Castle School - Drawbridge Yearbook (Tarrytown, NY)

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THE DRAVVIBRAIDGE Nineteen-Twenty yard, this is fortunate, as these gates are usually open, but now we can hold this part of the prison until reinforcements arrive from the barracks. Why can't they escape from the rear of the prison?'l asked Porter. There is only the one entrance, the front one. It is regretable that this should occur when you are here, but if you remain in this room, you will be quite safe. Do not go near the windows. And now, if you will excuse me, I must see what my men are do- ing in defence. He turned to go, but Porter caught him by the arm. Hold on, I'm not going to sit here quietly if there's anything I can do. You haven't any too many troops here, have you? No, but you must not expose yourself to any danger. Fm going to be one of your soldiers for tonight, then. Give me a weapon and I'm ready to follow instructions. The captain objected, but in the end, Porter had his Way. The troops were gathered in the courtyard, quiet- ly waiting. ,The first move from the prisoners would be to batter down the wooden gates, then as they en- tered the courtyard the action would begin. There was nothing to do but wait until the prisoners had forced the gates, but they seemed in no hurry to do this, the suspense became more and more of a strain. Porter and the captain stood in the darkness waiting, now and then talking in whispers. The captain seemed quite calm. This is the fifth time I have had a similar ex- perience. The longer we wait, the worse it is when the fighting really comes, he said with no apparent misgivings. The night was very dark, there was no moon. The men looked like shadows in the faint starlight. To Porter it seemed as if they waited hours in the darkness. I-Ie began to think the prisoners were not so desperate as he had thought. Suddenly, without warning there was a crash, fol- lowed by others in quick succession. Thegate fell inward under the impact with a great splintering, and all at once the place was full of cries and the sound of men struggling desperately in the dark. There was no chance to use firearms at such close quarters, but the flash of knives could be seen in the dim light. Before he knew it, Porter was in the fight. For a time he was beside the captain, but they soon be- came separated, and it was with something akin to surprise that Porter discovered that the Hght was no mere skirmish, but a struggle in deadly earnest against ruthless, desperate men. He realized that he wasfighting for his safety, probably his life, and went into the melee with abandon. For the next few hours or so he fought as he had never believed it possible for men to fight. The struggle became almost unreal to him and he seemed to be watching himself from a distance. Once, while in the grasp of some powerful antagonist, it seemed to him that he was lost. His pistol had been knocked from his .hand, and he had no other weapon. I-Ie tripped over the body of someone fallen in the fight, and his op- ponent fell upon him. Porter could not rise, half stunned by the fall, he saw the flash of a knife in the dim light. Then, instead of the expected blow, the man fell, or rather collapsed, on him, and he made out the figure of the captain standing above him. I saw that just in time to knock him unconscious, or perhaps kill him, he remarked casually as he assisted Porter to arise. f'It is fortunate that I did so, for I do not know what explanations I could have made to your friends in the morning. None would have been necessary, laughed lim-- ter shakily, HI think the facts would have spoken for themselves. The fight went on, back and forth across the courtyard, but the guards held the gate against all

