A Queer Race: The Story of a Strange People — page 187: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

184 A QUEER RACE, —according to order. As they ran down the hill we ad- vanced into the open, marching in line, Bolsover and his rifles in the center, and a little in the rear, as until they were committed to an engagement I did not want the Cariberoes to find out that we possessed firearms. I held three hundred of the archer-guard and fifty men from each of the other regiments in reserve. The enemy, though, as it seemed, rather surprised by this display of force, stood their ground. When we were about two hundred yards from them, I gave the order to begin shooting, and I was pleased to observe that nearly every arrow found a mark. The Cariberoes replied briskly, shooting two arrows for our one; but their weap- ons were so inferior that their missiles did comnparatively hittle execution. This went on for ten or fifteen minutes, when the Car- ibereos, drawing nearer, showed a disposition to come to close quarters, which was what I particularly desired to avoid; I feared that they might bear us down by the sheer weight of their superior numbers. ‘* Now is your time, Tom,” I said. ‘‘ Let them have it!” : Lhe old sailor wanted nothing better. His men (who had been lying down, a little in the rear) stood up, the archers opened their ranks, and, advancing to the front, the rifles poured in a volley point-blank, which bowled the Cariberoes over like ninepins. The effect was tre- mendous. The enemy, completely taken by surprise, gave way in all directions; and seeing that the crisis of the battle had come, 1 told Tom to go on firing as hard as he could, called up the reserves, and was about to order a charge along the line, when Oliver Fane laid his hand on my shoulder and literally spun me round. ‘“Good heavens, Mr. Erle!” he exclaimed, ‘‘ look there!” He pointed to our left rear, a direction in which I had not turned my eyes since the fight began. ‘‘T see smoke,” I said, ‘‘and some of the bushes seem to have caught fire. What then?” “What then? Why, don’t you see that the fire is spreading and the wind rising, and that in five minutes all the herbage between the cliffs and Wynter’s Wood (E(0) mm C JOO SH (€ @)