Out on the Pampas Part 11

Mr. Hardy then retired with his wife--who had been looking on anxiously while these orders were being given--into their own room, where they remained about ten minutes. When they came back into the sitting-room Mrs. Hardy was pale, but composed, and the children could see that she had been crying.

'Your mamma and I have been talking the matter over, boys, and I have told her that I must do my best to get some, at least, of our animals back. I shall take you both with me. It is unfortunate that two of our friends at Canterbury have ridden over early this morning to Mr.

Percy's, and will not be back until late to-night. Had they been at home, they would, I know, have joined us. I thought at first of sending over for Mr. Farquhar, who is at home, but I do not like losing the time. I shall send Lopez over with a note, asking him to come and sleep here to-night. We shall not be back till to-morrow. There is no fear of another alarm to-day; still I shall be more comfortable in knowing that you have some one with you. Do not go beyond the enclosure, girls, until we return. Terence, too, is to remain inside, and can sleep in the house to-night; so also can Lopez. You will therefore be well protected. Let us have something to eat, and then in ten minutes we will be in the saddle. Charley, fetch down three blue-lights, two signal rockets, and two of the tin rockets. Maud, fill our pocket-flasks with brandy.

Hubert, you boys will each take your carbine and a revolver; I will carry my long rifle, and the other two Colts.'

In ten minutes they were ready to mount, and after a final embrace, and many a 'Be sure and take care of yourselves' from their mother and sisters, they started off across the plain at a long, steady gallop.

'They have got just an hour's start, boys,' Mr. Hardy said. 'Your mother said that it was exactly half an hour from the first alarm to my arrival, and I was in the house a minute or two under that time. It is about half past twelve now.'

'It is very fortunate, papa, that we had our horses safe up at the house.'

'Yes, boys. If we had been obliged to wait until to-morrow morning before starting, our chance of coming up would have been very slight. As it is, we shall be up with them in three or four hours. The sheep cannot go really fast more than twelve or fifteen miles, especially with their heavy fleeces on.'

Half an hour's riding took them to the scene of the attack. As they neared it, they saw two figures lying upon the gra.s.s. There was no occasion to go near: the stiff and distorted att.i.tudes were sufficient to show that they were dead.

Mr. Hardy purposely avoided riding close to them, knowing that the shocking sight of men who have met with a violent death is apt to shake the nerves of any one unaccustomed to such a sight, however brave he may be.

'They are evidently dead, poor fellows!' he said. 'It is no use our stopping.'

Charley looked at the bodies with a fierce frown upon his face, and muttered to himself, 'We'll pay them out for you, the cowardly scoundrels.'

Hubert did not even glance towards them. He was a tender-hearted boy, and he felt his face grow pale, and a strange feeling of sickness come over him, even at the momentary glance which he had at first taken at the rigid figures.

'I suppose you do not mean to attack them until night, papa?' Charley asked.

'Well, boys, I have been thinking the matter over, and I have come to the conclusion that it will be better to do so directly we get up to them.'

'And do you think, papa, that we three will be able to thrash the lot of them? They must be a poor, miserable set of cowards.'

'No, Charley; I do not think that we shall be able to thrash the lot, as you say; but, with our weapons, we shall be able to give them a terrible lesson. If we attack at night they will soon find out how few are our numbers, and having no particular dread of our weapons, may rush at us, and overpower us in spite of them. Another thing, boys, is, I want to give them a lesson. They must know that they shan't come and murder and steal on our place with impunity.'

Scarcely another word was exchanged for the next hour. At a long, steady gallop they swept along. There was no difficulty in following the track, for the long gra.s.s was trampled in a wide swathe. Several times, too, exclamations of rage burst from the boys as they came across a dead sheep, evidently speared by the savages because he could not keep up with the others. After pa.s.sing several of them, Mr. Hardy called to the boys to halt, while he leapt off his horse by the side of one of the sheep, and put his hand against its body and into its mouth.

'It's quite dead; isn't it, papa?' Hubert said.

'Quite, Hubert; I never thought it was alive.' And Mr. Hardy leapt upon his horse again. 'I wanted to see how warm the body was. If we try again an hour's ride ahead, we shall be able to judge, by the increased heat of the body, as to how much we have gained on the Indians, and whether they are far ahead. You see, boys, when I was a young man, I was out many times in Texas against the Comanches and Apaches, who are a very different enemy from these cowardly Indians here. One had to keep one's eyes open there, for they were every bit as brave as we were. Don't push on so fast, Charley. Spare your horse; you will want all he's got in him before you have done. I think that we must be gaining upon them very fast now. You see the dead sheep lie every hundred yards or so, instead of every quarter of a mile. The Indians know well enough that it would take a whole day out on the edge of the settlements to collect a dozen men for pursuit, and would have no idea that three men would set off alone; so I expect that they will now have slackened their pace a little, to give the sheep breathing time.'

After another ten minutes' ride Mr. Hardy again alighted, and found a very perceptible increase of warmth in the bodies of the sheep. 'I do not think that they can have been dead much more than a quarter of an hour. Keep a sharp lookout ahead, boys; we may see them at the top of the next rise.'

Not a word was spoken for the next few minutes. Two or three slight swells were crossed without any sign of the enemy; and then, upon breasting a rather higher rise than usual, they saw a ma.s.s of moving beings in the distance.

'Halt!' Mr. Hardy shouted, and the boys instantly drew rein. 'Jump off, boys. Only our heads have shown against the sky. They can hardly have noticed them. There, hold my horse; loosen the saddle-girths of yours too, and let them breathe freely. Take the bridles out of their mouths.