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THE DRAWBRIDGE Nineteen-Twenty ies for his friends were this time not useless. While he spoke the officer listened politely, show- ing his white teeth in a pleasant smile, but when Porter ceased speaking, he stated that, inasmuch as it was an unalterable rule that the prison gates could not be opened after sunset, the Senor would be oblig- ed to pass the night inside the prison walls. Porter protested, the officer was sympathetic, but firm. The general alone could cause the gates to be opened, and the general was away, in the barracks. At this point a guard entered and a quite lengthy conversation followed between him and the officer, who gestured and raised his shoulders, thus indicat- ing his helplessness in the matter. Porter's impati- ence began to give way to amusement as he waited. The situation was at least a change from sight-see- ing, and a night in prison would at least be a novel experience. When the guard had gone the officer ex- plained that Porterfs friends had returned, looking for him, but that he had told the guard to tell them the circumstances, and assure them that he would be allowed to leave at sunrise the next morning. lvfean- While it would be his pleasure to entertain his unex- pected guest, and endeavor to make the time pass as agreeably as possible. Porter accepted his host's of- fer with interest, wondering what kind of entertain- ment was to be found in a prison. He followed the officer through several corridors, into a large room in the centre of which stood a table, already set for the evening meal. fn a kind of al- cove a game of cards was in progress-evidently an interesting one, for there was a great deal of talking and laughing among the officers who stood around the table, following the progress of the game. They came forward, abandoning the card table as soon as they saw the officer and Porter. He was greeted most politely and ceremoniously by the other officers, but the constraint of the first few minutes soon wore off. They sat down to dinner and soon the officers were laughing heartily at the enforced visit of their guest. As for Porter, the whole affair seemed a bit unreal to him, the dap- per officers in their red and blue uniforms seemed to have stepped out of a musical comedy. Most of them were quite young, he wondered if they had ever seen any service outside of the city, or any real fighting. The dinner was excellent, and before the meal was over he found that, irresponsilble and young as they seemed, most of the officers had seen quite a large share of active service. The command- ing officer proved to be a very interesting and like- able chap. Everyone hates to be on prison duty, it's so dull,', he told Porter. Therels not much to do, and be- sides, it's uncomfortable. ft's like living on the edge of a volcano, one never knows when the prisoners are going to revolt. Every so often they do, he continued philosophically. Where do they obtain their arms ?,' asked Porter. We do not know, replied his host with a shrug. Somewhere they get them, but we have always put down any such attempts with little trouble. We are hampered by never having sufficient force of troops stationed here at the prisonf, After dinner they went up on the tower where Porter had been left by his friends. They sat on the parapet, the dark sky set with brilliant stars above them, and the yellow lights of the town spread out gleaming below them, and smoked and talked. Aboutieleven o'cloek they went down-stairs and were just about to separate for the night, when a noise as of men running was heard. Almost im- mediately as they listened there came shouts and a heavy crash. A guard dashed into the room, and talked rapidly and excitedly to the commandante, who nodded comprehension, gave some orders in a calm voice to his men, and shouted a command to the guards in the corridors. ' f-fis smiling and easy-going manner had quite van- ished when he turned to Porterg he looked serious, but alert and calm. ft is as l feared, he said, the prisoners have mutinied. lt has come sooner than f expected. The guards received sufficient warning to enable them to close the wooden gates leading to the rear court-

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THE DRAWBRIDGE Nineteen-Twenty assaults of the prisoners. At last, urged by the captain, who seemed to be absolutely fearless and to be everywhere at once, the guards made a quick charge, the resistance of the prisoners was broken, and they surrendered. A ' The reinforcements from the barracks arrived about fifteen minutes after the fighting had ceased. They were led by the general in person, who com- manded that the gates be opened, and entered at the head of his troops. T am very glad that we succeeded in forcing the prisoners to surrender without the aid of the troops from the barracks, said the captain to Porter, for now they will change the garrison here and we will all have more favorable places of duty assigned to us as a reward for our braveryf' As dawn was breaking they had breakfast in the same room in which they had had dinner the night before. In the uncompromising light of day they all looked quite different than they had several hours earlier. But despite their disheveled appearances, and their tired attitudes, they were all ready to make iokes about the night's experience. They were pro- fuse in their admiration for Porter's part in the Hght, and almost embarrassed him by their expres- sions of praise. As for Porter, he was in excellent humor, although extremely weary, already the experience of the night was losing some of its seriousness and assuming the attributes of a good adventure. A little later Porter's friends arrived. News of the fight had reached them at breakfast and they had hastened to the prison. They were hysterically glad to hnd him unhurt, and he had to take upon himself the role of hero before his admiring friends as the captain graphically described his courageous con- duct. Q After bidding farewell to his host, Porter found himself once more in the midst of his friends, out- side the prison in the bright sunlight of the early morning. After they had gone a little distance he looked back at the Watchtower ofthe prison. lt seems as if I must have dreamed all of last night, he murmured. A glance at his clothes, how- ever, convinced him of the reality of his experiences. His appearance bore all the earmarks of battle. His reflections on the events of the night were interrupted by the voice of one of his friends at his elbow. As soon as we get back to the hotel you must hurry and change your clothes, for we're going to see an old church outside the city today. It won't be tir- ing, because we'll ride there and back, but it's some- thing you shouldn't miss, and today is the only time we have in which to see it. Again the unending round of sight-seeing! Hurry up so we can see everything! admonish- ed his friends as they arrived at the hotel, we'll wait for youf' Well, for a time Porter was willing to let others plan his days for him. The night of action was ample recompense for many weary days of following the guides and looking at interesting ruins. For a time at least, he would resign himself to the conventional: he had had enough of radical change and excitement for that day, at least. All right, l'll be ready in ten minutesf' he re- plied as he ascended the stairsf, Contributed by Doroihy Quigley, ISU