Part 9 (1/2)
”Whew!” whistled Whirlit as he leaped into the air. ”A peppery Brownie, that! Served me right, however.”
He found Madam Breeze almost bursting with anger, confusion, anxiety, excitement and the exertion of self-restraint.
”You imp of ingrat.i.tude!” she began, ”how could you dare--”
”Madam,” cried Whirlit, interrupting her, ”the Captain says, with his compliments, you will please knock over the Pixie camp, tents, houses, fort and all!”
Madam's brow cleared in a moment. ”That I will,” she answered in her usual jovial tones. ”Hie--away, my hearties! come, come now! 'Blow, ye winds, and crack your cheeks!'”
Thereupon Madam Breeze and her company fell upon the Pixie camp. The breastwork or demilune that had been woven around the outer bounds was leveled in an instant. Then the clamorous crew fell upon the circle of huts and tents that stood next within. It was not so easy work here.
”Whoop!” shouted Whirlit, as he threw himself, with full force, back foremost, against one of the broad canvas sides. ”Ugh!” was the next exclamation heard from him as he bounded back like an india-rubber ball and fell sprawling among tent pins and ropes.
”Ho, ho, ho!” The merry laugh of Madam Breeze rolled out through the hurly-burly at this discomfiture of her page. ”Try it again, Whirlie, it's easily done, you know! You'd make a fine base ball, now, wouldn't you? Ha, ha!”
Whirlit did try again; then Whisk and Bl.u.s.ter and Keener; and last of all Madam Breeze threw her round body against the tent. The ropes snapped, the walls tumbled together, and in a trice the noisy Breezes had sent ropes, canvas, and poles streaming away into the air, broken into a hundred pieces.[T]
One after another the Pixies' dens, nests, tents, huts, barns and storehouses shared the same fate at the hands of the busy wreckers. In a few moments the ruins of the camp were scattered in confused heaps upon the earth, or were floating off upon the wings of the storm. The females, or Pixinees, who with their broods of young had been left in possession of the camp, at first showed fight. But they soon saw that resistance was vain, and fled into the fort, where they hid themselves in the sheltered corners and angles, or cowered against the lee side of pebbles, leaves, clumps of gra.s.s, and the various rubbish that littered the ground.[U]
All this time, the conflict was raging between the Brownies and Pixies outside the barricade. Great as was the clamor raised at the overthrow of the camp, the noise of battle was so loud and the feelings of the combatants so intense, that none knew what havoc Madam Breeze was making. A lad ran into the rear line of the Pixie troops calling for the chief.
”Back to your mother, boy,” was the gruff response, ”and leave the battle to warriors.”
”But mother has fled into the fort. The house is broken down. The camp is attacked. The barricades are leveled. Everything is ruined. I must see the Captain.”
The evil tidings rapidly spread, and even before it reached the chief the line began to waver, and fall back toward the camp. Spite fell into a towering rage when the message was brought to him. He cursed Madam Breeze. He cursed the Pixie who stopped the messenger, and thus caused the bad news to spread. He cursed Bruce and the Brownies. He cursed his own eyes, also, although he might have saved himself that trouble, for they had never been a blessing to anybody.
”But cursing won't mend matters, Chief,” said Lieutenant Hide. ”The fort still stands; we can fall back to that, and save what we may.”
”Drummer, sound the retreat,” cried Spite; ”and Hide, do you fall back with the right wing to the fort. Orderly, bid Lieutenant Heady take command and cover the retreat. Tell him to fight every inch of ground.”
Then Spite turned upon his heels and hurried to the rear. In truth, he was not sorry for an excuse to withdraw from the fight. He stumbled over the ruins of the camp at every step. It was a complete wreck. Not a tent, not a building of any kind remained, except the fort, to which he bent his course. It was a huge structure, as we have seen, braced and strengthened by every art and effort at the Pixies' command. But Spite's heart failed him as he looked around, and saw how everything else in camp had vanished away before the mighty breath of his adversaries.
”See!” he exclaimed, ”Madam Breeze and her train have just attacked the fort. Will it hold out, I wonder?” With this thought in mind he hurried forward.
Keener saw him coming, and recognized him at once. ”There comes Spite the Spy!” he shouted. ”At him, boys! let us toss him in one of his own sticky blankets!”
”Aye, aye,” answered Whisk, ”suppose we fling him over the horns of the moon, and let him--”
”Let him stick there,” cried Whirlit, finis.h.i.+ng the sentence. Whereat the trio pounced pell-mell upon the Pixie chief.
”Very well, my lads,” exclaimed Madam Breeze, ”you're quite welcome to a monopoly of the old beast. Phooh! How he smells of poison! He well nigh takes my breath. Fort smas.h.i.+ng suits me better.” With these words she threw herself against the Agalena wing of Fort Spinder. Every cord and canvas in it shook with the violence of the onset. But it was unbroken.
Again and again the stout Elf cast herself against the walls; the cords creaked and seemed about to part, but so elastic were they that they swayed inward with a heavy surge and then back again. The weeds, blades of gra.s.s and twigs to which the ropes and beams were fastened bent under the weight of the blast, but were unbroken.
All this time Spite was struggling with the three Elves. They pinched his skin, they plucked at his cheek, mouth and nostrils. They almost blinded him with blasts which they cast full into his eyes. They pulled his clothes, and held him by the limbs. But he kept on his path.
Stoutly, stubbornly he fought his way step by step until he stood at last before the gate of the fort. He was seen at once, and a dozen of the inmates ran forward to admit him.
”Not for your lives!” he shouted. ”Don't leave a crack open, if you can help it, for these bl.u.s.terers to enter. It would be ruin to open the gate.”
He looked around him. Hide and his party were still a goodly distance away. He could hear above the voices of the storm the rousing cheers of the Brownies as they pressed more and more closely upon Heady, who was doggedly giving way, disputing every inch of ground. Whirlit, Whisk and Keener had left him, at the beck of Madam Breeze, and now joined that l.u.s.ty Elf in their a.s.saults upon Fort Spinder.