts of the majority was the knowledge that they were hungry, and that failure here meant starvation. It needed, therefore, but a tiny spark to kindle their courage once more. The rascally fellow who had so nearly hit the Professor on two occasions was still at hand, and he it was who quickly had them once more racing for the barrier.
'It is a dodge,' he shouted. 'Believe not the foreign devil. Pull the barricade aside and you have every bag of food that belongs to these people. Hesitate now, and go on your way. What will happen? You will starve. You will leave your bones by the road. The dogs and the wolves will come and feed off your carcases. Forward, then. There is food, and plenty of it behind that barricade.'
He led a silent host at once against the defenders, a host frantic with its woes, rendered as fierce as any pack of wolves by its privations. And in a trice it seemed that it must succeed. Even the lusty blows of the two Chinamen and the shots of those at the loopholes failed to keep it back. Already a foot or more of the barricade had toppled over, while a dozen of the men outside had again seized the battering-ram. And then, so fickle and so changing is fortune in such matters, a small affair turned the scale in favour of the defenders. The excitement of those who were unable, because of their position on the stairway, to join in the contest was so intense that they struggled and pushed their way downward in spite of all difficulties till the covered way was crammed. But still they came till even those struck by the bullets from the loopholes could not fall on account of the press. Then someone above bellowed a warning.
'I see men coming!' he shouted. 'I see soldiers—they are galloping this way; they will cut us to pieces.'
Instantly there was a rush for the stairway. Two hundred and more frantic people fought to be the first away. They tore at one another with as much ferocity as they had displayed when attacking the barricade, and those who were strongest, or who had taken up the most commanding positions, prevailed. Men were dragged down and trodden underfoot, an eddy as it were on the stairway caused the mass thronging every step to heave backward, and at once numbers lost their balance and fell, helped to their death by those who were nearest. Knives flashed here and there. Men snarled at one another. Altogether it was a horrible and terrifying spectacle. And the movement itself proved to be as unnecessary as it was horrible in its results, for the same man appeared above once more.
'It was a false alarm,' he shouted. 'Stop, comrades, there is nothing to fear. They were not soldiers; they were men like ourselves who had stolen ponies doubtless from the last village. Stop or you will all be crushed and killed.'
Deep and bitter were the voices of those who had survived. They turned again, and slowly descended where a moment before they had struggled to mount And catching sight of David standing at the barricade they set up a howl which showed something more than mere desperation induced by the pangs of hunger. There was hate in their tones. The matter had now become a personal one as between them and the defenders.
'We warn you people down below that we will kill you all,' shouted the same leader. 'We will kill you slowly, making you suffer for what you have done. Stop, my comrades. I have a plan to propose. Let some rest here and watch for us; we will be back ere many minutes have passed.'
He raced up the stairway accompanied by a mob, leaving the Professor and his party to wonder what movement would now be attempted.
'Perhaps another battering-ram,' suggested the Professor.
'Or these rascals will supply themselves with hooks with which they will the easier be able to reach the logs on our barricade,' chimed in Alphonse.
'Or perhaps it's worse,' said David slowly. 'I wish we had shot that rascal, for he is capable of the worst mischief. Ah! see them! I guessed what they were up to. They are going to smoke us out.'
There could be little doubt as to the intentions of the mob. They had seized bundles of fodder kept on the level sand above for the use of the ponies, and a couple of dozen of the men were bearing these down the stairway, while the same mass followed on their heels, shouting excitedly, and shaking their fists in the direction of the defenders.
'Put them down against the barricade in a heap,' called their leader. 'Be not afraid of the foreign devils, for harm will not come to you. When the bundles are placed I will fire them.'
'Parbleu, I think not,' exclaimed Alphonse, smiling grimly, for he had understood. 'Monsieur, with your permission I will shoot this man.'
Shoot him the Frenchman did. His bullet caused the rascally leader to sway from side to side and to grip at the air. Then with a shriek he came bounding forward, and, clambering the outside of the barricade, attempted to enter. There was a flash as Dick Cartwell ended the matter.
'Look out! There's a fellow coming along with a torch,' called out the Professor. 'Shoot every man who attempts to light those bales.'
But in spite of every effort a cunning fellow armed with flint and steel managed to set fire to a bunch of straw which he picked from the ground and held behind his fellows. Then with a quick jerk he threw it forward, causing it to fall at the edge of the piled-up bales of fodder. Next second a sheet of flame was sweeping up to the ancient roof of the covered way, while, owing to dampness in the bales, a dense smoke was given off, and began to penetrate the apartment occupied by the defenders. Indeed, in a few seconds they were coughing loudly, while every member of the party was forced to retire as far as possible from the flames. Death from suffocation, if not from burning, stared them in the face. David and his friends were in a horrible dilemma.