CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH
THE REVOLT OF THE KALMUCK MINERS
While Lawrence was thus making his first essays in an apprenticeship tosoldiering, his brother had found work to do which outran the littlemilitary experience he had gained.
After giving Lawrence the signals agreed on, Bob steered straight up thevalley. His mind was very busy during the half-hour's flight to themine. The management of the aeroplane had become so much a matter ofhabit and instinct that he was able to give a good deal of attention tohis thoughts and imaginings. Telling Fazl to keep a good look-out, hesought to grapple with the strange problems so suddenly thrust upon him.
First and greatest of them all was the meaning of the concentration oftroops at the mouth of the valley. He dismissed as patently absurd theidea that their objective was his uncle's mine. The gathering of solarge a force for so trifling an end would be like employing asteam-hammer to crack a nut. He could not avoid the conclusion thattheir presence was quite independent of Nurla Bai, though on the otherhand Nurla Bai's actions had probably been calculated with the knowledgeor suspicion that a body of his countrymen was at hand.
What then was the explanation of the muster? The direction of theirmarch, and the fact that they had thrown forward an advanced guard intothe valley itself, seemed to indicate an intention to proceed throughthe valley to some further goal. What was that goal? He remembered theintelligence that had come in at odd times, of a levy _en masse_ of theMongols, and his uncle's suspicion that the Mongolian prince wasmeditating an attack on Russia. But this was not the way to Russia.Could it be that Afghanistan was the object of an invasion? Bob'sknowledge of the geography of the region was not very extensive, but heknew that, if Afghanistan was their objective, this valley was one ofthe most toilsome and indirect routes they could have chosen. Thepasses of the Hindu Kush to the westward offered few or no obstacles toan invading force; it was by these passes that the Mongolian hordes hadalways made their inroads, from the earliest times. Not only would thenature of the valley render the advance of a large army extremelyarduous and prolonged; if the invaders should traverse it successfully,they would find themselves at what was probably the most intricate andinaccessible portion of the Amir's dominions. It would be like marchingfrom London to Chester through the Welsh mountains, with everydifficulty monstrously exaggerated. Wellington's passage of thePyrenees was a slight operation compared with it.
What other end could they have in view? The valley ran southward, andled ultimately of course to India, but an invasion of India by thisroute was too ridiculous to be considered seriously. Ambitious as theMongol prince was, it was scarcely conceivable that he could entertainsuch a notion, unless he had taken leave of his senses. The twentythousand men now encamped at the mouth of the valley would need to bemultiplied ten or twenty times before there would be the slightestchance of success. There might, in truth, be many more such army corpsmassed farther northward; but the task of pushing an invading force,adequate to the undertaking, through the narrow gorges of the valley,where for long stretches three horsemen could not ride abreast, with thenecessary artillery, ammunition wagons and commissariat, would prove toomuch for the most consummate military organizer. It would take so longthat a defending force on the north-west frontier could cut up the moreadvanced sections long before the rest could move up to their support.In short, the whole idea was fantastic, and Bob called himself an assfor even thinking of it.
Giving up this question as beyond his conjecture, Bob bent his mind uponthe problem that immediately concerned him. This was a sufficientlyhard nut to crack. The Kalmucks, whatever their ultimate intentionmight be, were clearly to be regarded as enemies. On that point theiractions were quite conclusive. Whether he owed their aggressiveness toNurla Bai or not, they were a menace to the mine and its owners. NurlaBai would certainly take advantage of their proximity to attempt tocapture the settlement, and no doubt could command the assistance of asmany men as he needed.
It is not surprising that Bob's heart sank with dismay as he reckoned upthe puny force he had to pit against such overwhelming numbers. Of allhis people, only the handful of Sikhs were trained to war. The Pathanswere warriors by nature, but he doubted how far he could rely on theirloyalty. At present, it was true, they were deeply incensed against theKalmucks; but whether they, if called upon, would take definite sidesagainst their racial enemies in face of the enormous odds arrayedagainst them, was a matter on which there was room for grave doubt. TheKalmuck labourers at the mine were a further complication. They wouldcertainly make common cause with their own countrymen as soon as thesecame within striking distance. Alone they out-numbered the Sikhs andPathans by two to one.
