“Indeed, I would,” she answered; “for, though our house can be more easily fortified and defended than this can, there are fewer trustworthy people to form its garrison.”
“Would you wish me to go, Miss Pemberton?” asked the major. “I would,” he added, speaking very low, “run every risk for your sake. I, of course, would not offer to quit Bellevue unless I considered that it already possessed a sufficiently strong garrison; indeed, I think it probable that it will not be attacked, or if it is, that the insurgents will very quickly retire when they see the preparations we have made for their reception.”
“Oh, it will indeed greatly relieve my mind if assistance could be carried to Walton!” exclaimed Fanny.
“Then I will go, and will leave Belt here with two of our men. Your brother will, I conclude, wish to accompany me,” said the major.
“So will I,” said Mr Hayward, “with my man Tom. We shall not too greatly weaken the garrison of this place, and we may render essential assistance to the Pembertons.”
Mr Twigg, though he possibly might rather have kept his friends, could not object to this proposal, and Major Malcolm immediately desired that the horses might be got ready. Several white men and mulattoes had come in from two small plantations in the neighbourhood on hearing of the rebellion, knowing that it would be hopeless to attempt the defence of their homes; and three of these, who were well mounted and armed, volunteered to accompany Major Malcolm and Mr Hayward. Fanny thanked the major more by her looks than in words, as she bade him farewell. The party, throwing themselves into their saddles, rode off, setting the heat at defiance. They had been gone scarcely half an hour when Archie Sandys, who was doing duty as sentry, and had posted himself on a height from whence he could command a view of most of the approaches to the house on the and south, came hurrying in with the information that he had seen a large body of blacks moving along from the latter direction. “They looked exactly like a swarm of ants as they came over the hill,” he observed. “Hark! you can already hear the shrill notes of their horns.”
“Then to arms, my friends!” cried the lieutenant. “We must man our lines, but don’t let a shot be fired till I give the order.”
All arrangements had previously been made; each gentleman having a certain number of men placed under him, while the two orderlies were to act as the lieutenant’s aides-de-camp. To each party was assigned the defence of a certain portion of the lines, so that the moment the order was issued the entire garrison knew where they were to go. Notwithstanding the absence of Major Malcolm and those who had accompanied him, they felt secure in their numbers and fortifications.
The shouts and shrieks of the rebels and the sound of their horns were now distinctly heard as they hurried on to attack the house, fully expecting to surround it, and in a few minutes to massacre the inhabitants, as they had done those of several other pens they had already attacked, little dreaming of finding it so strongly garrisoned and fortified.
“Keep under cover, my men,” cried the lieutenant, as the enemy were seen marching from the wood and running forward without order into the open; “our fire will stagger them, and probably make them scamper off, if we reserve it till they come sufficiently near for each man to take a good aim. Don’t throw a bullet away. Aim low, remember—aim low!”