by Lewis Hough
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
TOUCH AND GO!
Tired men cannot go on talking all night, even about the events of anexciting day, and one by one our friends rolled themselves up in theircoats and went off to sleep. And how the unfortunates on sentry-goenvied them! That was an infliction which Tantalus escaped, but itmight well compare with those which have caused his name to be embodiedin our language.
To feel that the lives of a number of other people as well as your owndepend on your keeping extremely wide awake, when you are dead beat andhave to fight against the strongest possible inclination to doze even asyou walk about, is really no light trial of fortitude, though it is notreckoned amongst the hardships of campaigning. But if you are withinsight of your sleeping comrades, and within hearing of their snores, itbecomes doubly exasperating, and might really sour the temper if it werenot for the consolatory reflection that another time _you_ will be thehappy sleeper, and one of the present performers on the nose will belistening to your efforts to play upon that organ.
It has been whispered that evil men when on sentry have been known tofeel a grim delight in an alarm which has dissipated the slumber oftheir comfortable comrades, but we may surely hope that this isslanderous. However that may be, the slumbers of those who were notkept awake by the pain of wounds or by duty the night after El Teb werenot disturbed, and next day the main body, after a guard had been leftat the wells, went on to Tokar.
"Do you think they will fight?" asked Green of one of his seniors duringa short halt.
"Sure to," replied the other. "You saw for yourself what determineddemons they are, and it is not likely that they will give up a placethey have only just taken without striking a blow for it."
"Do you think they will fight?" asked Tom Strachan of another, not inthe hearing of the first oracle, who had moved away.
"Not they!" responded the second. "After such a licking as they gotyesterday all the fight will be taken out of them."
"Which shall we believe, Green?" said Tom presently.
"It is very puzzling," replied the inquiring mind. "Suppose we wait andsee before we make up our minds."
"A Daniel come to judgment!" exclaimed Strachan. "A second Daniel! We_will_ wait."
"Hulloa! There's Charley Halton!" as a smart young cavalry officercantered past with a message, having delivered which he came to exchangegreetings with his friends.
One of the most enviable of mortals was Halton, a lad who might be themodel for either painter or poet in search of an ideal hero. Handsome,strong, active, acquiring proficiency in all games and athleticexercises almost instinctively, a horseman with the hands of a Chaloner,and the seat of a Land, endowed with a bright intelligence which seizedthe common sense of things, and comprehended the meaning of an order aswell as its literal injunctions, and a happy disposition which made atrouble of nothing, he was a general favourite wherever he went. He wasattached as a galloper--or bearer of orders--to the General's staff,but, being employed to take a message the day before to his ownregiment, he charged with them, and the officers of the Blankshire whoknew him, and witnessed the charge from a distance, were anxious to knowfor certain what had occurred, the reports which had reached them beingtoo contradictory for reliance.
"Well, Charley, did you eat them all yesterday?"
"Not quite; we have left a few for you. Eat them, by Jove! They werenear eating us."
"Why, you seemed to go through them grandly."
"Yes, but it was like going through water, which closes on you as yougo. The beggars lay flat, or crouched in holes, and cut at the horsesas they passed, to hamstring or maim them; and good-bye to the poorfellow whose horse fell! We ought to have had lances, and it would havebeen a very different tale. But the troopers' swords could not reachthe beggars, who are as lithe as monkeys. If they had run it would havebeen easy to get a cut at them; so it would if they had stood up. Butthey were as cool as cucumbers, and dodged just at the right moment. Ofcourse some were not quite so spry as others, and got cut down; it was acase of the survival of the fittest. What acrobats they would be intime if this game lasted long enough!
"But it was like a nightmare. You know when you have a dream that youare trying to kill something which won't die; some beast of the eelpersuasion. We went through them, cutting all we knew; re-formed; cameback, doing ditto; through them a third time; and _then_ there was nosatisfaction worth calling such. The fellows were broken up indeed, anda good lot were sabred, but not so many as there ought to have beenafter undergoing one cutting up, let alone three. And the scatteredindividuals still showed fight. And we lost awfully; no wonder, for Iwill tell you what I saw.