The more Bob thought of all this, the more anxious and depressed hebecame. He wondered whether it was wise to attempt to stem the humantorrent that would soon be pouring up the valley. Would not the bettercourse be to come to terms with the Kalmucks, abandon the mine, and setoff with all speed for India? Hitherto, it was true, the enemy had givenhim no opportunity for negotiating. They had been the aggressors,unprovoked; and his determination hardened when he remembered the fateof Mr. Appleton. But as there was just a possibility that no sort ofconcert existed between the Kalmuck army and Nurla Bai, the idea ofmaking terms with the former was not wholly negligible.
So far as his immediate duty was concerned, Bob was quite clear in hismind. It was to secure the retreat of Lawrence and his little party.In order to reach the mine they would have to pass the quarters of theKalmuck miners. The bridge down-stream being broken, Bob could notsuppose that Lawrence would be so hotly pursued as to endanger hisreturn. But with temper high among the workers at the mine, some caremight be needed to prevent an explosion when the Pathans came up. Thefirst thing to be done was to devise some means by which Lawrence andhis men could reach the settlement in safety. Allowing for thedifficulties of the track, they could hardly, even though mounted,arrive until late in the afternoon. He had the whole day in which tomake his preparations.
Bob did not think out the position as consecutively as his thoughts arepresented here. His busy mind flitted from one point to another doublingon itself, as it were. And his reflections were suddenly interrupted byan exclamation from his companion. The Gurkha, having no mental puzzlesto work out, had been able to give undivided attention to his master'sinstructions. As before, his keener eye had detected what Bob, even ifless preoccupied, could scarcely have perceived so soon. Far ahead,over the valley, there lay a long dark streak which in a less clearatmosphere than that of this highland region might have been taken for awisp of cloud. But Fazl made no such mistake.
"Smoke, sahib!" he cried.
The words gave Bob a shiver of apprehension. Was it possible that themine-buildings were on fire? He felt almost overwhelmed at the thought.With every succeeding second in his swift flight it became more and morelikely that this was the explanation. While still many miles distant,he recognized that the smoke must have its origin somewhere at least inthe neighbourhood of the mine. Fast as the aeroplane was flying, hewished that for a few minutes he could double its speed. But when atlast he opened up the reach of the river bordering the mine, he saw withjoy that the smoke was rising, not from the compounds on the right, butfrom the miners' quarters on the opposite bank.
A slight breeze was blowing from the north-west, carrying the smoke upthe valley. In a few more seconds Bob saw that the conflagration wasconfined to the Pathan portion of the camp. As he turned a slight bendand had a view of the whole settlement, a hasty glance assured him thatthere was no sign of injury in the mine compounds. Flying on, henoticed a number of figures in the compounds below, apparently the Sikhson guard. The Kalmuck camp was deserted; between it and the burninghuts of the Pathans, and up the bank of the river, he caught sight of anumber of prostrate forms here and there. Then above the whirr of thepropeller he heard, far in the distance, the sound of firing. It camefrom up the river. A
t that moment Bob felt as a small schoolboy feelswhen suddenly plunged into a new subject--say the binomial theorembefore he has mastered quadratic equations. Here was a fresh problembefore the others were solved. But he held on his course, wheeled roundat the usual place, and flying back alighted once more on his platform.
"Just see to things while I go on," he said to Fazl.
When he was half-way along the cantilever pathway he caught sight ofDitta Lal waddling towards him at a pace dangerous to a man ofapoplectic habit.
"Oh, sir," gasped the Babu as they met, "horrors upon horror's headaccumulate. Pelion is heaped on Ossa. Misfortunes come, not as singlespies, but in battalions."
"What has happened?" said Bob shortly: he was always impatient of theBabu's determination that no one should forget he was a Calcutta B.A.
And then Ditta Lal, driven to brevity by shortness of breath and thedifficulty of keeping pace with Bob's long strides, related theoccurrences of the past hour.
