[[105]]
“No force, no firmness, the pale coward shews:
He shifts his place, his colour comes and goes;
A dropping sweat creeps cold on every part,
Against his bosom beats his quivering heart:
Terror and death in his wild eye-balls stare; |  | |
With chattering teeth he stands, and stiff’ning hair, | ||
And looks a bloodless image of despair.” |
At ten o’clock we met a small party of the rebels, with each a green hamper upon his back; they fired at us, dropped their bundles, and taking to their heels ran back towards their village. These we since learned were transporting rice to another settlement for their subsistence, when they should be expelled from Gado-Saby (the name of this settlement) which they daily expected, since they had been discovered by the gallant Captain Meyland. The green hampers, which they call warimbos, were very curiously plaited with the manicole leaves. And when our men cut them open with their sabres, there burst forth the most beautiful clean rice that I ever saw, which was scattered and trampled under foot, as we had no opportunity of carrying it along. A little after this we perceived an empty shed, where a picquet had been stationed to give notice of any danger, but they had precipitately deserted their post. We now vigorously redoubled our pace till about noon; when two more musket shot were fired at us by another advanced guard of the enemy, as a signal to the chief, Bonny, of our approach. Major Medler and myself, with a few of the [[106]]van-guard, and a small party of the rangers, at this time rushing forward, soon came to a fine field of rice and Indian corn: we here made a halt for the other troops, particularly to give time for our rear to close up, some of whom were at least two miles behind us; and during which period we might have been cut to pieces, the enemy, unknown to us, having surrounded the field in which we were, as we were afterwards informed.
In about half an hour the whole body joined us, when we instantly proceeded by cutting through a small defile of the wood, into which we had no sooner entered, than a heavy fire commenced from every side, the rebels retiring, and we advancing, until we arrived in the most beautiful field, of ripe rice, in the form of an oblong square, from which the rebel town appeared at a distance, in the form of an amphitheatre, sheltered from the sun by the foliage of a few lofty trees, the whole presenting a coup-d’œil romantic and enchanting beyond conception. In this field the firing was kept up, like one continued peal of thunder, for above forty minutes, during which time our black warriors behaved with wonderful intrepidity and skill. The white soldiers were too eager, and fired over one another at random, yet I could perceive a few of them act with the utmost coolness, and imitate the rangers with great effect; amongst these was now the once-daunted Fowler, who being roused from his tremor by the firing at the beginning of the onset, had rushed to the front, and fully [[107]]re-established his character, by fighting like a brave fellow, by my side, until the muzzle of his musket was split by a shot from the enemy, which rendered it useless; a ball passed through my shirt, and grazed the skin of my shoulder; Mr. Decabanes, my lieutenant, had the sling of his fusee shot away: several others were wounded, some mortally, but I did not, to my surprize, observe one instance of immediate death—for which seeming miracle, however, I shall presently account.
This whole field of rice was surrounded and interspersed by the enemy with the large trunks and roots of heavy trees, in order to make our approach both difficult and dangerous; behind these temporary fortifications the rebels lay lurking, and firing upon us with deliberate aim, whilst their bulwarks certainly protected them in some measure from the effects of our fire, we having vast numbers of these fallen trees to scramble over before we could reach the town: but we still advanced, in defiance of every obstacle, and while I admired the masterly manœuvres of their general, I could not help pitying them for their superstition. One poor fellow, in particular, trusting to his amulet or charm, fancied himself invulnerable; he mounted frequently upon one of the trees that lay near us, discharged his piece, descended to re-load, and then with equal confidence and the greatest deliberation returned to the charge in my full view; till at last a shot from one of my marines, named Valet, broke the bone of his thigh, and he fell crawling [[108]]for shelter under the very same tree which had supported him just before; but the soldier instantly advancing, and putting the muzzle of his musket to the rebel’s ear, blew out his brains, while several of his countrymen, in spite of their spells and charms, shared the same fate.
Being now about to enter the town, a rebel captain, wearing a tarnished gold-laced hat, and bearing in his hand a torch of flaming straw, seeing their ruin inevitable, had the resolution to stay and set the town on fire in our presence, which, by the dryness of the houses, instantly produced a general conflagration, when the firing from the woods began gradually to cease. This bold and masterly manœuvre not only prevented that carnage to which the common soldiers in the heat of victory are but too prone, but also afforded the enemy an opportunity of retreating with their wives and children, and carrying off their most useful effects; whilst our pursuit, and seizing the spoil, were at once frustrated both by the ascending flames, and the unfathomable marsh, which we soon discovered on all sides to surround us, as in the Maccabees: