“Here, massa,” answered Quashie, presenting his woolly pate. “You take it out, please.”
Martha, however, performed the operation; and the note being eagerly read, a consultation was held on its contents, which considerably raised the spirits of the besieged party, lowered as they had been by the loss of Archie Sandys.
None of them, however, were disposed to attempt cutting their way through the rebels. Lieutenant Belt was almost disabled—for though, in spite of much suffering, he still continued the command in the fortress, he could not use his sword—while the gallant young Scotchman was lost to them. Mr Ferris was willing to make the attempt if others wished it, but he feared the risk to which the ladies would be exposed; and it was finally determined to hold out till the arrival of the troops.
“The small quantity of yams we have secured will not last us long,” observed Mr Twigg, “and we must remember that we are threatened with starvation, as well as with another attack from the savages.”
“We have food sufficient for another day,” remarked Lieutenant Belt; “before the end of that time, relief may be sent to us.”
“But should it not come, what then are we to do?” inquired Mr Ferris.
“Act as our friend Pemberton suggests,” said Mr Twigg. “To-morrow evening, as soon as it is dark, we will send off Quashie. We must take care in the mean time that the rebels do not see him, or they will know that by some means or other he got in, and will be on the watch for him. We may depend on Pemberton’s carrying out his plan, and I should advise that the attempt be made in the night-time.”
Quashie was rather disappointed at finding that he was not to set off at once, as he was eager to get his dollar. His mother consoled him by assuring him that he would be allowed to go the following night, and Mr Twigg made him perfectly happy by at once giving him a dollar, so that he would become the possessor of two dollars, should he accomplish his return journey.
The garrison were not allowed to rest in quiet. The blacks, growing impatient, made several attempts to surprise them, but, in consequence of the severe punishment they had received, were more wary than at first. Each time, on finding that they were discovered, they retreated so rapidly that few, if any, of them were shot.
Morning at length arrived; the blacks had retreated to their cover, and, except that a few shots were at times wantonly fired from a distance at the house, the day went on as the previous ones had done. Much as they wanted food, it would be evidently a dangerous undertaking to attempt procuring it from the yam ground.