Chapter XV: The Second Assault

Sure-dart was still on the wall, and here he was now joined by Hop-foot, who was yelping and snorting like some wild animal, which, in fact, we might almost say he was. As he saw the retreating company he set up so high and piercing a screech of triumph that it sounded above every other noise, and made the rear men of the retreating crowd look around. Sure-dart laughed, and slapped the little fellow on the shoulder. There was a shiver of joyful excitement in the laugh that seemed almost like a suggestion of nervous tears.

And now the question was,--What would the sullen and disappointed pack do next? On the face of it they had got such a rebuff that there was no encouragement to try again, but this was merely a first hasty impression. Cool and far-sighted men like Big-axe were of another opinion, and were not ready for any pleasant and rose-colored prophecies. It seemed to the chief that more was to come, though, to be sure, it might come in a different way, but one that might well be more dangerous to the little garrison than the other. There was still to be tried a siege, with all its dangers, and the horrors of hunger and thirst, the thirst intensified by the terrible downpour of the sun on the naked face of the cliff.

It was perhaps from thinking of this that Big-axe, as at last he went down among the company, met the exclamations of joy and relief, and the clamorous boasting of some, with hardly a smile, while his face darkened again, when nobody was looking, with something of the old shadow.

However, the camp in general did not appear to notice, and three out of four seemed to believe that the worst was over, and that Long-spear and his allies would never be able to muster spirit enough even for one more really earnest assault. But Sure-dart, always quick to observe,--he had learned to study the chief’s face,--was one of the few who could not bring themselves to such a happy conclusion; his rejoicings were therefore tempered by the thought of what might yet be in store. Nevertheless, following the example of Big-axe, and with a manliness beyond his years, but which his harsh training had helped to bring out, he kept his suspicions to himself, and managed to put on a look as hopeful as he had worn at first.

The retreating party crossed the open again to the shelter of the trees, and Sure-dart and the others could see them lay some of their wounded down, and drag the dead back out of sight. There was a gathering together of the leaders soon afterwards, including Long-spear, but of course the watchers could not tell what they said. The man who seemed to be the chief of the Islanders, and who was a short, squat, oldish savage, apparently of great strength, was seen to flourish his arms about a good deal; several times he stooped, and seemed to illustrate what he said by drawing something on the ground, but this, too, was all “Greek” to the observers. Not long after this the little council broke up, and the leaders, like the others, withdrew into the shade.

As nearly as the Rock-people could tell, this first battle left the respective forces without any great relative change. Only two men of the garrison had been killed, but two had been severely wounded, one, however,--the man thrust through the leg,--being still able to perform some kinds of service. It appeared that there was no poison in the wound, and it had not bled very much, so that he could hobble about, and manage to use a spear, or darts. The other man was entirely disabled. Several others had slight hurts, including the chief, but nothing, for such hardy barbarians, worth mentioning. There were, therefore, fifteen men still in good condition, the warrior with the wounded leg, and half a score of boys. To these could be added, on a pinch, the little band of picked women.

As for the enemy, Big-axe and the others at the barricade thought the total loss, in killed and disabled, must reach ten or twelve. However, this was guesswork, since not even a dead body had been left on the field. In thus taking pains to carry off their dead and wounded, the Fishers and their allies had acted as our modern American savages usually did, though perhaps not wholly from the same motives.

The sun was now getting a good sweep at the little fort, and everybody, save only a small guard, got as far as possible under cover. Even the guard managed to put up a little awning of lizard skin. There would be no further attack for a while, as even Big-axe felt sure.

The afternoon slowly ran its course, and the light began to fall at a noticeable slant, the heat at the same time losing a little of its disagreeable power. Luckily, the shelf where the garrison was did not face the west, but nearly the south, so that the sky battery of heat did not play upon them broadside on, so to speak. Yet it did reach them in a way to make them decidedly uncomfortable, and cause them to creep under their penthouses of overhanging rock, and the bit of covered way. Everybody was thirsty, and Big-axe was obliged to put a guard over the water supply, for it must be economized, there being no certainty how long the siege would last. At the same time, he did not forget that he must keep up the strength of his fighting men, and that this called for a fair supply of water.

