登陆注册
15418400000075

第75章

Langham caught it by the throat as though it were human, and did not feel the hot metal burning the palms of his hands as he choked it and pointed its muzzle toward the Palace, while the others dragged at the spokes of the wheel.It was fighting at close range now, close enough to suit even Langham.He found himself in the front rank of it without knowing exactly how he got there.Every man on both sides was playing his own hand, and seemed to know exactly what to do.He felt neglected and very much alone, and was somewhat anxious lest his valor might be wasted through his not knowing how to put it to account.He saw the enemy in changing groups of scowling men, who seemed to eye him for an instant down the length of a gun-barrel and then disappear behind a puff of smoke.He kept thinking that war made men take strange liberties with their fellow-men, and it struck him as being most absurd that strangers should stand up and try to kill one another, men who had so little in common that they did not even know one another's names.The soldiers who were fighting on his own side were equally unknown to him, and he looked in vain for Clay.He saw MacWilliams for a moment through the smoke, jabbing at a jammed cartridge with his pen-knife, and hacking the lead away to make it slip.He was remonstrating with the gun and swearing at it exactly as though it were human, and as Langham ran toward him he threw it away and caught up another from the ground.Kneeling beside the wounded man who had dropped it and picking the cartridges from his belt, he assured him cheerfully that he was not so badly hurt as he thought.

``You all right?'' Langham asked.

``I'm all right.I'm trying to get a little laddie hiding behind that blue silk sofa over there.He's taken an unnatural dislike to me, and he's nearly got me three times.I'm knocking horse-hair out of his rampart, though.''

The men of Stuart's body-guard were fighting outside of the breastworks and mattresses.They were using their swords as though they were machetes, and the Irishmen were swinging their guns around their shoulders like sledge-hammers, and beating their foes over the head and breast.The guns at his own side sounded close at Langham's ear, and deafened him, and those of the enemy exploded so near to his face that he was kept continually winking and dodging, as though he were being taken by a flashlight photograph.When he fired he aimed where the mass was thickest, so that he might not see what his bullet did, but he remembered afterward that he always reloaded with the most anxious swiftness in order that he might not be killed before he had had another shot, and that the idea of being killed was of no concern to him except on that account.Then the scene before him changed, and apparently hundreds of Mendoza's soldiers poured out from the Palace and swept down upon him, cheering as they came, and he felt himself falling back naturally and as a matter of course, as he would have stepped out of the way of a locomotive, or a runaway horse, or any other unreasoning thing.His shoulders pushed against a mass of shouting, sweating men, who in turn pressed back upon others, until the mass reached the iron fence and could move no farther.He heard Clay's voice shouting to them, and saw him run forward, shooting rapidly as he ran, and he followed him, even though his reason told him it was a useless thing to do, and then there came a great shout from the rear of the Palace, and more soldiers, dressed exactly like the others, rushed through the great doors and swarmed around the two wings of the building, and he recognized them as Rojas's men and knew that the fight was over.

He saw a tall man with a negro's face spring out of the first mass of soldiers and shout to them to follow him.Clay gave a yell of welcome and ran at him, calling upon him in Spanish to surrender.The negro stopped and stood at bay, glaring at Clay and at the circle of soldiers closing in around him.He raised his revolver and pointed it steadily.It was as though the man knew he had only a moment to live, and meant to do that one thing well in the short time left him.

Clay sprang to one side and ran toward him, dodging to the right and left, but Mendoza followed his movements carefully with his revolver.

It lasted but an instant.Then the Spaniard threw his arm suddenly across his face, drove the heel of his boot into the turf, and spinning about on it fell forward.

``If he was shot where his sash crosses his heart, I know the man who did it,'' Langham heard a voice say at his elbow, and turning saw MacWilliams wetting his fingers at his lips and touching them gingerly to the heated barrel of his Winchester.

The death of Mendoza left his followers without a leader and without a cause.They threw their muskets on the ground and held their hands above their heads, shrieking for mercy.Clay and his officers answered them instantly by running from one group to another, knocking up the barrels of the rifles and calling hoarsely to the men on the roofs to cease firing, and as they were obeyed the noise of the last few random shots was drowned in tumultuous cheering and shouts of exultation, that, starting in the gardens, were caught up by those in the streets and passed on quickly as a line of flame along the swaying housetops.