Very shortly after Bob had left the mine in his aeroplane, when thedomestic staff were at breakfast, and the Sikhs were engaged in carryingout his instructions, a clamour had suddenly broken out on the otherside of the river. Looking across, they had seen the whole body ofKalmuck miners rushing tumultuously over the neutral ground into thePathans' quarters. Before Gur Buksh could order his men to fire, thetwo parties were inextricably mixed. For a few seconds there had been awild, fierce conflict; then the Pathans, taken by surprise andhopelessly outnumbered, fled like deer up the track, pursued by theKalmucks. Some of these paused for a little to fire and plunder thePathans' huts, then sped after their comrades. By this time Gur Bukshhad lined his men up near the drawbridge and ordered them to fire at theKalmucks. Several of them dropped, and there lay with them on the grounda few of the Pathans who, unable to get away in time, had fallen totheir enemies' knives.
Gur Buksh had been ordered not to leave the mine with his men, and trueto his military discipline he had obeyed his instructions to the letter.But Chunda Beg had sent over some of the servants to bring in thewounded men, among whom were several Kalmucks. The former were nowbeing tended in the outhouses; the latter were locked up in one of thesheds. Meanwhile the Pathans and their pursuers had disappeared alongthe track. Ever since, sounds of firing had been heard intermittently,growing fainter and fainter. It was clear that the Pathans were stillin retreat, and also that, in spite of the surprise, some of them atleast had managed to snatch up their arms before they ran. By this timethey must be several miles away.
"What was the cause of the outbreak?" asked Bob.
Ditta Lal could only suggest that it was due to sudden madness inspiredby the Furies. Bob left him, to consult the havildar. He was utterlyperplexed. It seemed as though there were electric communicationbetween the Kalmuck miners and their countrymen down-stream, for theycould not have heard already of what had happened forty miles away.
It was not merely perplexing, but a staggering blow. Bob had reckonedon employing the Pathans to garrison the mine if resistance should beconsidered possible, or at least on forming a compact body to accompanyhis retreat if he should feel it necessary to abandon the place.Apparently they were now hopelessly dispersed, and he could not helpthinking that such of them as escaped the guns of their pursuers wouldhasten up the valley towards their homes. At that moment he almost madeup his mind that his only course was to follow them as quickly as hecould: the defence of the mine seemed utterly impossible.
Then another element of the situation forced itself upon his tiredbrain. The Kalmucks, when they had driven the Pathans away, woulddoubtless return. If they were allowed to get past the mine, Lawrenceand his party would be completely cut off. They could scarcely arrivebefore nightfall; there was ample time for the Kalmucks to hurry back,and force their way past, even though the rifles of the Sikhs mightaccount for some of them. The interception of Lawrence must beprevented at all costs, and in the necessity of devising some means tothis end Bob had no leisure to acquaint Gur Buksh with his morning'sdiscovery.
"We must keep the Kalmucks off till Lawrence Sahib is back," he said."How can we do it?"
"Bring the machine gun to the south wall, sahib," replied the old Sikh.
"Yes; you'll have to make an embrasure. The gun will command the trackfor half a mile along the straight, and they won't face it. There'sanother thing, havildar. Send some men over to the other side to bringin all the food they can collect, and any arms they may find. Thehorses too: there are only three or four left, and we must make shift tokeep them on this side. Just set about it at once."
The havildar saluted and withdrew.
Bob lighted a cigarette, and paced up and down, thinking hard. If onlyMajor Endicott or some other experienced soldier were at hand to advise!He felt weighed down by his responsibilities; yet beneath all hisanxieties, there was a large reserve of courage and resolution. Hewatched the Sikhs dragging the machine gun across the compound.Undoubtedly it would check the Kalmucks as they marched back towards themine. But he wondered whether it would be wise to use it. It wouldcost many lives; the slaughter of the miners would infuriate theirfellow-countrymen, and destroy any chance there might be of making termswith them. Yet there seemed no other means of assuring his brother'ssafe return.
