Out on the Pampas Part 12

The mile was soon traversed, and Mr. Hardy saw that only about twelve Indians had maintained their distance.

'Now is the time, boys. When I say halt, draw up and jump off, but take very steady aim always at the nearest. Don't throw away a shot. They are only a hundred yards off, and the revolvers will tell. Don't try to use the second chamber; there is no time for that. Use your pistols when you have emptied your carbines. Halt!'

Not five seconds elapsed after the word was spoken before Charley's carbine rang out. Then came the sharp cracks of the carbines and pistols in close succession. The Indians hesitated at the tremendous fire which was opened upon them, then halted. The delay was fatal to them. In little over half a minute the eighteen shots had been fired. Five Indians lay upon the plain; another, evidently a chief, had been carried off across the saddle of one of his followers, who had leapt off when he saw him fall; and two others were evidently wounded, and had difficulty in keeping their seats.

'Now, boys, change your chambers, and take a shot or two after them,'

Mr. Hardy said as he again reloaded his rifle.

The boys, however, found by the time they were ready, that the flying Indians were beyond any fair chance of hitting; but their father took a long and steady aim with his deadly rifle, and upon its report a horse and man went down. But the rider was in an instant upon his feet again, soon caught one of the riderless horses which had galloped off with its companions, and followed his comrades.

'Well done, boys,' Mr. Hardy said, with a hearty pat on their shoulders.

'You have done gallantly for a first fight, and I feel proud of you.'

Both boys coloured with pleasure.

'How many have we killed?'

'I think seven fell at our first attack, papa, and six here, counting the one they carried off, besides wounded.'

'Thirteen. It is enough to make them heartily wish themselves back. Now let us give the horses ten minutes' rest, and then we will stir them up again. We must not lose time; it will be sunset in another three-quarters of an hour.'

Half an hour's riding again brought them up to the Indians, who had stopped within a mile of their former halting-place.

'The moon will be up by one o'clock, boys, and they mean to remain where they are till then. Do you see that hollow that runs just this side of where they are? No doubt there is a small stream there.'

This time the Indians made no move to retreat farther. They knew now that their a.s.sailants were only three in number. They were armed, indeed, with weapons which, in their terrible rapidity of fire, were altogether beyond anything they had hitherto seen; but in the darkness these would be of no avail against a sudden rush.

But if the Indians did not run away, neither did they, as before, attack their a.s.sailants. Their horses had been placed in the middle of the cattle, with a few Indians standing by them to keep them quiet. The rest of the Indians were not to be seen, but Mr. Hardy guessed that they were lying down in the long gra.s.s, or were concealed among the animals.

'The rascals have got a clever chief among them, boys. Except those half-dozen heads we see over the horses' backs, there is nothing to see of them. They know that if we go close, they can pick us off with their guns and bows and arrows, without giving us a single fair shot at them.

Don't go any nearer, boys; no doubt there are many of their best shots hidden in the gra.s.s.'

'We could scatter the cattle with a rocket, papa.'

'Yes, we could, Hubert, but we should gain nothing by it; they have got men by their horses, and would soon get the herd together again. No, we will keep that for the night. Hallo! to the right, boys, for your lives.'

Not a moment too soon did Mr. Hardy perceive the danger. The chief of the Indians, expecting another attack, had ordered twenty of his best mounted men to separate themselves from the main body, and to hide themselves in a dip of the ground near the place where the first attack had taken place. They were to allow the whites to pa.s.s, and were then to follow quietly, and fall suddenly upon them.

Complete success had attended the manoeuvre; and it was fortunate that the party had no firearms, these having been distributed among the main body with the cattle, for they were within forty yards of Mr. Hardy before they were seen. It was, in fact, a repet.i.tion of the manoeuvre which had proved so successful in their attack upon the cattle.

They were not immediately in the rear of Mr. Hardy, but rather to the left. As Mr. Hardy and his sons turned to fly, a number of Indians sprang upon their feet from among the gra.s.s, and discharged a volley of guns and arrows at them. Fortunately the distance was considerable. One of their arrows, however, struck Mr. Hardy's horse in the shoulder, while another stuck in the rider's arm. Another went through the calf of Hubert's leg, and stuck in the flap of the saddle.

There was no time for word or complaint. They buried their spurs in their horses' sides, and the gallant animals, feeling that the occasion was urgent, seemed almost to fly. In a mile they were able to break into a steady gallop, the enemy being now seventy or eighty yards behind. Mr.

