Savrola: A Tale of the Revolution in LauraniaChurchill, Winston
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Savrola: A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania
Churchill, Winston
Political fiction; Revolutions -- Fiction
She had scarcely completed this thought when she noticed a figure being
lifted off the barricade to the ground. In the growing daylight the
pale face showed distinctly, and a deadly feeling of sickness came over
her in a moment; but she stood spell-bound by the sight. Four men went
off with the wounded one, carrying him by the shoulders and feet, so
that he drooped in the middle. When they had passed out of her view,
she looked back to the wall. There were five more men wounded; four
had to be carried, the other leaned on a comrade's arm. Two more
figures had also been pulled off the barricade, and laid carelessly on
the pavement out of the way. Nobody seemed to take any notice of
these, but just let them lie close to the area-railings.
Then from the far end of the street came the sound of drums and the
shrill call of a bugle, repeated again and again. The rebels began to
shoot in mad excitement as fast as they could; several fell, and above
the noise of the firing rose a strange sound, a sort of hoarse,
screaming whoop, coming momentarily nearer.
A man on the barricade jumped off and began to run down the street;
five, six others followed at once; then all the defenders but three
hurried away from that strange approaching cry. Several tried to drag
with them the wounded, of which there already were a few more; these
cried out in pain and begged to be left alone. One man, she saw,
dragging another by the ankle, bumping him along the rough roadway in
spite of his entreaties. The three men who had stayed fired
methodically from behind their breastwork. All this took several
seconds; and the menacing shout came nearer and louder all the time.
Then in an instant a wave of men,--soldiers in blue uniforms faced with
buff--surged up to the barricade and over it. An officer, quite a boy,
in front of them all, jumped down the other side, shouting, "Make a
clear sweep of the cowardly devils,--come on!"
The three steadfast men had disappeared as rocks beneath the incoming
tide. Crowds of soldiers climbed over the barricade; she could see
groups of them swarming round each of the wounded rebels, jobbing
downwards with their bayonets savagely. And then the spell broke, the
picture swam, and she rushed screaming from the window to plunge her
face among the sofa-cushions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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