Following in imagination the pursuit along the river bank, he thought ofthe Pathans and their fate. He listened for rifle-shots; but the soundshad ceased. By this time, no doubt, the chase had gone beyond hearing.Perhaps it had ceased; perhaps the Pathans were all slaughtered by theirmore numerous foes; perhaps the Kalmucks were content to have driventhem away, and the survivors were trudging a weary march to the bordersof their own land. What would their fate be? They had no food: thecountry was barren: they must surely fall a prey to fatigue, exposureand famine, or to hostile tribes _en route_, long before they could hopefor hospitality. This dismal prospect made Bob very uncomfortable.After all, these men were the most loyal and law-abiding of his uncle'sworkers; it seemed cruel to let them go without lifting a hand to helpthem. Yet what could he do? No doubt if he were to lead the Sikhs topursue the Kalmucks in their turn, with their military training, few asthey were, they might crush the undisciplined rabble. But he dared notthus leave the mine ungarrisoned. It would be long, indeed, before theKalmucks could arrive from the north unless the unexpected happened; butso many unexpected and inexplicable things had happened during the lasttwenty-four hours that he could not take any action that would involverisk either to Lawrence or to the non-combatants at the mine.
As he paced to and fro, watching the Sikhs going quickly about theirwork, and the servants returning over the drawbridge, laden with whatthey had gathered from the miners' quarters, it occurred to him suddenlythat if only the aeroplane were equipped for war some of hisdifficulties would be solved. He had intended to qualify for the aerialcorps in the British army, but that dream was over: flying had been tohim merely a sport. Could he have foreseen the strange circumstances ofthe last few days, he would have adapted his machine, not merely forpleasure trips and observation, but for actual offence.
One idea leads to another, and next minute Bob was asking himselfwhether even now he could not make an attempt to turn the aeroplane tomilitary uses. A few bombs dropped among or near the Kalmucks would putan effective check upon their pursuit of the Pathans. He had no bombs;could he improvise some? There was plenty of dynamite in the littlerecess behind the house. And in another moment a plan flashed upon hismind. Flinging away the end of his cigarette he hurried to Ditta Lal'sstore shed.
"Babu, have you got any small empty tins?" he asked, bursting into theroom.
Ditta Lal jumped.
"My nerves are in terrible state, sir," he said. "Tins! Yes, to besure: coffee, preserved pears, condensed milk, sardines--or morecorrectly, bristlings: tins of all sorts, quite an embarrassment."
"Get me a dozen or two tins with lids: there are several tobacco tins inthe house. Fill them nearly to the top with small stones, with a fewp
ercussion caps among them: you'll get them from the havildar. Be asquick as you can."
"Pardon me, sir, are you intending to lay a mine, floating orotherwise?"
Bob had not waited for the conclusion of the question, but hurried tothe little private store behind the house, from which he returnedpresently with a quantity of dynamite. The Babu was too slow for him.He sent Chunda Beg and Shan Tai hunting for tins, and as they wereprepared according to his directions, he carefully filled them up withdynamite and securely fastened the lids. When he had fifteen ready, heput them into a basket, and carried them himself along the pathway tothe aeroplane. Fazl had meanwhile got everything ready for anotherflight.
"You know what a bomb is, Fazl?" said Bob.
The Gurkha grinned.
"Well, these tins are bombs. Put them just below your seat: take carenot to drop one. We are going up the river: give me the tins one by oneas I ask for them."
They started. For the first mile or two Bob kept very low over theriver, seeing here and there, at long intervals, traces of the fightwaged between the Pathans and the Kalmucks--figures lying prone andmotionless, others sitting with their backs against the rocks, one ortwo limping painfully along. Presently he heard the dull cracks ofrifles, though as yet he could not see the combatants. As the soundsgrew louder, he rose higher: with his explosive cargo on board it wasmore than ever necessary that he should keep out of range. Experiencehad already shown him that the aeroplane in full flight was a verydifficult object to hit with ordinary weapons; but nothing must be leftto chance now.
The Air Patrol: A Story of the North-west Frontier Page 15