I heard Abigail stirring about. I mounted the ladder to the wall.
A guard loomed beside me. It was a man I knew as a Newfoundlander, a good, sturdy man, Ned Tanner. 'They're out there, Cap'n,' he whispered, 'and it is I who thinks there's a-plenty of them.'
'Stand by, then.'
Walking on around the walk below the wall to the other guard, I found Pim Burke.
'Tanner says there's a lot of them out there. What say you?'
'Aye,' the guard, a swarthy, husky chap from Bristol, spoke softly. 'They've something in mind, Captain. They've been all about below the walls.'
Listening, I could hear the movements of men, but what they planned I could not guess. 'Pim,' I said, 'do you go below and roust out six good men. Let the others rest, if they've the will to. It may be a long day before us.'
Now to take a stockaded position is not an easy thing if the defenders be alert.
With cannon, it was a simple thing, without them almost impossible without negligence on the part of the defenders. Yet the very fact they had not yet attacked spoke of some preparation, which implied some knowledge of making war and strong positions. This implied there might be a white man among them.
The Spanish, who had settlements in the land of Florida, were not happy with England's attempts to settle Virginia, and it might be that a small party of Spanish were directing this effort. Of course, that was pure speculation, I had no facts.
A glance at the stars told me almost an hour had gone by since I had first been awakened. The ladder behind me creaked as the men climbed to their positions.
With moving about upon the walkway and listening, much time had passed, yet I had no idea of what they planned. Below me at least two and perhaps more of them were moving about, perhaps only seeking to find a way to enter.
I spoke softly. 'What is it you want?' And I used the Catawba tongue.
There was abrupt silence.
'We do not sleep,' I continued, 'but we wish no trouble. If you would talk, come to us in the light, and we shall speak. If you come by night, we have no choice but to believe you enemies.'
Again a silence. Then a voice, 'Release the Catawba. He is ours.'
'He is his own. You do not have him. We do not have him.'
'Put him outside, and we will take him and go.'
'He is a good man. He works beside us. We will not put him away. He has come to our village for protection.'
'Then we shall take him. I, whom am Naguska, say this.'
'You are a Tuscarora?'
'So it is.'
'The Tuscarora are a proud people. They are fine warriors. But I am English. We do not surrender those who have come to us for aid.'
'So be it.' He seemed not too displeased. 'You will die for it. All of you.'
Then, surprisingly, he said in English, 'You are a weak people, you English. And you tell lies about your country beyond the water. You are a small people. You cannot hunt. You have no fur. You have no big trees. You have only your big canoes and a hunger for things that belong to others.'
'You speak English?'
'My father was English. He taught me many words before I saw his weakness. He was no warrior. He was no hunter. He could do nothing ... nothing that becomes a man.'
'In our land only some men are warriors, and there is little game, so few of us are hunters. We obtain what is needed by barter.'
'Bah! It is a woman's wayl A warrior takes what he needs!'
'Who was your father?'
'He was nobody. He could only scratch marks upon paper, upon bark, upon whatever he had. He told me they were charms, so we did not burn them, but they did him no good.'
'He is dead?'
'Long ago. It is well that he died. I had great shame to have no other father.'
'I thought with you it was the mother's brother who was important to the boy?'
'Well, it was so. My mother's brother was a great warrior!'
He seemed willing enough to talk, and while he talked there was no fighting. I whispered as much to Pim, but advised him to be doubly alert.
'Come to the gate by day, and come alone. I would speak with you, Naguska.'
'By day? By day you shall all be dead. Or prisoners, to die by the torch.'
'You said your father made marks upon paper and bark. Do you have that paper and the bark? I should like to see it.'
'I have them. I know where they are hidden. My father was a weak man. He could use no weapon, he could not hunt. He was much laughed at for his weakness. With him always it was only what he could put upon paper.'
I heard a series of strange sounds. I tried to identify them.
Suddenly, I knew! Ladders! They had ladders!
Along various spots in the wall were small bundles of grass and twigs that could be quickly lighted. Taking one from its cubbyhole, I struck a light and touched it off with a spark. As it sprang into flame, I held it over the wall In the brief flare of light a dozen savage, painted faces glared up at me, then the ladders started to rise.
An arrow struck near me. Aiming at the nearest man's chest, I fired.
They came with a rush.
Chapter 18
'Ladders!' I shouted the word so all would know what to expect.
Ladders. I had never heard of an Indian using such things, yet Naguska was only half Indian, and he might have learned many things from the father he seemed to despise.
There was a burst of firing. Somebody dropped another lighted bundle, and then another. Two Indians were attempting to take a wounded man away, and a ladder dropped into place near me. I grabbed the top of it and shoved it from the wall.
One man let go and fell off, another one rode the ladder back toward me.
My blade was there to meet his chest as he fell against the wall. For a moment his face was very near to me, and then I was drawing the blade clear.
Other men were climbing up from below. The whole lot of our men had been brought up by the firing but, suddenly, there was a lull.
'More bundles!' I shouted. 'Don't let them get away with the ladders!'
Here and there a shot followed. Then all was silence. Around us the velvet of night lay gently. A faint breeze stirred in from die sea, and there was left a smell of burned wood, grass, and gunpowder.
Then there was another aroma ... fresh coffee! Some of the men had not tasted it, for the substance was new in England, yet Abigail had long been familiar with it from her travels on her father's ship in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
There was a cup for each of us, and a pleasant, warming drink it was.
Jublain and Pim came to me. 'Will they attack again, think you?'
'I do not know. The ladders failed only because we were alert, but they will think their medicine was bad. We must wait and see.'
The attack had lasted only minutes, and now all was still. We drank more of the coffee and some men returned to their rest. A slow hour passed by, and then another. There was a faint gray fight in the east, or perhaps I but wished it so.
Watkins came to me beside the parapet. 'There's two ladders outside near the gate. Request permission to go out and get them.'
I hesitated. To open the gates was a risk, but I wished to keep as many ladders from their hands as possible.