At last, as the west was reddening, and the blue of the distant mountains was darkening almost to black, the human tigers on the hill-slopes began again to show themselves. A few minutes later nearly the whole of both companies were in groups in the open.

“Now,” said Big-axe, speaking to those about him, “we have a chance to make a really hopeful fight. I was afraid that they might content themselves with a long siege, and not make another general assault, and that would have been very bad for us. Our food and water could not last beyond a limited time, and after that we should have had to go out, which would of course have meant the end. As it is, they seem to be on the point of making the kind of fight we want. We can do better against spears and axes than against hunger and thirst.”

It is likely that Big-axe put fully as much encouragement into his speech as he felt, but it did really seem as if the assailants were meaning to repeat their assault, which Big-axe was sincere in saying was less dangerous to his little force than a long siege. That Long-spear and his allies could not see this was apparently a little strange, but it was not wholly so to Big-axe, and will not be to us, if we consider a few important facts. One is that savages, the world over, lack the patience and self-restraint of civilized peoples, and if they cannot win their fights in a few dashes they become discouraged, and refuse to try further. Or, if the chiefs are more resolute, and wish to keep on, they usually cannot hold their men; the weaker go, and this leads to the breaking up of the whole force. There are no restraints of discipline and penalties, as with us. In the present case there was an added difficulty, for the assailants were not all of one tribe and under one head, but were alien one to the other, and under divided commands, each chief thinking only of gaining all he could for himself and his band, and entirely indifferent to the ultimate fate of the others.

The shrewd Big-axe, then, understanding the situation, was ready to believe that another assault, with all its risks to the storming party, was really meant, and that perhaps it was virtually forced on the two chiefs by the circumstances. It might, to be sure, merely precede a regular siege, but even if so there was a little hope in it, for another repulse--which Big-axe believed his desperate and now hopeful little band was equal to--must be a most discouraging set-back, and at least would make any spirited after-movement less probable. The great danger, and the one he had all along mainly dreaded, was the effect of the double attack he had spoken of,--one up the path, as before, and one from the top of the hill. Yet he had gradually come to believe that he and his little band could meet even this, and he thought so the more from the look on the men’s faces now. Instead of a kind of sullen desperation, were confidence and an eagerness to be at work. Such a change takes the wooden feeling out of legs and arms, puts power into blows, and makes wounds seem trifles.

It was very soon clear that Long-spear and the other chief were intending to make at least what military men now call a demonstration in force. Nearly, if not quite, all the men had come out, and were standing as if ready to start, and the two chiefs were a little way in the fore, by their gestures giving some last orders. Big-axe believed that they were in earnest and meant serious work, and not merely a little harrying affair, intended to worry and take the spirit and strength out of the garrison. Not only that, but he looked to see his other surmise verified, and the assault made from two points at the same time.

The truth as to this was not left long in doubt. The two chiefs quickly finished the little they had to say, and the whole pack began to move. They did not come on quite so fast as before, but there was no halting, and they trotted down the hill-slopes, across the open, and to the little flat at the foot of the path itself. Here Long-spear and the Fishers halted, but the Islanders, with their squat chief at their head, pushed on around the foot of the hill, toward the easy northerly ascent. There was no need of further guessing, for it was plain enough what was going on. The double assault was on!

It did not take the Islanders very long to reach their position, for it was only a few minutes later that Sure-dart looked up and saw five or six mop-crested heads peeping over the edge of the rock.

“Are you ready, Stone-arm?” asked Big-axe, just then coming up. “Remember, no darts are to be thrown, or anything else done, till those fellows are within sure range. Even then trust rather to your spears and axes. They will be more certain, and we have no darts to spare.”

