A Roving Commission; Or, Through the Black Insurrection at Hayti

by G. A. Henty

It was not, indeed, until they were down on the shore that the negroes again came up with them. Then they burst out at several points from the trees, being uncertain of the exact course the retreating party had taken.

"Now, keep together in a body, men!" Nat shouted in English, and repeated the same order in French. "March steadily forward. We have got to fight our way through them."

Now that the negroes saw how comparatively small was the number of their foes, they rushed upon them.

"Don't throw away a shot!" Nat shouted. "Now, let them have it!"

The men who had already fired had loaded again, and as the negroes came up, a crackling fire broke out from the little party.

"Now, lads, at them with pistol, cutlass, and pike! We must get through these fellows ahead before others come up."

With a loud cheer the sailors rushed upon the blacks, cutting and thrusting, the men who had been released fighting with desperate fury with their pikes, mad with the thirst for revenge for the horrible atrocities that they witnessed and the thought of the fate they had escaped. Pistols cracked out continually, and it was not long before the negroes lost heart; and the sailors, at Nat's order, flung themselves upon them and cut a way through.

"Straight on now, men! Show them that you can run as well as fight. We shall have a hundred more of them down on us directly."

There was no doubt of this; the yells that rose from the forest and the light of many brands showed that the whole of the negroes were hastening to join their comrades. Nat had previously begged the two officers and the quarter-master not to use their pistols, and he, with them, ran in the rear line. A few only of the negroes pressed closely behind them; the rest, dismayed by the slaughter that had taken place, awaited the arrival of their comrades.

"Now, turn and let them have both barrels!" Nat said; and the four men, facing round, levelled their pistols, and six of the leading negroes fell, while the others halted at once. "Keep your other pistols," Nat said; "we shall want them at the gangway."