Another rush, and for a time the defenders of the wall settled down to desperate work. The hostiles seemed to be getting the better of it. Half a score of times they broke over the wall, some to fall inside dead and wounded, others to fall back before the infuriated counter-assault of the defenders.
Cassara, cutting and slashing savagely, felt blood flowing from his wound again and realised that he was growing weak. A film seemed to be before his eyes, his blows came not so frequent and swift.
“Hah! ’Ware on your left!” he heard Gonzales shout.
As through a screen the sergeant saw a giant hostile swinging at him with a bludgeon. Cassara drew back and swung his sword, but not in time to cut down his enemy. He felt a terrific blow on the side of his head, his senses reeled, and he fell backward off the wall with the vengeful shriek of Gonzales ringing in his ears as the pirate ran the hostile through.
For several minutes he remained huddled on the ground while the fight raged about him, and then he began crawling to one side, following the wall, trying to get where he would not hinder the others, and remain away until he recovered strength.
Propped against the wall of the storehouse, he watched the conflict on the other side of the plaza, too weak to stand, his head swimming, scarcely able to lift an arm. Shadow-shapes came and went before him; the shrieks seemed far away.
“By the saints—!” he gasped. “A club—a club to render me senseless! Carlos Cassara, who has stood up to good fighters, to be beaten down by a common club in the hands of a gentile cur! A mere club! Hah! I shall go mad!”
He tried to wipe the film from in front of his eyes and peer at the wall. It seemed to him that the shrieks had redoubled, and he sensed that his comrades were giving way before the onslaught of the enemy. He tried to cry encouraging words, but merely made a rattling noise in his throat.
“Mere—club—” he gasped.
Someone rushed before him. A firebrand fell in the plaza—and by its momentary glare Cassara saw a man standing with a pistol a score of feet away.