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Treasure Island
Chapter 21. The Attack
As soon as Silver disappeared, the captain, who had been closely watching him, turned toward the inside of the house.
He found not a man of us at his post except Gray.
It was the first time we had ever seen him angry.
"Quarters!" he roared.
And then, as we all moved back to our places, "Gray,"
He said, "I'll put your name in the log, you've stood by your duty like a seaman."
He said, "Mr. Trelawney, I'm surprised at you, sir."
"He said, "Doctor, I thought you wore the king's coat. If that was your service at Fontenoy, you'd have been better in bed.
The doctor's watches were all back at their loopholes.
The rest were busy loading the spare muskets.
Everyone had a red face and a flea in his ear, as the saying is.
The captain looked on for a while in silence, then he spoke.
"My lads," he said, "I've given Silver a broadside."
"I pitched it red-hot on purpose, and as he said, before the hour's out we shall be boarded."
"We're outnumbered but fight in shelter, a minute ago I thought we fought with discipline, and I have no doubt we can beat them if you choose."
Then he went the rounds and saw, as he said, that all was clear.
On the two short sides of the house, east and west, there were only two loopholes.
On the south side, where the porch was, there were two, and on the north side there were five.
There were about twenty muskets for the seven of us.
The firewood had been built into four piles, like tables.
One pile was about the middle of each side.
On each table, some ammunition and four loaded muskets were laid ready for the defenders.
In the middle, the cutlasses lay in a row.
"Throw out the fire," said the captain, "the chill is past, and we mustn't have smoke in our eyes."
The iron fire-basket was carried outside by Mr. Trelawney, and the embers were covered with sand.
"Hawkins hasn't had his breakfast. Hawkins, help yourself, and back to your post to eat it," continued Captain Smollett.
"Quickly, now, my lad, you'll want it before you've done. Hunter, serve out a round of brandy to all hands."
And while this was going on, the captain completed, in his own mind, the plan of the defence.
"Doctor, you'll take the door," he went on.
"See, don't expose yourself, stay inside and fire through the porch," continued Captain Smollett.
"Hunter, take the east side there. Joyce, you stand by the west, my man," he said.
"Mr. Trelawney, you and Gray will take this long north side with the five loopholes, that's where the danger is," he said.
"If they reach our ports and fire on us, things would look bad. Hawkins, we're poor shots, so stand by to load and help," he finished.
As the captain had said, the chill was past.
As soon as the sun climbed above our trees, it struck the clearing and quickly dried up the vapour.
Soon the sand was baking and the resin melting in the logs of the block house.
Jackets and coats were thrown aside, shirts opened at the neck and rolled up to the shoulders.
And we stood there, each at his post, in a fever of heat and worry.
An hour passed as we stood at our posts, tense and sweating.
"Hang them!" said the captain.
"This is as dull as the doldrums. Gray, whistle for a wind."
And just at that moment came the first news of the attack.
"If you please, sir," said Joyce, "if I see anyone, am I to fire?"
"I told you so!" cried the captain.
"Thank you, sir," replied Joyce with the same quiet politeness.
For a time, nothing followed, but the remark had made us all alert, straining ears and eyes.
The musketeers balanced their pieces in their hands.
The captain stood in the middle of the block house with his mouth tight and a frown on his face.
So some seconds passed, until suddenly Joyce lifted his musket and fired.
The report had hardly died away before it was repeated from outside in a scattered volley.
Shot after shot came, like a string of geese, from every side of the enclosure.
Several bullets hit the log-house, but not one came inside.
As the smoke cleared and disappeared, the stockade and the woods around it looked as quiet and empty as before.
Not a branch moved, not the gleam of a musket-barrel showed the presence of our enemies.
"Did you hit your man?" asked the captain.
"No, sir," replied Joyce.
"I don't think so, sir."
"Next best thing to tell the truth," muttered Captain Smollett.
"Load his gun, Hawkins. How many would you say there were on your side, doctor?"
"I know exactly," said Dr. Livesey.
"Three shots were fired on this side. I saw the three flashes - two close together - one farther to the west."
"Three!" repeated the captain.
"And how many on yours, Mr. Trelawney?"
But this question could not be answered quite so easily by anyone present.
There had come many from the north - seven by the squire's count, eight or nine according to Gray.
From the east and west only a single shot had been fired.
It was clear the attack would come from the north and on the other three sides we'd face only a show of fighting.
But Captain Smollett made no change in his plans.
If the mutineers crossed the stockade, he said, they'd seize any unprotected loophole and shoot us down like rats in our stronghold.
Nor did we have much time left for thought.
