"Have they all migrated?" cried Sparrow. "Are they gone to
Croatan?"
"They have left one to tell the tale, then," I said, "for here he
comes running."
CHAPTER VII IN WHICH WE PREPARE TO FIGHT THE SPANIARD
A MAN came panting down the street. " Captain Ralph Percy!" he
cried. "My master said it was your horse coming across the neck.
The Governor commands your attendance at once, sir."
"Where is the Governor? Where are all the people?" I demanded.
"At the fort. They are all at the fort or on the bank below. Oh, sirs,
a woeful day for us all!"
"A woeful day!" I exclaimed. "What's the matter?"
The man, whom I recognized as one of the commander's servants,
a fellow with the soul of a French valet de chambre, was wild with
terror.
"They are at the guns!" he quavered. "Alackaday! what can a few
sakers and demiculverins do against them?"
"Against whom?" I cried.
"They are giving out pikes and cutlasses! Woe's me, the sight of
naked steel hath ever made me sick!"
I drew my dagger, and flashed it before him. "Does 't make you
sick?" I asked. "You shall be sicker yet, if you do not speak to
some purpose."
The fellow shrank back, his eyeballs starting from his head.
"It's a tall ship," he gasped, "a very big ship! It hath ten culverins,
beside fowlers and murderers, sabers, falcons, and bases!"
I took him by the collar and shook him off his feet.
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