“I have it all clear in my mind,” said Stone-arm, promptly and confidently.

Big-axe then turned to Sure-dart.

“Stay here with him. You can be of more use, for you will have a better chance to use your darts. At the wall it will be mainly heavy work.”

The chief then climbed the barricade and took his old station. He could do no more at present for the little band he had left behind him. They must depend on themselves, feeling what that meant,--very likely the safety, or the ruin, of every man, woman, and child on the rock.

It was but a few minutes after this that the mop-headed fellows at the top of the cliff waved their hands at the Fishers below, and this proved to be a signal. Long-spear stood to one side, gave one of his unearthly screeches, and in a twinkling his part of the pack was swarming up the path.

Sure-dart heard somebody say:

“They are not crowding one another so much this time, so they will have a better chance to use their darts”; but this was all he knew about that part of the work at the time.

The topknots above were showing higher, for the fellows were now standing and were evidently about to try their daring slide down; and back of the first men were gathering others. Several of these were bending over, as if they were lugging heavy loads. They were evidently doing the artillery work, and getting ready to prepare the way for the assault by a storm of rocks. This was somewhat in the nature of our modern warfare, where artillery often paves the way for an infantry or cavalry charge.

But Stone-arm and his little band merely waited till the men with the rocks had tugged them to the verge, and began to tumble them down, and then quietly slipped under the covered way cut in the face of the rock. The women, children, and other non-combatants had already taken refuge there, except a few women who formed what might be called the reserve. These now sought shelter with the fighting force. As for the defenders on the wall, they were not greatly exposed, owing to the fact that the cliff at that point receded a little, so that great stones could not be cast far enough out to reach them, and small ones, for the present, could pretty well be guarded against by the shields. As soon as the assault became close, it would be impracticable to continue even the light discharge, as the assaulting party would then be nearly blended with the defenders.

Stone-arm and the others had waited till the last moment, but all got under cover in safety. Another storm, probably as a scare, followed, and then some small stones and gravel rattled down; and Stone-arm and the rest heard some rapping noises, as if made by poles or staves, against the face of the rock. The defenders of course knew what this meant: the storming party was coming down, and some were steadying themselves by their spears.

But the orders were to lie close till the last moment. Otherwise the men left above would doubtless throw stones over the heads of their friends down upon those on the shelf. Sure-dart, who was next to Stone-arm, heard the old fighter fetch an impatient sniff, but still hold back, and with hardly less difficulty he controlled himself, and waited for the right moment.

It came when a lanky, mop-haired fellow dropped with a slap of bare feet down into the path, jumping from what must have been a considerable height. He almost lurched off over the edge, with the effort he made to keep his balance.

“Now!” roared Stone-arm, and with a scramble he was out, and his whole party after him.

The fellow who came first never got his face around to the cliff again. While he still staggered, a Rock-man drove a foot into the hollow of his back, and with a scream and a useless flinging out of arms, he kept on as he had started, and went off over the cliff.

That was easy enough, but not so what followed. As Sure-dart looked up, the whole face of the cliff seemed to be covered with sliding and hopping men! They lay flat, and boldly slid down long rock-faces, trusting to digs of their spears to keep them from going too far, or daringly jumped short distances, where there were bigger breaks in the ledge, or turned back about, and climbed cautiously down where the rock was almost perpendicular, yet where there were small chinks, and hand or toe holds.

Sure-dart drew back his arm, marking one active fellow who was sliding down directly toward him. The man was trying to check his speed with the butt-end of his spear, and was lying as flat as he could on his back while doing it. By the rather wild look in his face, when he raised his head to see where he was going, he was thinking more about the peril of the passage than of the danger when he should land. It seemed almost cowardly to take advantage of his helplessness; but on the other hand, it would not do to let him land, and give him an even fighting chance. It was not a business of chivalry, but of life or death, and a terrible death at that. Moreover, some such advantage was needed, even as a matter of nice chivalry, to balance the terrible disadvantage in numbers. Sure-dart did not hesitate, then, but, as the fellow was shoving down with his spear to get a final steadying point, he stepped forward, and with the man’s raised head for a target let drive a dart.