"A man rode at an Arab who fired and missed him, and then seized hisspear, with the apparent intention of meeting him as an infantry soldiershould, according to Cocker. But when the horse was two yards from himhe fell flat as a harlequin. The trooper leant over on the off side aslow as he could and cut at the beggar, but could not reach him, and themoment he was past, the Arab jumped up and thrust his spear through himfrom behind. I never saw anything done so quickly in all my life; itwas like magic.
"There was a clever old soldier who was not to be done that way; when hesaw he could not get at his Arab, he slipped off his horse before youcould say `knife,' parried his spear-thrust, ran him through the body,and was up again like a shot. But it was heart-breaking businessaltogether; you should have seen the horses afterwards, cut aboutawfully, poor things; and we lost heavily in men too. The Colonel hashad the dead Arabs' spears collected, and armed his regiment with them;and if they get another chance, you will see much more satisfactorybusiness, I expect. But I must be off."
And off accordingly he went, his horse seeming pleased and proud tocarry and obey him. And on went the brigade also towards Tokar.
Oracle number two proved the correct one; the enemy made no stand at theplace, but streamed away at their approach, while the inhabitants cameout to greet them with every demonstration of joy and gratitude.
Interpreters were few, and apt to be absorbed by senior officers, but itwas gathered afterwards that the Tokarites were denouncing the Mahdi asa false prophet and heretic, whose soldiers had despoiled them of theirgoods, and only spared their lives on condition of their believing inhim, and this condition they had thought it best to pretend to complywith, though their consciences rebuked them sorely for the pretendedapostacy.
But though our friends of the First Blankshire could not understand allthis, whatever officers of other corps may have done, the pantomime ofthe men, women, and children was unmistakable, and was only intended toexpress the most enthusiastic delight.
"I shall never make it out," said Green. "Have we relieved the placeafter all, then?"
"Cannot say; we shall find out, perhaps in general orders."
"Catch a newspaper correspondent; he will tell you all about it."
"At any rate, the gratitude of the poor people is quite touching."
"Not quite, thank goodness!" cried Fitzgerald; "at any rate so far as Iam concerned; though a horrid old woman who cannot have washed foryears, and who tainted the air with the rancid fat in her hair for yardsround, tried to kiss me. But I dodged round the major's horse, and lefther to him. In my humble opinion, we want the square formation quite asmuch to meet our native friends as our enemies."
Major Elmfoot got away from his demonstrative female, and rode up to thegroup.
"They seem very fond of us, sir," said Stacy.
"Yes," responded the major. "I wonder whether they went through thesame performance when the Mahdi's army arrived."
"But they showed fight, and he took the place by storm, did he not,sir?"
"I really do not know; a spy said so. But the place does not lookknocked about at all, and the people seem very jolly. I should not besurprised if the whole thing were a farce, and Tokar had not beenbesieged or taken at all."
"Then you do not think they are genuine in their welcome, sir?"
"
I do not say that; these people have shops of a sort, I believe, and acustomer is a customer all the world over."
The troops bivouacked outside Tokar, where nothing further occurred ofany interest, and shortly afterwards they tramped back to the wells atEl Teb, and so to Trinkitat, where they were re-embarked as quickly asmight be, and steamed round to Suakim, which now became the base ofoperations.
And soon Trinkitat was entirely abandoned, and since no natives livedthere (how could they when they had no fresh water?) the place ceased tobe a place at all in any rational sense of the word.
You may have heard the old explanation of how a cannon is made: "youtake a hole, and pour a lot of melted iron round it." Well, Trinkitatwas a hole, and the English store-houses tents, soldiers, horses, camelswere poured round it, and when they were withdrawn, nothing but the holeremained. But Suakim was a considerable place, built of coral too, andvery interesting in its way to some people. And what was of moreconsequence, there were many good wells close by, from which water couldbe obtained all the year round.
Suakim itself, as has been explained before, is built on an island, butthe British camp was on the mainland, within the circuit of earthworkswhich protected the town and harbour. It was on the eighth of Marchthat the First Blankshire were landed at this camp. The look of thehouses in the town disappointed some of them now they were closer.
