CHAPTER VI

NARRATION

Exercise 64

THE DEFENCE OF THE ROUNDHOUSE 1

BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

Alan drew a dirk, which he held in his left hand in case they should run in under his sword. I, on my part, clambered up into the berth with an armful of pistols and something of a heavy heart, and set open the window where I was to watch. It was a small part of the deck that I could overlook, but enough for our purpose. The sea had gone down, and the wind was steady and kept the sails quiet; so that there was a great stillness in the ship, in which I made sure I heard the sound of muttering voices. A little after, and there came a clash of steel upon the deck, by which I knew they were dealing out the cutlasses, and one had been let fall; and after that silence again.

I do not know if I was what you call afraid; but my heart beat like a bird's, both quick and little; and there was a dimness came before my eyes which I continually rubbed away, and which continually returned. As for hope, I had none; but only a darkness of despair and a sort of anger against all the world that made me long to sell my life as dear as I was able. I tried to pray, I remember, but that same hurry of my mind, like a man running, would not suffer me to

1 The deck-house. Here is the situation. The crew of the brig Covenant have conspired to rob and murder one Alan Breck Stewart, who has come on board from an open boat which the brig struck and sent to the bottom. The conspiracy is discovered by David Balfour, a youth who is being sent by a villanous uncle to be sold to labor in the Carolina plantations. David warns Alan, and the two defend the roundhouse against the crew. This selection is printed by kind permission of Charles

Scribner's Sons.

think upon the words; and my chief wish was to have the thing begin and be done with it.

It came all of a sudden when it did, with a rush of feet and a roar, and then a shout from Alan, and a sound of blows and some one crying out as if hurt. I looked back over my shoulder, and saw Mr. Shuan in the doorway, crossing blades with Alan.

"That's him that killed the boy!" I cried.

“Look to your window!" said Alan; and as I turned back to my place, I saw him pass his sword through the mate's body.

It was none too soon for me to look to my own part; for my head was scarce back at the window before five men, carrying a square yard for a battering-ram, ran past me and took post to drive the door in. I had never fired with a pistol in my life, and not often with a gun; far less against a fellow-creature. But it was now or never; and just as they swang the yard, I cried out, "Take that!" and shot into their midst.

I must have hit one of them, for he sang out and gave back a step, and the rest stopped as if a little disconcerted. Before they had time to recover, I sent another ball over their heads; and at my third shot (which went as wide as the second) the whole party threw down the yard and ran for it.

Then I looked round again into the deck-house. The whole place was full of the smoke of my own firing, just as my ears seemed to be burst with the noise of the shots. But there was Alan, standing as before; only now his sword was running blood to the hilt, and himself so swelled with triumph and fallen into so fine an attitude, that he looked to be invincible. Right before him on the floor was Mr. Shuan, on his hands and knees; the blood was pouring from his mouth, and he was sinking slowly lower, with a terrible, white face; and just as I looked, some of those from behind caught hold of him by the heels and dragged him bodily out of the roundhouse. I believe he died as they were doing it.

"There's one of your Whigs for ye!" cried Alan; and then turning to me, he asked if I had done much execution.

I told him I had winged one, and thought it was the captain. "And I've settled two," says he. "No, there's not enough blood let; they'll be back again. To your watch, David. This was but a dram before meat."

I settled back to my place, recharging the three pistols I had fired, and keeping watch with both eye and ear.

Our enemies were disputing not far off upon the deck, and that so loudly that I could hear a word or two above the washing of the seas. "It was Shuan bauchled1 it," I heard one say.

And another answered him with a "Wheesht, man! He's paid the piper."

After that the voices fell again into the same muttering as before. Only now, one person spoke most of the time, as though laying down a plan, and first one and then another answered him briefly, like men taking orders. By this, I made sure they were coming on again, and told Alan.

"It's what we have to pray for," said he. "Unless we can give them a good distaste of us, and done with it, there'll be nae sleep for either you or me. But this time, mind, they'll be in earnest."

By this, my pistols were ready, and there was nothing to do but listen and wait. While the brush lasted, I had not the time to think if I was frighted; but now, when all was still again, my mind ran upon nothing else. The thought of the sharp swords and the cold steel was strong in me; and presently, when I began to hear stealthy steps and a brushing of men's clothes against the roundhouse wall, and knew they were taking their places in the dark, I could have found it in my mind to cry out aloud.