His aim, as usual, was true, and the dart seemed to go in at the fellow’s half-open mouth. There was a wild flinging up of arms, the spear came clattering down, and the man’s body followed, striking like a weighted sack across the little outer wall or parapet.

Meanwhile, there was a bustling time at the other points, and out of the corner of his eye, so to speak, Sure-dart saw others of the company trying to do what he had just done. Some, however, including Stone-arm himself, were coolly waiting till the slider or jumper was within reach of a striking weapon. As well as Sure-dart was able to tell, not an Islander had thus far effected lodgement on the shelf. There was no time to see what was going on at the barricade, but there was no lack of noise there, including human yells and shouts, and the clattering and thudding of spears and axes on shields. One thing was cheering amid the uncertainties, and that was the great roaring shout of Bull-head. It was peculiar as well as loud, and carried with it a note of fury mingled with taunting and derision, such as no other man in the camp was capable of. Sure-dart heard it now, in the little gap of time following the tumble of the Islander.

But as the boy whipped out another dart, and looked up to meet the next slider, he was checked and--it may seem absurd to say it, but it is true--he was almost made to laugh at what he beheld. A somewhat portly but powerful Islander was working his way cautiously down a long rock-face, and in doing so had turned about, so that he was on his stomach, and was clawing and scrambling along, getting the best hold he could with his hands and bare feet. He had thrown away his spear, but his axe was slung over his back. Just as Sure-dart looked, the man got to a small projection of rock, where he checked himself, and cautiously turned to look down. Sure-dart was not within reach, but little Hop-foot, who had evidently concluded that the pace was hot enough to require his help, was near, and he proceeded with promptness and great energy to act. He caught up the spear that the Islander had dropped, and began to use it with great vigor on the only target that was at the moment within reach. He jabbed with such vigor and effectiveness that the man yelled, for the moment forgetting about the need of keeping his balance. Down he came, with a wild flop and a jump, and landed on the shelf. There Hop-foot fell upon him, this time with shortened spear, and another thrust settled the whole matter.

“I’ll never be a dinner for you, anyhow,” triumphantly snarled the boy, as he drew the spear back.

It was perhaps five minutes since the first Islander came down the rocks, but in that little time a great deal had been done. So helpless had the sliders and hoppers proved, after they had once launched themselves to come down, that not a single one had yet landed in safety on the shelf. Nor had any of the defenders been hurt; the only harm that the little band had suffered was from a few stones thrown almost at random from above. By them one Rock-man was knocked down and stunned, and another had been gashed across the back, but not so as to disable him. Sure-dart, turning to look after the next convenient slider, saw how it was, and though he was usually quiet, like Big-axe, he gave a really savage whoop of triumph.

It had a much louder echo, which came from Stone-arm and the rest, for at this moment the other fellows on the faces of the rocks and ledges drove in their spear-butts, braced with their feet, and came to a full stop. They plainly had had enough, and were not coming any farther.

A moment more of the delay, and some began to jabber at the others; this was followed by a shouting up at those above, and then by a general facing about, and a desperate scrambling upward.

Again the defenders whooped and yelled, and several wildly danced.

But by this time they were reminded of the stress there might be elsewhere, and Stone-arm hastily ordered Sure-dart and Hop-foot to watch the climbers, and report instantly if any started to come back; then, with the rest of the company, he rushed off to the barricade.

Sure-dart looking upward at the climbers saw that several had edged together, leaving some openings down the face of the rocks.

“Quick, under cover!” he cried to Hop-foot; “they are going to roll down more stones!”