"They don't look like coral at all," said Tom Strachan. "If I had notbeen told I should have thought they were the ordinary sun-dried brickaffairs whitewashed."
"I vote we have a regular inspection of them on the first opportunity,"said Edwards, "and settle the matter once for all."
"It would be kind to posterity," replied Tom.
"If you have so much time to spare, which I very much doubt," saidMacBean, "you will employ it better in visiting a very pretty place anda curious. There is just a gap in the earthworks which protects Suakim,a regular breach as one may say, which has to be defended by two strongworks, which the sailors have given the names of ships to--Euryalus andCarysfoot they call them. And why is the gap left? And why are the twoforts made to defend it instead of filling it up? Just because therains, which some don't believe in, make a torrent in the proper season,and this is the watercourse, and everything which barred its passagewould be swept into the sea."
"I recant and apologise," said Green. "The rain quite convinced me ofits existence at Baker's Fort, I promise you. But you know you sold meso often that I hardly knew what to believe."
"I never practise upon anybody's credulity in matters of that sort,"said the doctor. "If a young man likes to believe that the moon is madeof green cheese, I may let him; but atmospheric and scientific facts areabove being trifled with. Well, if you go through this gap, which isbarely a mile off, you will find a very pretty place--the wells, andsycamore trees, and dates. Just the place to spend a happy day. And ifyou take a bottle or two of champagne, and a _pate de foie gras_, Ishall not mind if I make one of the party, and show you the objects ofinterest."
But such a pic-nic was not destined to come off, nor was there even anyopportunity given for testing the coral theory, for there was plenty ofwork to be done at the moment, and on the eleventh the intendingpleasure-seekers started for Baker's zereba at six o'clock in theevening.
Baker Pasha's Egyptians, though they had not proved much good atfighting, and had paid the penalty of their cowardice by undergoing amassacre which made the world thrill with horror, were very useful tothe avenging force which followed so quickly on their traces. The fortthey had constructed near Trinkitat had done much to help the rapid andsuccessful advance upon Tokar; and now the zereba they had made eightmiles out from Suakim, and in the direction in which Osman Digna laywith his whole army, made a good first halting-place for the Englishtroops. A zereba, it should be mentioned, is an enclosed spacesurrounded by thorn-covered bushes cut down and packed round it, withold packing-cases, or anything else which will afford cover to thoseinside. This one was particularly strong, being further protected by amound of earth all round it.
When the force, which was the same as before, with the addition of twohundred Marines, and a mule battery of four nine-pounders, had gone somelittle way, night fell, but not darkness, for a bright moon lent themher rays. Not such a moon as we are accustomed to in these latitudes,but a large brilliant orb, by whose light small print might be easilyread.
"You have got the best of it," said MacBean, who rode up first to onefriend amongst the officers and then to another, detailing informationwhich he managed to pick up, he himself best knew how; but it was, as arule, exceptionally correct. "The Highlanders, who marched out to thezereba yesterday in the heat, suffered awfully. There were five casesof sunstroke, and lots of other men had a narrow squeak of being bowledover too."
"I can easily imagine it," replied Major Elmfoot, "for it was hot enoughin camp."
"It is not exactly what you would call bracing to-night, even," saidFitzgerald.
And, indeed, the air was very close, and the march over the loose sandfatiguing. But the men stepped out merrily, and joke and song lightenedthe way. There was an improvisatore in the Blankshire, whose comradesconsidered him a wonderful genius, though, as a matter of fact, hisextempore effusions only consisted of taking some well-known song, andaltering certain words or lines to suit a particular occasion.
But this was far more successful than original composition would havebeen, because it was so readily understood and caught up; and the manwas really shrewd, and often hit on something appropriate.
He now trolled out in a clear, ringing voice, with every word distinct,a new version of "The Poacher":--
"When I was bound apprentice in a village of Blanksheer, I served my master truly for close upon a year; But now I serves her Majesty, as you shall quickly hear, For 'tis my delight of a shiny night, in the season of the year."
And then the chorus broke out far and wide:--
"For 'tis my delight of a shiny night, in the season of the year."