The native officers sprang upon Clay and embraced him after their fashion, hailing him as the Liberator of Olancho, as the Preserver of the Constitution, and their brother patriot.Then one of them climbed to the top of a gilt and marble table and proclaimed him military President.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 99亿聘金:首席的蜜挚爱人

    99亿聘金:首席的蜜挚爱人

    还在上大学,她就被嫁给帝都最牛的男人,不对,是最有钱,最好看,最无可挑剔的人。“你干什么啊!”云暮暮拍打着男人的胸膛。“你说我干嘛?!”蓝尘夜挑了挑眉看了看怀中人。“我怎么知道!?”云暮暮心虚的看向别处。“你这学校里都传了些什么?”蓝尘夜挑了挑眉,勾起丹凤眼看着她的表情。“我,我……”她只是传了他肾不好而已吗!第二天一早,某女扶着腰哭泣“呜呜……”……
  • 当魔鬼爱上天使

    当魔鬼爱上天使

    魔鬼与天使,明明就存在于两个世界,永远不可能在一起。可是,当魔鬼爱上天使,他们所面临的考验又将是什么?他们最终能否获得一个美满的恋情?冷酷嗜血的魔鬼,善良温暖的天使,相爱的两个人无法走在一起。那是多么痛苦的感觉……
  • 廿轮

    廿轮

    这是一家古朴的小店,有些缘浅的人会从店门外走过,轻轻一撇也不会发现有什么特别之处。只是能来到这里的人知道,它并非你想来就能来的地方,一切皆有因果。“廿轮”是宿命轮回下的当铺,它只典当它需要的东西。这里的每一个人,都有着前世今生的故事,这里发生的每一件事都是因果轮回的报应。请期待,“廿轮”将带你走进一个奇幻的世界。
  • 快穿之女配梦境系统

    快穿之女配梦境系统

    “女屌丝”殷梦儿无意得到一个梦境系统,有时候成为女配,有时候却是一个从未出现的角色。“喂!这是一个从未出现的角色,要我怎么完成任务啊!!!!!”从此每天晚上别人睡觉发美梦,她睡觉就只能做任务,哎,做着做着,感觉这个系统也是很好玩的嘛.《继承者们》《请回答1988》《学校2015—WHoareyou》等,就让我来推翻你们的剧情吧,拯救这些女配男配吧。这是一个以前得过且过的女屌丝得到梦境系统后,走上自己的人生巅峰的故事。原名是《快穿之梦一场》
  • 憾世穿越

    憾世穿越

    杀手叶恒在一次任务中意外穿越至修真大陆,小说情节陆续出现,实际情况却比小说里的要复杂得多!就算如此,叶恒还是在历经万劫不灭之后,强势正道!终成一代至尊!
  • 不朽伪仙

    不朽伪仙

    上古诸天之战刚刚过去千年,所有至强者死伤沉眠,进入“元古时代”的三千灵域凭空掀起传闻,上古时代即将再次轮回,千年修养时间已经过去,天道紊乱,三千灵域再次动荡,上古绝世强者即将现世,搅动风云!无数上古神物提前出世,上古大决战,再次降临!
  • 携家带口奔小康

    携家带口奔小康

    悲催女富二代莫名穿越,携傻夫、精娃、萌宝宝,努力奔小康。虽有空间但不敢用,只能小偷小摸,好想哭!【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 凌鼎年游记

    凌鼎年游记

    《当代中国散文名家典藏:凌鼎年游记》由中国作协会员、世界华文微型小说研究会秘书长凌鼎年先生著。凌鼎年信奉“读万卷书,行万里路”,偏爱游山玩水,又是走到哪儿写到哪儿的,从八十年代到现在,有幸走遍了全国所有的省市,还去了欧洲、美洲、大洋洲、东南亚等20多个国家与地区,游历之余,留下了不少的游记散文,大部分都发表过,这本《当代中国散文名家典藏:凌鼎年游记》收入了其中的一部分。
  • 红楼梦故事

    红楼梦故事

    本书是孩子成长必读的《红楼梦》故事,书中讲述了四大名著之一的红楼梦的故事。
  • 酒局中的应酬潜规则

    酒局中的应酬潜规则

    本书汇集饭桌之上务必谨记的规矩禁忌,剖析解构酒局之中不得不防的暗战玄机,并附上古今中外酒令大全。