All this was upon Alan's side; and I had begun to think my share of the fight was at an end, when I heard some one drop softly on the roof above me.

Then there came a single call on the sea-pipe, and that was the signal. A knot of them made one rush of it, cutlass in hand, against the door; and at the same moment, the glass of the skylight was dashed in a thousand pieces, and a man leaped through and landed on the floor. Before he got his feet, I had clapped a pistol to his back, and might have shot him, too; only at the touch of him (and him alive) my whole flesh misgave me, and I could no more pull the trigger than I could have flown.

He had dropped his cutlass as he jumped, and when he felt the pistol, whipped straight round and laid hold of me, roaring out an oath; and at that either my courage came again, or I grew so much Bungled. - Stevenson.

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afraid as came to the same thing; for I gave a shriek and shot him in the midst of the body. He gave the most horrible, ugly groan and fell to the floor. The foot of the second fellow, whose legs were dangling through the skylight, struck me at the same time upon the head; and at that I snatched another pistol and shot this one through the thigh, so that he slipped through and tumbled in a lump on his companion's body. There was no talk of missing, any more than there was time to aim; I clapped the muzzle to the very place and fired.

I might have stood and stared at them for long, but I heard Alan shout as if for help, and that brought me to my senses.

He had kept the door so long; but one of the seamen, while he was engaged with others, had run in under his guard and caught him about the body. Alan was dirking him with his left hand, but the fellow clung like a leech. Another had broken in and had his cutlass raised. The door was thronged with their faces. I thought we were lost, and catching up my cutlass, fell on them in flank.

But I had not time to be of help. The wrestler dropped at last; and Alan, leaping back to get his distance, ran upon the others like a bull, roaring as he went. They broke before him like water, turning, and running, and falling one against another in their haste. The sword in his hands flashed like quicksilver into the huddle of our fleeing enemies; and at every flash there came the scream of a man hurt. I was still thinking we were lost, when lo! they were all gone, and Alan was driving them along the deck as a sheepdog chases sheep.

Yet he was no sooner out than he was back again, being as cautious as he was brave; and meanwhile the seamen continued running and crying out as if he was still behind them; and we heard them tumble one upon another into the forecastle, and clap-to the hatch upon the top.

HELPS TO STUDY: This selection is a part of chapter x, Kidnapped. If you own the book, bring it to the class, and be prepared to read chapters ix and x to the other members of the class. In chapter viii you will find a brief description of the roundhouse; also in chapter ix. What do you learn about Alan from the present selection? What do you learn about David? Point out words or phrases which express action; as, "Alan drew a dirk." There are two attacks. With what paragraph does each begin? Where does the first end? How does

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the author make use of the interval between the two attacks? Who is represented as telling the story? Why did not the author put the story in the third person? How is David's state of mind shown? Point out descriptive phrases. Why are there not more of these? If these were omitted, what would be the effect? Study the conversation. What does each speech add to the story? Note how specific the little details in the story are. Why did not Stevenson use "fighting " for "in the doorway, crossing blades," or "kill him” for “pass his sword through the mate's body"? Find other details of the same sort. Have specific words any effect here? Take one thread of the story, and trace it as far as it goes. For example, observe each advance in the account of the wounding and death of the mate. Where is the narrative purposely delayed? Where does it rush rapidly forward?

David Balfour, the sequel of Kidnapped, and some of Stevenson's other narratives, particularly the New Arabian Nights, The Dynamiter, Treasure Island, The Master of Ballantrae, and The Wrecker, will furnish excellent material for the study of narration.

Exercise 65

they do,1 (2) by

either the author

Of these three

Characters, which may be almost anything, — beasts, birds, stones, machines, men, what not, are revealed in story by three methods: (1) by what what they say, and (3) by what others or other characters say of them. methods, the first requires the most art, and the third, or rather that part of it that includes the author's own comments, the least. In the following chapter, which is the first in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, the second and the third methods are illustrated. The very best illustration of the first method, indeed of every one of the methods of character portrayal, is a play by Shakspere, which, of course, cannot be printed here.

1 Note how, in the selection in Exercise 64, the character of Alan Breck is revealed by what he does.