And the lads laughed at the aptness of the "shiny night," for that wasevident to the dullest capacity. Thus encouraged, he tried a secondverse:--
"As the soldiers and the sailors was a marching to his lair, Old Digna he was watching us, for him we didn't care; For the bayonet beats the spear when he rushes on our square, And 'tis my delight by day or night to beat the Johnnies fair."
Towards the end of the eight miles march indeed there was less singingand laughing, for throats were dry and legs weary. What, in eight milesand at night-time? Well, the next time you are staying at a sea sideplace, where there is plenty of sand, you try walking along it, notwhere it is firm, but higher up from the sea, where you sink over yourankles at every step; if you can borrow a rifle and a hundred rounds ofball cartridge and carry that too, you will be able to form a still morejust opinion; but, even without that, I invite you to consider how manymore miles of it you want when you have gone four. But if they weretired and thirsty they were full of spirit, and it would only haverequired the sight of an enemy to make them as lively as crickets again.
It was midnight when they arrived, and they bivouacked outside thezereba in the square formation, every man lying down in the place hewould occupy if the force were attacked, so that if the alarm sounded,he had only to snatch up his rifle and rise to his feet, and he wasready for anything.
But they were not disturbed, and rested till noon on the 12th, whendinner was eaten, and after it, at 1 p.m., they started once more tofind the foe. As you draw cover after cover to find a fox, so in thedesert you try watering-places when you are seeking game of any kind,quadruped or biped. And thus information was obtained that Osman Dignahad a camp where all his forces were massed at Tamai, a valley wellsupplied with the precious fluid, nine miles from the zereba.
Once more was theory knocked over by experience. If there is one thingupon which most people feel quite confident about with regard to Egyptand the surrounding country, it is that the atmosp
here is alwaysperfectly clear, so that objects are only hidden from the eye byintervening high ground or the curve of the earth. For, as you probablyknow, anything on a (so called) level surface like the sea may bevisible if the atmosphere allows it for ten miles, to a man on the sameplane the shore say; but beyond that distance it gets so far round theglobe we inhabit as to be hidden. Of course the taller it is the longerthe top of it can be seen, as you will often perceive a ship's top mastsafter the hull and lower spars have vanished.
Or, on the other hand, the higher the ground you stand on the furtherround the earth's curve you can see; so that a man living on the top ofa high mountain has a longer day than one on a flat, since the sun risesearlier and sets later for him.
But it was neither high ground nor the dip of the horizon which boundedthe view of those quitting the zereba, but a thick, grey, British haze,which swallowed up everything a thousand yards in front, and out ofwhich the Arab hosts might pour at any moment. The order of advance wasdifferent on this occasion, two squares instead of one being formed, theright under General Buller, and the left being commanded by GeneralDavis. The guns were dragged with ropes by men of the Naval Brigade--atug of war with a vengeance. The haze being so thick would have made itdifficult to go straight for the enemy's position had the informationbeen as uncertain as was sometimes the case, but happily it had beenascertained that if they took a south-west course they could not go farwrong, and the compass came to their aid.
The cavalry marched in rear of the square, with the exception of thescouts, who with the Mounted Infantry explored the ground in front,preventing the possibility of a surprise. Tramp, tramp, mile aftermile, hour after hour, plodded the two brigades, with many a halt toenable the man-drawn guns to keep with them. But tedium and fatiguewere thought nothing of. The man who would consider a five-mile walkwithout an object a frightful infliction would think nothing of ten witha gun in his hand, and the chance of game getting up every minute. Itis the same with all sports. How far across country could you run alonefor the mere sake of exercise? And how far in a paper-chase, with thehare to run down and other hounds to compete with? Think how thisstimulating excitement must be intensified when there is an enemy infront of you certain to fight well, and make you do all you know to beathim. After awhile the haze grew thinner, and a range of hills loomedthrough it in the distance.
As the atmosphere grew clearer these became distinct, and were seen tobe low, while a higher range rose above them beyond. On towards thehigher ground slowly moved the two brigades, with a total front of from400 to 500 yards, the scouts spread in a cloud before them, and thesewere now amongst the spurs of the lower hills.