Suddenly, with a loud cheer, a small group of pirates jumped from the woods on the north side and ran straight for the stockade.
At that moment the fire opened from the woods, a rifle ball sang through the doorway, knocking the doctor's musket to pieces.
The boarders climbed over the fence like monkeys.
Squire and Gray fired again and again, three men fell, one forward into the enclosure, two back on the outside.
But of these, one was clearly more frightened than hurt, for he was on his feet again in a moment and quickly disappeared among the trees.
Two had fallen, One had run away.
Four had made it safely inside our defences.
From the shelter of the woods, seven or eight men kept up a heavy but useless fire on the log-house.
Each man clearly had several muskets slung over his shoulder and ready to fire.
The four who had boarded came straight towards the building, shouting as they ran, and the men among the trees shouted back to encourage them.
Several shots were fired, but the marksmen were in such a hurry that none seemed to have hit.
In a moment, the four pirates had climbed up the mound and were upon us.
The head of Job Anderson, the boatswain, appeared at the middle loophole.
"At them, all hands - all hands!" he roared in a voice of thunder.
At the same moment, another pirate grabbed Hunter's musket by the muzzle and pulled it from his hands.
He dragged it through the loophole and with one stunning blow knocked the poor fellow senseless to the floor.
Meanwhile a third, running unharmed all around the house, appeared suddenly in the doorway and fell with his cutlass on the doctor.
Our position was completely reversed, and we found ourselves suddenly exposed and helpless.
A moment ago we were firing, under cover, at an exposed enemy, now it was we who lay uncovered and couldn't return a blow.
The log-house was full of smoke, which gave us some safety.
Cries and confusion, the flashes and reports of pistol-shots, and one loud groan rang in my ears.
"Out, lads, out, and fight them in the open! Cutlasses!" cried the captain.
I grabbed a cutlass from the pile, and someone, at the same time grabbing another, gave me a cut across the knuckles which I hardly felt.
I ran out of the door into the clear sunlight.
Someone was close behind, I didn't know who.
The doctor was chasing his attacker down the hill, right in front.
Just as my eyes fell upon him, he beat down the guard's defense.
He sent the man sprawling on his back with a great slash across the face.
"Round the house, lads! Round the house!" cried the captain, and even in the confusion, I noticed a change in his voice.
Without thinking, I obeyed, turned eastwards, and with my cutlass raised, ran round the corner of the house.
Next moment I was face to face with Anderson.
He roared aloud, and his hanger went up above his head, flashing in the sunlight.
I didn't have time to be afraid, and as the blow still hung in the air I jumped quickly to one side.
Missing my foot in the soft sand, I rolled headfirst down the slope.
When I had first run out of the door, the other mutineers had already been climbing up the palisade to finish us off.
One man, in a red night-cap, with his cutlass in his mouth, had even got on top and thrown a leg across.
The time had been so short, When I got to my feet again, everything was in the same state.
The fellow with the red night-cap was still halfway over.
Another man was just showing his head above the top of the stockade.
And yet, in that brief moment, the fight was over and the victory was ours.
Gray, following close behind me, had cut down the big boatswain before he had time to recover from his last blow.
Another had been shot at a loophole while firing into the house and now lay wounded, the pistol smoking in his hand.
A third, as I had seen, the doctor had dealt with in one blow.
Of the four who had climbed the palisade, only one remained unaccounted for.
And he, having left his cutlass on the field, was now climbing out again with the fear of death upon him.
"Fire - fire from the house!" cried the doctor.
"And you, lads, back into cover."
But his words were ignored, no shot was fired, and the last boarder made his escape and disappeared with the rest into the wood.
In three seconds nothing remained of the attacking party but the five who had fallen, four inside and one outside the palisade.
The doctor and Gray and I ran at full speed for shelter.
The survivors would soon be back where they had left their muskets, and at any moment the fire might start again.
The house was by this time somewhat clear of smoke, and we saw at a glance the price we had paid for victory.
Hunter lay beside his loophole, stunned, clutching his head and breathing heavily.
Joyce by his, shot through the head, never to move, while in the centre the squire held up the captain, both equally pale.
"The captain's wounded," said Mr. Trelawney.
"Have they run?" asked Mr. Smollett.
"All that could, you may be sure," replied the doctor, "but there's five of them that'll never run again."
"Five!" cried the captain.
"Come, that's better."
"Five against three leaves us four to nine."
"That's better odds than we had at the start."
"We were seven to nineteen then, or thought we were, and that's as bad to bear."
PART FIVE - My Sea Adventure continues with wounded men and anxious preparations at sea