It was prudent we so acted; for, at this crisis, the Indians — no doubt suspecting what was going forward — renewed their fire with fresh energy.
Whole volleys were discharged inwards and without aim, the darkness must have hindered an aim, but for all that, the bullets buzzed past our ears as thickly as hornets upon their flight. There was a cry raised that the enemy was closing upon us; and those who had gone to the water rushed rapidly back — some even without staying to take the much desired drink.
During all this time I had remained behind my tree. My black follower had also stuck to his post like a faithful sentinel as he was. We talked of relieving one another by turns. Jake insisted that I should "drink first."
I had partially consented to this arrangement, when the fire of the enemy suddenly reopened. Like others, we were apprehensive that the savages were about to advance; and we knew the necessity of keeping them back. We agreed to keep our ground for a little longer.
I had "one eye round the trunk of the tree, with my rifle raised" to the level — and was watching for a flash from the gun of some savage, to guide me in my aim — when, all on a sudden, I felt my arm jerked upwards, and my gun shaken out of my grasp.
There was no mystery about it. A bullet had passed through my arm, piercing the muscles that upheld it. I had shown too much of my shoulder, and was wounded — nothing more.
My first thought was to look to my wound. I felt it distinctly enough, and that enabled me to discover the place. I saw that the ball had passed through the upper part of my right arm, just below the shoulder, and in its further progress had creased the breast of my uniform coat, where its trace was visible in the torn cloth.
There was still light sufficient to enable me to make these observations; and furthermore, that a thick stream of blood was gushing from the wound.
I commenced unbuttoning my coat, the better to get at the wound. The black was ready by my side, rending his shirt into ribbons.
All at once I heard him uttering an exclamation of surprise followed by the words, "Gorramighty! Mass George — dat shot come from ahind!"
"From behind?" I shouted, echoing his words, and once more looking to the wound.
"Yes, mass, yes — sartin he come from ahind."
Some suspicion of this had already been in my thoughts: I fancied that I had "felt" the shot from that quarter.
It had been no fancy. On a more minute examination of the wound, and the torn traces upon the breast of my coat, the direction of the bullet was plainly perceived. Undoubtedly it had struck me from behind.
"Good God, Jake!" I exclaimed, "it is so. The Indians have advanced to the other side of the glade — we are lost!"
Under this belief, we both faced towards the opening, when at that moment, as if to confirm us, another bullet whistled past our ears, and struck with a heavy "thud" into the tree by which we were kneeling. This one had certainly been fired from the other side of the glade — we saw the flash and heard the report of the gun that had sent it.
What had become of our comrades on that side? Had they abandoned their posts, and permitted the Indians to advance? Were they all by the pond, and thus neglecting their duty?
These were the first conjectures both of my companion and myself. It was too dark for us to see our men under the shadows of the pines, but neither did they appear in the open ground. We were puzzled, and shouted aloud for an explanation.
If there were replies, we heard them not — for at that moment a wild yell from our savage enemies drowned all other cries, and a sight burst upon our eyes that caused the blood to curdle within our veins.
Directly in point of the position that Jake and I held, and close to the Indian line, a red flame was seen suddenly springing up from the earth. It rose in successive puffs, each leaping higher and higher, until it had ascended among the tops of the trees. It resembled the flashes of large, masses of gunpowder ignited upon the ground, and such in reality it was. We read the intention at a glance. The Indians were attempting to fire the forest!
Their success was almost instantaneous. As soon as the sulphureous blaze came in contact with the withered fascicles of foliage, the latter caught as though they had been tinder; and with the velocity of projected rockets, the flames shot out in different directions, and danced far above the tops of the tree. We looked around; on all sides we beheld a similar spectacle. That wild yell had been the signal for a circle of fires. The glade was encompassed by a wall of flame — red, roaring, and gigantic. The whole forest was on fire. From all points the flame appeared closing inwards, sweeping the trees as if they had been withered grass, and leaping in long spurts high into the heavens.
The smoke now came thick and heavy around us — each moment growing denser as the fire approached — while the heated atmosphere was no longer endurable. Already it stifled our breathing.
Destruction stared us in the face, and men shouted in despair. But the roar of the burning pines drowned their voices, and one could not hear even his comrade who was nearest. Their looks were significant — for before the smoke fell, the glade was lit up with intense brilliance, and we could see one another with unnatural distinctness. In the faces of all appeared the anxiety of awe.
Not long continued I to share it. Too much blood had escaped from my neglected wound; I tried to make into the open ground, as I saw others doing; but, before I got two steps from the tree, my limbs tottered beneath me, and I fell fainting to the earth.
Chapter Eighty Seven
A Jury Amid the Fire
I had a last thought, as I fell. It was that my life had reached its termination — that in a few seconds my body would be embraced by the flames, and I should horribly perish. The thought drew from me a feeble scream; and with that scream my consciousness forsook me. I was as senseless as if dead — indeed, so far as sensibility went, I was dead; and, had the flames at that moment swept over me, I should not have felt them. In all probability, I might have been burned to a cinder without further pain.
During the interval of my unconsciousness, I had neither dream nor apparition. By this, I knew that my soul must have forsaken its earthly tenement. It may have been hovering above or around, but it was no longer within me. It had separated from my senses, that were all dead.
Dead, but capable of being restored to life, and haply a restorative was at hand, with one capable to administer it.
When my soul returned, the first perception I had was that I was up to my neck in water. I was in the pond, and in a recumbent position — my limbs and body under the water, with only my head above the surface, resting against the bank. A man was kneeling over me, himself half immersed.
My returning senses soon enabled me to tell who the man was — my faithful Jake. He had my pulse in his hand, and was gazing into my features with silent earnestness. As my open eyes replied to his gaze, he uttered an exclamation of joy, and the words: "Golly, Massa George! you lib — thank be to Gorramighty, you lib. Keep up ya heart, young massa — you’s a gwine to git ober it — sartin, your a gwine to git ober it."
"I hope so, Jake," was my reply, in a weak voice; but, feeble though it was, it roused the faithful fellow into a transport of delight, and he continued to utter his cheering ejaculations.
I was able to raise my head and look around. It was a dread spectacle that on all sides greeted my eyes, and there was plenty of light wherewith to view it. The forest was still on fire, burning with a continued roar, as of thunder or a mighty wind — varied with hissing noises, and loud crackling that resembled the platoon firing of musketry. One might have fancied it a fusilade from the Indians, but that was impossible. They must have long since retreated before the spreading circle of that all-consuming conflagration. There was less flame than when I had last looked upon it; and less smoke in the atmosphere. The dry foliage had been suddenly reduced to a cinder, and the twiggy fragments had fallen to the earth, where they lay in a dense bed of glowing embers.