Presently a couple of them came galloping back with the report thatthese were clear of the enemy, who were massed further behind, and werewatching the English advance. And then a group of mounted infantry wereseen returning at a slower pace.
"Look!" cried Strachan, whose eyes were remarkably good; "they havecaught some natives."
And sure enough the troopers could presently be distinguished, coming onin a semi-circle, driving before them a group of men who were unarmed,and declared themselves friendly, or at least no adherents of the Mahdi,Osman Digna, or any votaries of the new Mohammedan heresy. This mightbe true, but the officer with the scouts thought the general had betterdecide so knotty a point, and so they were thus brought before him,travelling perhaps a little quicker than they were accustomed to, butotherwise uninjured.
"That's the way to run fellows in!" cried Tom, enthusiastically. "Afellow, you see, is bound to go straight when he has several riflespointed at his head in cold blood. There goes the interpreter. I wishthe colonel would just go up and hear what it is about, because he wouldtell the major, and the major would tell the captains loud enough for uspoor subs to hear, perhaps."
"The colonel knows his duty," said Fitzgerald, "and does not intrudeupon the general unless he is sent for."
"I know he doesn't, but I wish he did," replied Tom. "However, we shallget it all out of old MacBean."
And sure enough, soon after the captured natives had been pumped dry anddismissed, the doctor rode up.
"No fighting for you, my boys," he said. "The Arabs won't meet you thistime, I expect, and you have had your walk for nothing. I expect thatthey see that the sun will lick us single-handed, and they need not takethe trouble."
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, at El Teb, you know, they kept their women and boys with them,and these carried hatchets to kill our wounded with after the fight."
"That's their notion of surgery," said Tom, in a very audible aside.
"It goes more directly to its result than ours."
"Wait till you come under my hands, you young monkey! You will sing adifferent song then."
"I have no doubt you will hurt me more than Mrs Arab would, doctor; butthen you would cure me, you know, and she wouldn't."
"Never mind that cheeky boy, MacBean," said Fitzgerald. "Why won't theyfight now?"
"Because they have sent all their women and boys away, and that, thefriendly natives say, is a sure sign."
"Curious; it is just the other way on with other savage people, who sendtheir families off when they _do_ mean to fight."
"But the Arabs are only half savages; and besides they are quite unlikeother people. Why, their lucky day is Friday, and their unlucky dayWednesday."
"Yes," said Tom Strachan, "and Robinson Crusoe called his savage Friday,and these fellows calls their Prophet Tuesday."
"Tuesday! What _do_ you mean?" asked Major Elmfoot.
"Mardi is the French for Tuesday, is it not, sir?"
"Strachan, you are really too bad, to make such execrable puns in themiddle of the desert."
"That is it, sir? I thought even my poor flowers of speech might bewelcome in such a barren waste!"
Soon after this the colonel was called up to the brigadier, and when hereturned he communicated what he had been told to his officers. The lowhills being found clear of the enemy, it was intended to occupy them atonce, and then if possible to advance upon the camp and the wells, andcarry that position before nightfall. But this depended on whatdaylight they had, for rather than risk being overtaken by darkness inan unfavourable position, it was determined to form a zereba and waitfor the advance till next day.
"It is just four o'clock," said Strachan, looking at his watch as hereturned to his company; "and surely there must be a fair chance ofcarrying the wells before sunset, for I see a lot of the enemy on thehills beyond. Therefore I shall risk a drink," and he put his water-bottle to his lips accordingly.
"Hurrah! So will I," said Green.
"I have been fighting down the feeling of thirst for the last two hours.Do you know," he added, after a refreshing and yet a tantalisingirrigation of the mouth and throat, "I have been haunted by a sort ofwaking dream while plodding on in silence this afternoon. There was anold man who used to bring fruit and ginger-beer to the cricket-field atmy school, and he has kept rising up in my memory so vividly that Icould see every wrinkle in his face, and the strings which kept down thecorks of his brown stone bottles as vividly as if they were before me."
"I wish they were!" cried Tom. "By Jove, what a trade the man mightdrive if he could be transported here just now."
