On the Pampas; Or, The Young SettlersHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
General
On the Pampas; Or, The Young Settlers
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
Pampas (Argentina) -- Juvenile fiction
"Well, Charley, I should not be surprised if it does; but it won't
spoil your beauty long, your whiskers will cover it: besides, a
scar won in honorable conflict is always admired by ladies, you
know. Now let us go downstairs; my arm, too, wants bandaging, for
it is beginning to smart amazingly; and I am sure we all must want
something to eat."
The supper was eaten hurriedly, and then all but Terence, who, as a
measure of precaution, was stationed as watchman on the tower, were
glad to lie down for a few hours' sleep. At daybreak they were up
and moving.
Mr. Hardy requested that neither his wife nor daughters should go
outside the house until the dead Indians were removed and buried,
as the sight could not but be a most shocking one. Two of the peons
were ordered to put in the oxen and bring up two carts, and the
rest of the men set about the unpleasant duty of examining and
collecting the slain.
These were even more numerous than Mr. Hardy had anticipated, and
showed how thickly they must have been clustered round the door and
windows. The guns had been loaded with buckshot; two bullets he
dropped down each barrel in addition; and the discharge of these
had been most destructive, more especially those fired through the
loopholes at the end of the house. There no less than sixteen
bodies were found, while around the door and windows were thirteen
others. All these were dead. The guns, having been discharged
through loopholes breast-high, had taken effect upon the head and
body.
At the fence were fourteen. Of these twelve were dead, another
still breathed, but was evidently dying, while one had only a
broken leg. Unquestionably several others had been wounded, but had
managed to make off. The bullets of revolvers, unless striking a
mortal point, disable a wounded man much less than the balls of
heavier caliber. It was evidently useless to remove the Indian who
was dying; all that could be done for him was to give him a little
water, and to place a bundle of grass so as to raise his head. Half
an hour later he was dead. The other wounded man was carried
carefully down to one of the sheds, where a bed of hay was prepared
for him. Two more wounded men were found down by the cattle
enclosures, and these also Mr. Hardy considered likely to recover.
They were taken up and laid by their comrade. Three dead bodies
were found here. These were all taken in the bullock carts to a
spot distant nearly half a mile from the house.
Here, by the united labor of the peons, a large grave was dug, six
feet wide, as much deep, and twelve yards long. In this they were
laid side by side, two deep; the earth was filled in, and the turf
replaced. At Hubert's suggestion, two young palm trees were taken
out of the garden and placed one at each end, and a wire fence was
erected all round, to keep off the animals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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