Suddenly the savages gave forth one of those fearful yells which they are accustomed to utter as they rush forward to the fight. As soon as they got within musket range, those in the front line began firing, showing that they evidently had abundance of ammunition. The lieutenant distinguished a tall black, with a musket in his hand, leading them on. He raised it to his shoulder and fired. At that moment a fearful shriek was heard--it came from the roof--and a heavy body fell from the trap to the floor below. The black flourished his weapon above his head without stopping to reload. "De oberseer is dead," cried Martha, who had rushed out of a closet in which the children had been placed for safety, "he is dead, pity he not killed dis morning." The event had indeed occurred too late to be of any avail to the garrison. To attempt making a sortie would now have been madness, for, bad marksmen as were the negroes, the whole party might have been shot down even before they could have reached any available shelter. Cudjoe's success--for he must have seen the overseer fall by his bullet--encouraged his followers, and now, shrieking, leaping, and brandishing their weapons, they rushed forward. In vain the lieutenant charged his men not to throw a shot away; the greater number in their eagerness fired, forgetting that they had no fresh charges, and when they felt for their cartridges to reload, they found that their ammunition was expended. The enemy thus almost with impunity reached the walls. Several of the remaining shots were fired at Cudjoe. He seemed to bear a charmed life, or rather the wonderful leaps and bounds he made amid his companions prevented the defenders of the house, none of whom were over good marksmen, from taking a steady aim at him. Like a swarm of ants about to devour some creature of the forest, the blacks surrounded the house, and began to lift the ladders and place them against the walls. The lieutenant now ordered the party he had told off for that purpose to go up on the roof to force back the ladders, to hurl down the stones, and to defend it to the last. Desperate, indeed, had now become the condition of the devoted inmates of Bellevue. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. THE CHAMPION SAILS FROM PORT ROYAL--IN SEARCH OF ENEMIES--CHASES A PIRATE, WHICH ESCAPES--RETURNS TO THE NORTH COAST OF JAMAICA--NORMAN FOLEY HEARS OF THE INSURRECTION--FINDS SOME MURDERED WHITES--DREADFUL SCENE AT FORT MARIA--THE SHIP PROCEEDS ALONG THE COAST--A WHITE MAN SEEN MAKING A SIGNAL FROM THE SHORE--A BOAT SENT TO BRING HIM OFF--PURSUED BY BLACKS--RESCUED--PROVES TO BE ARCHIE SANDYS--GIVES AN ACCOUNT OF THE ATTACK ON BELLEVUE--A CONFLAGRATION--SIGNALS SEEN--AN EXPEDITION UNDER NORMAN FOLEY SENT ON SHORE--THE REBELS PUT TO FLIGHT--THE GARRISON OF BELLEVUE RELIEVED--MEETING OF NORMAN AND ELLEN--MAJOR MALCOLM AND A STRONG FORCE ARRIVE--THE CHAMPION SAILS--SIGNS OF A COMING GALE.