Boys of the Light Brigade: A Story of Spain and the Peninsular War

by Herbert Strang

  *CHAPTER XX*

  *A Day with Tio Jorge*

  A Barricade--Battering-Rams--A Lull--A Way In--On the Stairs--The Day'sWork--A Triumph--Pepito's Watch

  At the end of the covered way leading to the Portillo Gate Jack foundTio Jorge giving instructions to a group of armed citizens, who went offone by one on various errands. Seizing a favourable opportunity, Jackwent up to the big Spaniard, and in a few rapid words acquainted himwith his own position and intentions. Jorge scanned him for a momentwith quick, penetrating glance, then said:

  "Senor will want a musket. There is a stand of arms at the corneryonder."

  In two minutes Jack, armed with a musket of British make--one of thoseopportunely thrown into the town by Colonel Doyle the day before thesiege opened,--was hastening along by the side of Tio Jorge into thecity. On entering the streets, the Spaniard summoned to join him smallbodies of citizens who were gathered at certain points to act asreinforcements and reserves. Soon he was at the head of a considerabletroop, all of the artisan class, for in these days of stress everyable-bodied man in the city was transformed into a fighter.

  As they ran, their ears were deafened by a loud explosion on the right.The air was darkened with dust; broken slates and stones came hurtlingdown upon their heads; but the eager citizens pressed on with anindifference that showed how much accustomed they were to suchincidents.

  "A block of houses blown up between here and the Santa Engraciaconvent," said Tio Jorge in answer to a question of Jack's. "But thatis not our business. The French will hold the ruins, but they'll get nofarther. Our men will beat them back. 'Tis more dangerous towards SanAgustin. The French have gained more there in this one day than inweeks on the Santa Engracia side. Hombres," he cried to the men withhim, "hasten, hasten! The French are over the barricades, and we mustdrive them out at all costs."

  They ran on. Even in the rush and excitement Jack was struck by thescenes of horror in the streets. At one point two corpses swung slowlyon gibbets erected by the door of a church. Tio Jorge pointed to one ofthem, a look of grim exultation on his face.

  "He was my school-fellow," he said, "and my friend; but I hanged him.So perish all who falter and counsel surrender!"

  Wounded men were being carried to the hospitals by women; some werelimping or crawling with shattered limbs and ghastly faces. Women andchildren ran hither and thither, some carrying goods from housesthreatened by the enemy, others food and ammunition for the fighters.Though many of them bore only too manifest signs of sickness andprivation, they all seemed animated by the same spirit of fiercedetermination, and a gleam lit up their worn features whenever TioJorge, as he passed, threw them a word of encouragement.

  All the way along the Coso the sounds of firing in the eastern quarterof the city came more and more distinctly on the ear. Dense clouds ofsmoke rolled towards them, and Jack heard the crackle of flames, stillinvisible. A messenger with blackened face came towards Tio Jorge, andannounced that the French had captured three blocks of buildings beyondthe Casa Ximenez, and were slowly but surely gaining ground. TheSpaniard, bellowing out fierce maledictions on the enemy, hastened hisstride, and in a few minutes reached a street leading to the university.Here the Spaniards had entrenched themselves behind a barricade, wherethey endeavoured to find cover from the musket-shots fired from houseson both sides of the streets. The French, borrowing the tactics of thebesieged, had occupied these houses, and were shooting from windows andloopholes bored in the walls.

  The lean figure of the frenzied Santiago Sass was conspicuous among thedefenders of the barricade. Disdaining all artifice, he stood erect, amark for every bullet, yet unhurt, uttering derisive shouts, andmingling his battle-cry with quotations from the Psalms. Seeing TioJorge approach at the head of his men, the priest hailed him with loudacclaim.

  "Twice," he cried, "twice, Tio Jorge, have we already beaten back themen of Belial. The hand of the Lord is heavy upon them!"

  "And shall be heavier!" cried Tio Jorge. "We must over the barricade,hombres."

