What a narrative it was! What a story! To think of that vile Roderick being there in command of all the others; to think of that spiteful, crawling wretch having at last got those two innocent creatures into his power and able to do what he would with them! Oh! 'twas too horrible--too horrible to think upon. Nay, I dare not think, I could only prepare for immediate action.
"We must follow them," I said. "I must follow them at once, even if the Indians tear me to pieces as I enter their midst. And what matter if they do? 'Twill be best so if she, my own darling, has become their prey. O'Rourke, for heaven's sake cease eating and drinking, and lend me your assistance."
"That will I cheerfully," he replied, "and if they have but left a brace of nags in the stables we will be a dozen leagues on our way ere nightfall. But as to eating and drinking, well--well! I am too old a campaigner of all kinds not to take my rations when they fall in my way. And you, too, my lord, a sailor, should know 'tis bad to go a-fighting on an empty stomach. Even Corporal John, who loved better to pouch the ducats than to provision the army, always sent his men into battle with their stomachs full."
"But every moment is precious--every instant. Think of the girls in the hands of those ruthless savages, in the hands of my villainous cousin."
"Ay, I do think on't. Yet will I wager all my hopes of future pardon--heaven knows I stand in need of it--that the girls are safe enough. Have I not told you that the great Indian, the gigantic chief, heard all. All! He heard Mistress Mills denounce your cousin, and he heard him call all the tribe superstitious or ignorant fools, or words of a like import. And, what's more, he knew that neither you nor I were dead, nor like to die, and yet he left us here unharmed. My lord, I tell you," he continued, slapping down the bowl he had just emptied, "that no harm is coming to those young maids, nor do I think to any of the other prisoners. And more I tell you also, the one who will come worst out of this fray will be your cousin Roderick."
I would have answered him and said how devoutly I trusted such might be the case, when we heard a clatter in the courtyard behind and the shoutings of many men, and voices all talking at once, some exclaiming, "At least they've left this house standing." "What of the women folk?" "What of Mistress Bamfyld?" and so forth. And then, as we rushed to the back windows, I recognised many of the other residents of the place whose acquaintance I possessed, with, at their head, her cousin Gregory.
"Where is Joice?" he called out as he dismounted, seeing me. "Where is she? Is she safe? Yet she must be since you and this other gentleman are here alive."
It took not long to tell them all, nor to learn that which had befallen all the other houses and manors around. Some, we learnt, were burnt to the ground; some were spared simply because they were so well defended that the Indians had drawn off at daybreak without achieving any victory; at some every inhabitant had been killed even to the women and children; at others every creature had escaped. Many, too, were the deeds of daring that had been done on this night of horror. Women had stoutly helped their husbands, brothers, and sons in fighting for their homes, one woman having killed near a score of the Indians with her own musket. Another, who was alone in her house--her husband being away at the newly re-constructed town of Richmond--having none about her but her babes and some worthless negroes, also defended her house both skilfully and valorously. She appeared at different windows dressed in her husband's clothes, changing the wig, or the coat, or other garments as she passed from one room to another, so that the savages were led to think that the house was full of men. She shouted orders to imaginary servants and friends as though they were there to assist her, and every time she fired she brought down her man so that, by daybreak, her little house was of those saved. And this was but one of the many gallant actions performed that night which I cannot here stop to narrate.
All who had now ridden into the courtyard of my dear one's house were there with but one impulse to stir them. That impulse was revenge and the rescue of the many prisoners whom they knew to have been carried off. Yet, when they heard that Joice was gone--who amongst all the girls in that part of the colony was, perhaps, the most beloved--and, with her, Miss Mills, that impulse was stirred more deeply still, so that when Gregory, addressing them, said:
"Gentlemen, she is my cousin, as you know, and, with Miss Mills, is the only woman captured; therefore must I beg that the leadership of this party is given to me," they willingly accorded him his desire.