It seemed to me, by the glimpse I got of our enemies, that they were just stopping. I am going on to make sure of it.'

So saying, Mr. Hardy again went forward a short distance, going on his hands and knees as he came on to the crest of the rise, in order that his head might not show above the long gra.s.s. When he reached it, he saw at once that his first impression had been correct. At a distance of a little over a mile a ma.s.s of animals were collected, and round them were scattered a number of horses, while figures of men were moving among them.

'It is as I thought, boys,' he said when he rejoined his sons. 'They have stopped for a while. The animals must all be completely done up; they cannot have come less than thirty miles, and will require three or four hours' rest, at the least, before they are fit to travel again. One hour will do for our horses. Rinse their mouths out with a little water, and let them graze if they are disposed: in half an hour we will give them each a double handful of Indian corn.'

Having attended to their horses, which they hobbled to prevent their straying, Mr. Hardy and the boys sat down and made a slight meal. None of them felt very hungry, the excitement of the approaching attack having driven away the keen appet.i.te that they would have otherwise gained from their ride; but Mr. Hardy begged the boys to endeavour to eat something, as they would be sure to feel the want of food later.

The meal over, Mr. Hardy lit his favourite pipe, while the boys went cautiously up the hill to reconnoitre. There was no change; most of the animals were lying down, and there was little sign of movement. Two or three Indians, however, were standing motionless and rigid by their horses' sides, evidently acting as sentries. The boys thought that hour the longest that they had ever pa.s.sed. At last, however, their father looked at his watch, shook the ashes out of his pipe and put it in his pocket. 'Now, boys, it is five minutes to the hour. Examine your carbines and revolvers, see that everything is in order, and that there is no hitch. Tighten the saddle-girths and examine the buckles. See that your ammunition and spare carbine chambers are ready at hand.'

In another five minutes the party were in their saddles.

'Now, boys, my last words. Don't ride ahead or lag behind: regulate your pace by mine. Look out for armadillo holes,--they are more dangerous than the Indians. Remember my orders: on no account use the second chamber of your carbines unless in case of great urgency. Change the chambers directly you have emptied them, but don't fire a shot until the spare ones are charged again. Now, boys, hurrah for old England!'

'Hurrah!' the boys both shouted as they started at a canter up the rise.

As they caught sight of the Indians, everything was quiet as before; but in another moment they saw the men on watch throw themselves on to their horses' backs, figures leapt up from the gra.s.s and ran towards their horses, and in little over a minute the whole were in motion.

'Surely they are not going to run away from three men!' Charley said in a disgusted tone.

'They won't run far, Charley,' Mr. Hardy said quietly. 'By the time that we are half-way to them they will see that we can have no one with us, and then they will come on quickly enough.'

It was as Mr. Hardy said. Keen as had been the watch kept by the Indians, in spite of their belief that no pursuing force could be sent after them, it was some little time before they could get the weary animals on their legs and in motion; and even at the easy canter at which Mr. Hardy approached, he had neared them to within half a mile before they were fairly off. A small party only continued to drive the animals, and the rest of the Indians wheeling sharp round, and uttering a wild war-cry, came back at full gallop towards the whites.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Onset of the Indians.--_Page 183._]

'Halt, boys--steady, dismount: take up your positions quietly. Don't fire till I give you the word. I shall try my rifle first.'

The well-trained horses, accustomed to their masters firing from their backs, stood as steady as if carved in stone, their heads turned inquiringly towards the yelling throng of hors.e.m.e.n who were approaching.

Mr. Hardy and the boys had both dismounted, so that the horses were between them and the Indians, the saddles serving as rests for their firearms.

'Five hundred yards, Charley?' his father asked quietly.

'A little over, papa; nearly six, I should say.'

Mr. Hardy waited another ten seconds, and then his rifle cracked; and a yell of astonishment and rage broke from the Indians, as one of their chiefs, conspicuous from an old dragoon helmet, taken probably in some skirmish with the soldiers, fell from his horse.

'Hurrah!' Charley cried. 'Shall we fire now, papa?'

'No, Charley,' Mr. Hardy said as he reloaded his rifle; 'wait till they are four hundred yards off, then fire slowly. Count ten between each shot, and take as steady an aim as possible. Now! Well done, two more of the scoundrels down. Steady, Hubert, you missed that time: there, that's better.'

The Indians yelled with rage and astonishment as man after man dropped before the steady and, to them, mysterious fire which was kept up upon them. Still they did not abate the rapidity of their charge.

'Done, papa,' Charley said as the two boys simultaneously fired their last shot, when the leading Indians were about two hundred and fifty yards distant.

'Change your chambers and mount,' Mr. Hardy said as he again took aim with his rifle.

The enemy was not more than a hundred and fifty yards distant, when they leapt into their saddles and started at a gallop.

'Steady, boys, keep your horses well in hand. Never mind their b.a.l.l.s; they could no more hit a man at this distance from the back of a horse than they could fly. There is no chance of their catching us; there won't be many horses faster than ours, and ours are a good deal fresher.

Keep a good lookout for holes.'

Both pursuers and pursued were now going over the ground at a tremendous pace. The Indians had ceased firing, for most of those who had guns had discharged them as Mr. Hardy and his sons had mounted, and it was impossible to load at the speed at which they were going.

During the first mile of the chase Mr. Hardy had looked round several times, and had said each time, 'We are holding our own, boys; they are a good hundred yards behind; keep your horses in hand.'

At the end of another mile, his face brightened as he looked round. 'All right, boys, they are tailing off fast. Three-quarters of them have stopped already. There are not above a score of the best mounted anywhere near us. Another mile and we will give them a lesson.'