  Instantly Santiago Sass mounted the entrenchment, and was first on theother side, his long cassock flying loose as he led the charge, musketin hand. Tio Jorge and Jack were but a yard behind him, and with agreat shout the Spaniards swarmed over and dashed furiously at theFrench advancing to the attack. Nothing could withstand their rush.The French gave way, but instead of retreating down the street theydisappeared into the houses on either side, bolted the doors behindthem, and went to swell the numbers of those who already occupied postsof vantage within. In vain the frenzied Spaniards beat on the doorswith their clubbed muskets; the massive panels were unyielding, and arain of bullets fell from above, thinning the Spanish ranks moment bymoment.

  "Poles, bring poles!" shouted Tio Jorge.

  Instantly men ran off, some of them only to drop on the way. Thesurvivors returned by and by with poles and beams, with which asbattering-rams they drove at the fast-closed doors. They were shot downalmost to a man; but the places of those that fell were at once taken.A door here and there was burst in, and the heroic Spaniards sprang intothe gardens and patios, only to be killed or wounded before ever theycame to close quarters with the French.

  From the first Tio Jorge had selected as the special object of hisattack a large house on the right of the barricade. It was evidentlyheld by a considerable force of the enemy. But all assaults upon itsthick door had proved ineffectual. Even when a heavy beam was broughtup as a battering-ram it could not be used with effect, for the door wasat such an angle to the barricade that it could only be struck obliquelyunless the bearers of the beam advanced for several yards into the open,where so many of their comrades had already been struck down. Tio Jorgeordered his men to make an attempt to drive in the door from the angleof the barricade. Before the beam could be thrown across, one of themen carrying it was shot. The rest persevered, hauled it over, and madefor the door. A sheet of flame burst from the windows above; six of themen were hit. The weight of the beam being now unequally distributed,the other men were dragged down, or tripped over the bodies of theslain.

  Jack had accompanied them. Feeling a sharp pain in his left arm, andseeing that nothing could be done at the moment, he ran back to thebarricade, narrowly escaping being hit by flying bullets. Behind thebarricade he found Tio Jorge with a few others, the only survivors ofthe band which had come up with such ardour and enthusiasm. The leaderwas furious, railing at fate and at the failure of the men to back uptheir comrades, and shouting for more men to come to his assistance.Meanwhile, as Jack stood by endeavouring to bind up what proved to be aslight flesh wound, a lady came from the corner of the street, bearingfood and wine. Seeing what Jack was about, she placed her baskets onthe ground, calling upon the men to help themselves, and then with quickdeft hands completed the bandaging which Jack had clumsily begun.

  "You look tired," she said. "Take some food, Senor."

  Jack was only too glad to eat and drink. It was the first food that hadpassed his lips since he left the boat. Tio Jorge, too, ate like afamished man.

  "Gracias, Contessa," he said in a softer voice than was usual with him.

  When all had eaten and drunk, the lady picked up her baskets and movedaway without hurry towards another part of the city.

  "Who is she, hombre?" asked Jack.

  "The noble Contessa de Bureta, Senor; a delicate, frail lady, as yousee, but as fearless as--as I myself."

  There was a breathing-space, during which the men rested, awaitingreinforcements, and rejoiced that the French were contenting themselveswith their work from the houses, and made no further attempt at presentto storm the barricade. Jack took stock of the situation. The house onthe right could not be taken by assault; it was occupied in too greatforce by skilled marksmen. To ram the door by a direct blow wasimpossible, as experience had proved; the fire from the houses was sodeadly that no bearers could live through it. While Jack was pondering,the littl
e band had been reinforced by other citizens, and Tio Jorge wason the point of ordering another attack. But he had uttered only a fewwords of vehement encouragement when Jack interposed.

  "Give me ten men, and I think in a few minutes we could drive the Frenchfrom yonder house without great loss."

  Tio Jorge looked doubtingly at Jack's eager face. They were crouchingbehind the barricade, and there was a temporary lull in the firing.

