“Make up your mind quickly, Mr. Monroe,” the general exclaimed anxiously. “Shell it, or else let’s try to get by; we can’t afford to leave the neck of the sack open for Espinosa and his cutthroats to escape.”
Sydney saw there was no way out of the situation, save to silence the battery:—one shot through the boiler of the “Mindinao,” and the gunboat with all on board would be killed by the explosion or else drowned in the madly racing current of the river.
“Take a few shots at that gun,” he ordered hoarsely. The gun-pointers when they heard the spiteful hiss of the enemy’s shell had, as though by an order, ceased their fire and waited obediently for the command which they felt sure the midshipman would give. They did not relish being fired upon and not allowed to return the fire.
Sydney’s glasses were upon the cliff: he saw a group of struggling figures about the cannon, and then to his surprise and joy the black object detached itself and dropped swiftly to the water six hundred feet below.
“Don’t fire,” he cried out quickly, but the gun-pointers through their sight telescopes had also been watching the struggle about their target and had waited.
The lad rang up full speed ahead and again the gunboat sped toward the cañon.
“Open fire on the left flank of the hill,” Sydney ordered.
The three-pounders barked, and shell after shell was sent against the gathering crowds forming to attack the mere handful on the right, where the trail ended. The soldiers under Captain Blynn could now be plainly seen plodding upward.
Sydney’s boyish nerves were at the highest pitch of excitement. He realized that he was to perform one of the most difficult feats of his life, and he had the life of a general of the army in his keeping. An error of judgment on his part would send them all to their deaths. He glanced searchingly at the frowning cliff, now scarcely a thousand yards away. He could plainly see that at the top a fierce fight was raging. The narrow gorge ahead seemed barely wide enough to permit the gunboat to pass, and above it, he knew only too well great boulders were standing ready to be dropped like meteors on the frail deck of the “Mindinao.”
“Are you ready there with the Colt gun?” he called loudly to the sailors in the foretop, where the gun was mounted.