Hardy had already pulled the arrow from his arm, and Hubert now extracted his. As he stooped to do so, his father, who had not noticed that he was wounded, saw what he was doing.

'Hurt much, old man?'

'Not much,' Hubert said; but it did hurt a good deal nevertheless.

'I don't want to tire our horses any more, boys,' Mr. Hardy said; 'I shall try and stop those rascals with one of my revolvers.'

So saying, he drew one of his pistols from his holster, and turning round in his saddle, took a steady aim and fired.

At the same instant, however, his horse trod in a hole, and fell, Mr.

Hardy being thrown over its head with tremendous force. The boys reined their horses hard in, and Hubert gave a loud cry as he saw his father remain stiff and unmoved on the ground. The Indians set up a wild yell of triumph.

'Steady, Hubert. Jump off. Pick up papa's pistol. Arrange the horses in a triangle round him. That's right. Now don't throw away a shot.'

The nearest Indian was scarcely thirty yards off, when Charley's bullet crashed into his brain. The three immediately following him fell in rapid succession, another chief's arm sank useless to his side, while the horse of another fell, shot through the brain.

Both the boys were pale, but their hands were as steady as iron. They felt as if, with their father lying insensible under their protection, they could not miss.

So terrible was the destruction which the continued fire wrought among the leaders, that the others instinctively checked the speed of their horses as they approached the little group, from which fire and b.a.l.l.s seemed to stream, and began to discharge arrows at the boys, hanging on the other side of their horses, so that by their foes they could not be seen, a favourite manoeuvre with the Indians. As the boys fired their last barrels, they drew their revolvers from the holsters, and, taking aim as the Indians showed a head or an arm under their horses' necks or over their backs, their twelve barrels added to the Indians scattered over the ground.

'Now, Hubert, give me the two last revolvers, and put the two fresh chambers into the carbines.'

Seeing only one of their foes on the defence, the Indians again made a rush forward. Charley shot the two first with a revolver, but the others charged up, and he stooped a moment to avoid a spear, rising a little on one side, and discharging with both hands his pistols at the Indians, who were now close. 'Quick, Hubert,' he said, as he shot with his last barrel an Indian who had just driven his spear into the heart of Mr.

Hardy's horse.

The animal fell dead as it stood, and the Indians with a yell charged at the opening, but, as they did so, Hubert slipped a carbine into his brother's hand, and the two again poured in the deadly fire which had so checked the Indians' advance.

The continuation of the fire appalled the Indians, and the seven that survived turned and fled.

'I will load, Hubert,' Charley said, trying to speak steadily. 'See to papa at once. Empty one of the water-gourds upon his face and head.'

Hubert looked down with a cold shudder. Neither of the boys had dared to think during that brief fight. They had had many falls before on the soft turf of the Pampas, but no hurt had resulted, and both were more frightened at the insensibility of their father than at the Indian horde, which were so short a distance away, and which would no doubt return in a few minutes in overwhelming force.

Great, then, was Hubert's delight, when, upon looking round, he saw that Mr. Hardy had raised himself with his arms.

'What has happened?' he said in a confused manner.

'Are you hurt, papa?' Hubert asked, with tears of joy running down his face; 'you frightened us both so dreadfully. Please drink a little water, and I will pour a little over your face.'

Mr. Hardy drank some water, and Hubert dashed some more in his face.

'That will do, Hubert,' he said with a smile; 'you will drown me. There, I am all right now. I was stunned, I suppose. There you are,' and he got up on to his feet; 'you see I am not hurt. And now, where are the Indians?'

'There, papa,' said the boys with pardonable triumph, as they pointed to thirteen dead Indians.

Their father could not speak. He grasped their hands warmly. He saw how great the danger must have been, and how gallantly his boys must have borne themselves.

'The Indians may be back in a few minutes, papa. Your horse is dead, but there is one of the Indians' standing by his dead master. Let us catch him and s.h.i.+ft the saddle.' The animal, when they approached it, made no move to take flight, and they saw that his master's foot, as he fell, had become entangled in the la.s.so, and the well-trained beast had stood without moving. In three minutes the saddles were transferred, and the party again ready for fight or flight.

'What next, papa?'

'We turned to the right, and rather towards home, when we started; so the Indian halting-place is to the south-east of us, is it not?'

'Yes, papa; as near as may be,' Charley said, making out the points with some difficulty on the pocket-compa.s.s, one of which they each carried, as the danger of being lost upon the pathless Pampas is very great.

'We had ridden about two miles when I got my fall, so we are a mile to the west of their camp. We will ride now a couple of miles due north.