  "How will you do that?" asked the Spaniard.

  "Attack them from above."

  "Impossible! impossible! If you got to the roofs you could not get intothe houses, for the trap-doors are all towards the street. You would beseen from the houses on the opposite side, and shot down at once."

  "Still, I think it is possible. I have a plan."

  "Well, then, go, Senor, in the name of Our Lady of the Pillar, and Iwill remain here and fire on the French to cover your movements."

  Accompanied by ten men hastily selected by Tio Jorge, Jack made his wayto the rear, and came to a house which had not yet fallen into the handsof the French. Gaining admittance, he led his men upstairs to the atticfloor, clambered out by the trap-door, and, before the enemy had caughtsight of him, succeeded in crawling over the sloping roof to theopposite side. Two or three men had followed him safely. Then the movewas seen, and bullets began to patter on the roof, so that the other menhad to follow Jack at great risk. All but one managed to crawl over andjoin him without hurt, and the nine stood with him on the farther sideof the roof, sheltered by the low parapet from any shots that might comefrom that direction.

  Then he led them quickly on to the roof of the adjoining house, whichwas occupied by the French. Immediately over an attic window hecautiously started to loosen the tiles, the Spaniards eagerly followinghis example as they perceived his intentions. After the first two orthree tiles had been gently prised out, the rest came away easily. Halfthe men were employed in lifting the tiles, while the others took themfrom their hands, and laid them quietly in heaps at the foot of theparapet. Under the tiles were the joists, and as these were notconnected by matchboard, it was an easier matter than Jack had expectedto break an opening into the room below. It was empty. Such littlenoise as had been made on the roof had evidently been drowned by thecontinuous firing in the houses and streets. Jack handed his musket tothe man next him, and, catching hold of one of the joists, swung lightlydown into the room. The man handed him his musket, then followed him,to be followed in turn by all his comrades. In little more than tenminutes after their arrival on the roof the ten stood together in theattic.

  "Now, hombres," said Jack, "we have to clear them out room by room."

  Followed by the Spaniards, he dashed from the attic down the stairs intothe first room on the floor below. At the window were three men, sointent on firing at the barricade that they were not aware of theirdanger until the invaders were upon them. When they turned and sawtheir enemies they had no thought of surrender. In this bitter warsurrender to a Spaniard was only another name for death. But beforethey could bring their muskets to the shoulder the Spaniards were attheir throats. They fell. Instantly the victors rushed to anotherroom. In a few minutes all the occupants of that floor were disposedoff.

  By this time the rest of the garrison had taken the alarm. Many of theFrench had left their posts, and were crowding downstairs in a panic,believing that a large force of Spaniards had gained a lodgment in thehouse. Tio Jorge below inferred from the slackening of the enemy's firethat the bold attempt had been successful. Without losing an instant heordered some of his men to make another onslaught with the beam on thedoor, and sent others round to the back of the house, where a narrowlane was at present clear of the French, to intercept any who shouldendeavour to escape there. Panic had now seized the French in thehouse. Fearing to be taken in front and rear, most rushed downstairstowards the back entrance, a few obstinately refusing to stir, andcalling on their comrades to stand firm. But Jack and his men poured inpursuit, shouting, to keep up the illusion of their being a numerousbody. Below, the door at last fell in with a crash before the strokesof the ram. Tio Jorge burst in, and found only a small knot of Frenchbetween himself and Jack's men. The execution was swift and sure. Ofall the French who had used that house as their fortress only thoseescaped who, fleeing out by the back door, cut their way through theSpaniards sent by Tio Jorge to intercept them.

