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"I am afraid you are right, Maurice. We must hope to drive the Indians away before the whole is exhausted," he answered. "Come with me; we must try to prevent these fire-brands doing any damage." We were ascending to the top of the building, when we met my cousins in the passage. "O uncle! what is happening? Cannot we help you in some way?" exclaimed Juanita.
The whirling fire-brands falling among the cabins and against the walls of the stockade started a conflagration, which soon spread to the storehouse. And then MacNair appeared on the scene, rushing madly among the Indians, striking, kicking, and hurling them about. A few sought to save themselves by escaping to the timber.
Of the remainder, ten per cent are sincere and convinced reformers, more or less half-baked intellectuals; ten per cent love the sound of their own voices, hate work and want to live by their jaw, five per cent only are unscrupulous and selfish agitators. But, Dad, believe me, fire-brands may light fires, but solid fagots only can keep fires going.
The people yelled, and some came running with fire-brands to scare him, but before any could reach him Maharaj had knocked one of his great fore-feet against the head of the unfortunate Piroo, and he fell to the ground lifeless. The villagers were terror-stricken and ran to hide in their huts.
Doubtless, at this moment many Mandarins of the highest degree are anxiously awaiting your arrival at Knei Yang, perhaps passing the time by outdoing one another in protesting the number of taels each would give rather than permit you to be tormented by fire-brands, or even to lose a single ear."
One of them drummed with a hammer on a kettle or small cask to imitate thunder; the second knocked two fire-brands together and made the sparks fly, to imitate lightning; and the third, who was called "the rain-maker," had a bunch of twigs with which he sprinkled water from a vessel on all sides.
On hearing the signal from the cacique, all the other Indians attacked their masters, some with fire-brands, others with the cooking kettles, pitchers, or whatever they could get hold of, of which the fire-brands did most harm; but as the Spaniards immediately seized their arms in their defence, all the Indians were slain.
Time after time we scared them away by throwing fire-brands among them, but always they returned, and to our dismay, long before morning we realized that our stock of firewood would not nearly last till daylight.
We shouted at the top of our voices, and threw fire-brands at his ugly face, which compelled him to retreat to his native element. He and his relatives kept up a horrible roar for several hours. We could hear their jaws clashing together as they snapped at their prey. Our shouts awoke the black, who, jumping up, very nearly tumbled overboard before he knew where he was.
Sarah Good and six others of whom Salem chose to be rid that day went with her. It was the 19th of July, 1692, when, at a signal, all eight swung off into eternity, and Reverend Mr. Noyes, in his zeal, pointing to the swaying bodies, said: "There hang eight fire-brands of hell!" Mr. Parris, unable to conceal his triumph, declared these the most holy words ever uttered by lips not divine.
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