Hotly pressed by the
remaining officers, nearly equal in number, the Indians
were now compelled to turn and defend themselves in front,
when Captain Baynton took that opportunity of getting
once more into the corridor, not, however, without having
received a severe wound immediately behind the right ear,
and leaving a skirt and lappel of his uniform in the
hands of two savages who had successively essayed to
detain him. At that moment the band without had succeeded
in forcing open the door of the guard-room; and the
officer saw, at a glance, there was little time left for
decision. In hurried and imploring accents he besought
Miss de Haldimar to forget every thing but her own danger,
and to summon resolution to tear herself from the scene:
but prayer and entreaty, and even force, were alike
employed in vain. Clinging firmly to the rude balustrades,
she refused to be led up the staircase, and wildly
resisting all his efforts to detach her hands, declared
she would again return to the scene of death, in which
her beloved parent was so conspicuous an actor. While he
was yet engaged in this fruitless attempt to force her
from the spot, the door of the council-room was suddenly
burst open, and a group of bleeding officers, among whom
was Major de Haldimar, followed by their yelling enemies,
rushed wildly into the passage, and, at the very foot of
the stairs where they yet stood, the combat was renewed.
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