  This brilliant success, won by citizens without the help of thesoldiery, wrought the spirits of the people to a high pitch ofexultation. Santiago Sass, who had escaped in all his wildperegrinations without a scratch, rejoined Tio Jorge's band, and rolledout sonorous sentences in jubilant frenzy. But the Spaniards were notsatisfied with the first triumph of the day. There were other blocks ofhouses in possession of the French. After a brief respite, during whichreinforcements of soldiers and citizens came up in considerable numbers,the defenders set to work systematically to dislodge the French from thepositions so hardly won. The housetop device was put in practicewherever access could be obtained. For hours the struggle continued,and Jack, who worked as hard as any man, was struck with admiration ofthe untiring enthusiasm of the Spaniards. Fighting from barricade tobarricade, and from house to house, they retook position after position,until, as early dusk fell, the French had been cleared out of all thehouses and forced back to their impregnable position in the Santa Monicaand San Agustin convents.

  The din of combat died down. Jack had arrived at the Casa Ximenez, thescene of his adventure in the morning. Entering the house, he found manysigns of its temporary occupation by the French, but the fighting hadbeen so intense and so persistent that they had had no time toperpetrate the wanton mischief and destruction which usually markedtheir progress. Jack went through the house to make sure that none ofthe French were left, and, entering one of the rooms, he guessed by thecharacter of its furniture and appointments that it belonged to theyoung lady whom he had assisted earlier in the day. The French had beenso much occupied in the lower rooms that they had left this roomuntouched. There were a few trinkets on the dressing-table. Jack putthese into his pocket, knowing that the Senorita would be glad toreceive anything of value that could be rescued. Then, descending intothe patio, he found that Tio Jorge had already told off a company of hismen to occupy the house during the night, in preparation for the renewedattack which was undoubtedly to be expected in the morning.

  "Come, Senor," shouted the big fellow, "we will now go to thecaptain-general and tell him what we have done for Saragossa this day.And your part, por Dios! is one that no Saragossan will forget. Come!"

  They left the house. The sounds of bombardment and musketry had ceased;parties of the citizens were moving about collecting the dead andwounded; women and children were emerging for a breath of air from theclose cellars in which they had sheltered during the day. As Tio Jorgeand Jack passed into the street, they became aware, from the attitude ofa group of soldiers and citizens all looking in one direction, thatsomething unusual was attracting their attention. Looking up thestreet, towards the same end at which he had entered it nearly twelvehours before, Jack saw, by the light of the torches carried bysearch-parties, a small figure advancing--the figure of a boy, with aFrenchman's kepi many sizes too large for him almost obliterating hishead, a Frenchman's sword dangling from his belt, its point trailing ayard behind him along the cobbles, and a Frenchman's musket weighingdown his shoulder. The boy was staggering along under his burdens, yetcontrived to maintain an air of jauntiness and assurance that held theSpaniards spell-bound with surprise and curiosity.

  "The imp again!" ejaculated Jack with a smile.

  The boy caught sight of him, and, endeavouring to hasten his step,tripped over his sword and fell headlong, rising a moment after withoutmusket or kepi, and revealing the swarthy face and unkempt hair ofPepito.

  "Here I am, Senor," he said with his enigmatical smile. "Not lost,Senor."

  "So I see. And what have you been doing? What do you mean by giving me
the slip like that, and making me think the French had got you?"

  Pepito looked aggrieved. He took out of his vest the silver watch Jackhad given him at Seville, and held it dangling by its chain.

  "Senor's gift; should it get wet? Never. I got into the water; not thewatch. No, I put it on one of the thwarts. We got out of the boat.Senor went so fast that I forgot the watch. It was Senor's fault. Iwent back for it, Senor; I got it; then when I came away--ha! I hear themarch of men. I stop; I hide; all day long from my deep hole I see theFrench shoot with their big guns across the river. I wait; I think,what if Senor is dead? I wish I had come with him, and let the watchget wet. Then, wonder of wonders! the Busne drive the French back.They go by my hole; one falls; then all is quiet, and I steal out andget these things from the dead man, and I come in and have Senor as wellas the watch."

  Jack could hardly find fault with the boy for wishing to preserve hisown gift. Explaining to Tio Jorge that Pepito was a servant of his, heturned to resume his interrupted journey northward, and bade Pepitofollow him closely.