"Oh! And I have often scorned that nectarial fluid," groaned Edwards,"or only considered it as a tolerable ingredient of shandy--"
"Silence!" cried Strachan.
"Don't utter that word, or I shall simply go mad. It is quite badenough of the exasperating Green to allude to the homely pop, though onebore with it in consideration of the tender reminiscences of hischildhood; but human endurance has its limits."
Those who reckoned on carrying the wells that night were over sanguine;when the rising ground was reached the progress of the guns was veryslow; indeed, it was wonderful how the sailors managed to drag them onat all.
The atmosphere had now for some time become perfectly clear; and when
the infantry had surmounted the first hill they saw the broad valley ofTamai, and on the hills bounding it on the further side, correspondingwith the somewhat lower range, where they stood, the enemy's lines wereplainly discernible.
There were multitudes on foot, and others mounted, some on camels, someon horseback. The brigades halted, and the scouts pushed to the front,to unmask the enemy's position.
"Do you think we shall get on to-night, sir?" asked Major Elmfoot of thecolonel.
"Not a chance of it," replied the chief. "But let the men lie still andhave a good rest before they begin making the zereba."
So they did; even the youngest and most curious had learned by this timeto husband their strength and snatch forty winks whenever they got achance.
"They are at it!" cried Edwards presently, as crack! crack! was heard infront; and then a couple of volleys, followed by more single shots andmore volleys again, and then, when the work seemed getting really hot,sudden silence. Some object had been obtained, but what it was exactlyregimental officers could not know till they read all about it in thepapers afterwards. However, the question of advancing that evening,which had before been answered practically, was now settled officiallyin the negative, and the order to make the zereba was issued. Mimosaand cactus trees, many of them seven feet high, grew thickly around, sothere was no lack of material.
A position was chosen, protected on one side by a sand-hill, which madea natural rampart, and then parties were sent out to cut and bring inthe cactus and mimosa bushes, and these were arranged round the spacemarked out, forming a prickly barrier. And at the same time the groundwas cleared of cover where an enemy might lie concealed for from fiftyto a hundred yards in every direction, and that was space sufficient tostop any number of Arabs rushing across it with steady rifle-fire. Andit soon became evident that this was no mean advantage, for heads wereseen popping above the nearest bushes, on the borders of the zone whichhad been cleared, and it was evident that directly the scouts werewithdrawn the Arabs had followed up to the English position, and werenow prowling and prying around it.
As the wells could not be taken that night, and the horses could not dowithout water, the cavalry retraced their steps, and rode back toBaker's zereba, the point from which they had started in the morning.When they were gone the enemy entirely surrounded the zereba, which waslike a ship in the midst of angry waves, hungry for her destruction.While daylight lasted the men inside watched Osman Digna's seeminglyinnumerable soldiers dodging about, and when night fell the knowledgethat they were there unseen, and might attack on all sides at anymoment, was really calculated to try the nerves. For there is nothingmore unpleasant than the idea of any one pouncing upon you suddenly inthe dark. But the nerves of our friends were getting pretty wellseasoned by this time. Only Green, who was very frank, observed toStrachan that it seemed very lonely now the cavalry had gone. Mr Tom,to tell the truth, had the same feeling of isolation, and even his highspirits were rather damped.
"I will tell you what is lonely if you like," he said plaintively, "andthat is my last meal: it wants a companion very much indeed, and I couldfind plenty of room for it, and for a gallon or two of water besides."
"Yes, indeed," replied Green; "if one had a good square meal wellmoistened, one would feel, I think, that even the enemy were a sort ofcompany."
But food and water had run very short, and some of the men were faint.The colonel made them a little speech; he was not an orator, but what hesaid was generally practical.
His remarks on the present occasion were to the following effect--
"We are short of rations, both liquid and solid, men; but you haveplenty of cartridges, and the wells are but a mile and a half off, sothat we only want daylight to get as much water as we please."
They got a supply sooner than was expected, however, for at half-pastnine there was a bustle, and the sentries challenged; and, after a briefparley, a string of camels was admitted into the zereba, with water andother necessaries on their backs. Major Cholmondeley Turner had broughtthem over from Baker's zereba, and got them safely in clear of theArabs. He belonged to the Egyptian Carrier Corps, and you may imaginehow he was cheered.
