“Hold him, Han,” I panted; “he is mad.”
As if my shot had been the signal, a tremendous volley rang out from beyond the palisade; then another, and another; and the Indians, who the moment before were battling desperately, and surmounting our defences as a wild hand-to-hand fight went on, began to give way; then they turned and fled for the gap they had made, while, led by Colonel Preston, our men dashed after them.
“Look,” I cried. “Morgan, we’ve won!” We all gazed wonderingly as the Indians disappeared through the gap in the great fence, when another sharp volley rang out, but the smoke rose from outside.
“Help has come!” I shouted, and feeling no fear now of Morgan putting his desperate plan into action, I ran to join our men and learn what it meant, closely followed by Hannibal, Morgan coming last.
Chapter Fifty One.
Our party was cheering loudly as I got up in time to see the Indians in full flight toward the forest, and a strong force of men in pursuit, stopping and kneeling from time to time to fire on the retreating savages, who did not attempt to make a stand.
For some minutes I could not understand what it meant, nor who our rescuers were, but directly after the word ran round from mouth to mouth—“Spaniards—Spaniards!” and I turned to see a large ship lying in the river as I ran back to our defences, and past the dead and wounded, to bear my father the news.
“One enemy to save us from the other,” said my father. “Well, better to fall into the hands of civilised people than savages. In this case it will be prison, in the other it would have been death.”