His watchfulness probably saved Hop-foot’s life, for just then the men left at the top dislodged several great stones, and sent them thundering down. But the two boys were safe under the firm penthouses of the rock. One great stone struck the middle part of the roof of trees and brush that the chief and his son had built across the path, and in spite of the strength of the wood, and the sloping way in which the roof had been laid, it broke it in. One old woman had taken the notion to shelter herself inside, and as the wood cracked she sent up a wild shriek; but, after all, she was not harmed; the roof had rather slowly yielded, and at the last moment she had wriggled to another place.

Stone-arm and his company were none too quick in getting to the barricade. The assailants, fighting even more desperately than the day before, and using better judgment--not crowding, this time, but giving room for dart and spear throwing--had twice placed several men on the wall, and now, after a furious assault, were maintaining five men there. The others were crowding fast after.

Big-axe, in this emergency again throwing aside everything but his axe, called to Bull-head, who dropped all but his club, and the two rushed like furious bulls on the five Fishers, smashing down two, and terrifying the others into jumping off.

But this supreme effort, following the other tremendous exertions, had almost exhausted the two champions, and they were near to staggering as they turned to pick up their shields. Both, too, were wounded, and though the wounds were not disabling, they were letting out a considerable quantity of blood. It was possible, also, that the missiles that had made them were poisoned.

“Give us room!” thundered the gallant old Stone-arm, as like a boy he leaped from rock to rock till he stood on the top of the wall. His followers were close behind. “You two back and rest,” he went on. “We are the same as fresh.”

As if to prove this he made an agile jump, and with his ponderous stone weapon split the shield of a climbing Fisher, and shivered as if it were of glass the arm that held it.

All alone though he was, the Fishers nearest him shrank back, and two that had been climbing up, and already had their knees on the top, turned and jumped down. Even a small reinforcement at a critical time in a battle often turns the scale, and it was so now. For a few moments the pack below raged and blustered, and some made motions as for another assault, but not a man finally raised himself on the wall.

“Come on! Come on!” panted Bull-head, using the first good breath he could get for one of his taunts. “It seems as if we should never have you with us as our guests!”

But again the heart was out of the pack. They had already seen their allies, well-nigh in a panic, scrambling back up the cliff, and now the desperate fellows on the wall were strengthened by this veritable old fighting machine and his nearly fresh men. It was too much, and slowly and sullenly, as on the previous day, they drew back, wheeled, and marched off toward the woods. They did not seem to pay any attention to their allies, and it could not be seen that a man turned his head to look back.

Again the little garrison gave itself up to the greatest noise it could make. This meant something where there were so many strong lungs, and sound and seasoned throats. Sure-dart was shouting with the rest, when Big-axe, coming from the wall, stopped beside him. The chief was smiling, but it was easy to see that he still had his worriments, and that they were not light ones.

“Sure-dart,” the chief said, “we must take advantage of this little breathing-spell. Do you and some of the other young and active men go down and get water. Take the largest skins, and fetch all you can. Wait, of course, till the gang is down from the hill, and the whole pack is beyond the open, but be ready.”

It made Sure-dart feel a bit large thus to be spoken of as a “man,” and he was besides proud that he should be one of those chosen for what was really a dangerous bit of work. He answered with alacrity that he was ready, and asked whether he was to pick out those who were to go with him.

“Yes,” answered the chief; “I leave that to you.”

“You think, then,” Sure-dart said, his look growing more serious, “that we are not done with these fellows? I thought they had had enough of it.”

“I don’t want to do or say anything to dampen the good feeling,” answered the chief, and he dropped his voice, “but I will say to you--and you have more sense than most grown-up men--that I certainly think we are not done with them. But they will not, I believe, try any more assaults. What I think they will try is a siege. If we can stand that”--his look grew very grave--“but never mind now. Be ready to start after the water.”

Sure-dart sighed, but with an effort such as he had already learned to make, he hid his feelings, and with a brisk air, and what seemed a cheerful face, went about preparing for his little excursion.