On Foreign Service; Or, The Santa Cruz RevolutionJeans, T. T. (Thomas Tendron)
General
On Foreign Service; Or, The Santa Cruz Revolution
Jeans, T. T. (Thomas Tendron)
Great Britain. Royal Navy -- Fiction; Seafaring life -- Fiction; South America -- Fiction
I carried him up, very gently, and laid him down in the middle—with the
little men’s naked feet and their yellow soles and toes all round him.
I got a mattress, too, and made him lie on it.
’I can just see that bend in the road,’ he said; ’I can manage all
right; get those wagons across the road.’
I had forgotten them. I ran below, slipped on the stairs—they were wet
with blood—steadied myself, and got down to the ground floor. The
’Gnome’ was there, tying a table-napkin round the arm of a native. He
smiled at me.
’Wagons!’ I shouted, pointing through the doorway to where they stood.
He knew what I meant, dropped the napkin, roared to his men, and they
began pouring out from the lower rooms. We ran across the road under a
very heavy fire, got hold of the wheels of one, and, shoving for all we
were worth, pushed it into the middle of the road. The man next me
fell, shrieking, and clutched my feet; I shook him off, and we rushed
back for another wagon, and were just getting a ’move’ on it when I
heard yells of ’_Yuesencia! Yuesencia!_’ The little chaps on the roof
who were lining that side of the Casino began shouting, ’_Don Geraldio!
Don Geraldio!_’ and I saw Gerald galloping up to the ford and the few
men who still lined that garden wall. I shouted out ’Hurrah!’ we all
shouted, and then came a roaring noise from the road, the clatter of
horses’ hoofs, and round the bend thundered the cavalry. They were
coming along the beach too, their lances and pennons lowered—and my
fellows on the roof began firing like ’billy loo.’
’One more push—shove altogether!’ I yelled. The front wheels were on the
road, but the rear ones stuck fast, and the ’Gnome’ and his men dashed
back to the Casino.
Before I could follow them, Zorilla’s cavalry were on top of me. I
dodged to the rear of the first wagon as they swept round it. Over it
went, there was a jumble of horses and men, and I was dashed to the
ground, my right leg jammed down by a horse. Troopers tried to cut at me
or get me with their lances, but they were swept along by those coming
behind them. The horse which was pinning me down half struggled to its
feet, I drew my leg away, and huddled under the wagon as they thundered
along the road to the ford.
[Illustration: "I DODGED TO THE REAR OF THE FIRST WAGON"]
I’d been knocked a bit ’silly,’ and the next I know I was hobbling up
the stairs to the roof with my right leg giving me ’gyp,’ and the little
brown chaps firing like mad.
’Look! Look!’ Seymour cried, leaning on his elbows and pointing towards
San Fernando.
Oh! My God! The cavalry had swept clean across the stream and were
dashing madly along the road and beach, but behind them they left a
trail of dead and wounded men and horses. I saw some riderless horses
dashing backwards and forwards, and then had to lie down because the
firing was so heavy. I hadn’t seen Gerald, and there seemed to be no
one alive at the ford.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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