The men lay down in lines two deep, leaving a space of twelve feetbetween the front rank and the hedge of the zereba. They wore theirgreat coats and slept with their rifles in their hands, the officersbeing in rear. In the twelve foot space which was left the sentriespatrolled, and there was no need to ingress the necessity of vigilanceupon them; the known vicinity of the enemy put them sufficiently on the_qui vive_.
All, however, was quiet till an hour after midnight, when the sleeperswere awakened by a tremendous fusillade, and a storm of bullets camerushing over the zereba. But as the men were lying down, or crouchingunder the hedge, only a few unfortunate animals were struck by theleaden shower.
To show, however, what absurd things men will do in a panic, an Egyptiancamel driver jumped, in his fright, over the prickly hedge, and ranalong it _outside_, exposed to the enemy's bullets. These failed tostrike him, but an English sentry inside naturally took him for an Arabtrying to force an entrance, and shot him dead. The firing was stillkept up by the enemy, and as some of the shots came lower, being sentthrough the hedges, the bivouac fires had to be put out, as their lightevidently guided the Soudanese in their aim. The night was cold, andthis was felt all the more after the heat of the day. And the men layshivering, unable to sleep, and wishing for day.
As Strachan lay thus, wrapping himself round as closely as he could inhis great coat, he heard a thud just in front of him, and the man lyingthere gave a gasp and straightened his limbs. Strachan rose and went tohim, asking--
"Are you hit, my lad?" But there was no answer; he was quite dead.
This, however, was the only fatal effect of some four or five hours'incessant firing, for the Arabs kept it up for the remainder of thenight.
At six o'clock the sun rose, and the enemy no longer had it all theirown way. A nine-pounder was run up to the zereba hedge, and pointed inthe direction from which the fusillade was hottest, and on another sidea Gardner was brought to bear on a bit of cover where the Arabsclustered thickly. Ere the sun was quite above the horizon the loudsharp report of the former cheered the hearts of those who had been sohemmed in and pestered, and a second or so after there was a second bangas the avenging shell burst right among the bushes a thousand yards off.At the same time the ger-r-er of the machine-gun told that its handlewas turning, and its deadly missiles tearing through the light cover.The effect was immediate; the enemy cleared off like midges from a puffof tobacco smoke, and retired across the valley to their own lines.
At eight o'clock the troops issued from the zereba and advanced, asbefore, in two squares in _echelon_, as it is called, which means thatone was in advance of the other, but not directly in front of it. If itwere, and the force were attacked, you will easily see that the rearside of the leading square and the front side of the following squarecould not fire at anything between them without injuring one another.Or if they were on a level, side by side, it would be the same thing,the faces opposite could not use their rifles without firing into eachother. But with one square a little in rear this danger is avoided, andeach can support the other. Take a pencil and paper and draw twosquares upon it if you do not see what I mean. Masses of the enemycould be seen crowning the hills in front and to the right, dark masseson the sides, distinct figures on the sky-line.
The route lay across dry water-courses, which were inconvenient for thesquare formation, the ranks being necessarily broken in descending andascending the sides, so causing little delays while the men closed intotheir places again when clear. But they pressed steadily on, the SecondBrigade leading. If the sun rose at six, why did not the troops marchbefore eight? You may ask. Because the cavalry had to return fromBaker's zereba, where they had gone the night before, you may remember,to water their horses. These now came to the front and spread outskirmishing. They were soon engaged wit
h the enemy, and the firing grewvery hot, forcing the skirmishers to retire, while the Arab massespressed on. The leading square now came to the edge of a large _nullah_or dry river-bed, sixty feet deep and two hundred yards wide, thicklystrewn with boulders, and having larger masses of rock rising from itsdepth.
This nullah was full of Arabs, crowds of whom swarmed up also to thefurther bank, and from these a heavy fire was poured upon the square,the other sides of which were also assailed. The First Blankshire wasin this brigade, but not on the side next the nullah, and the men werefiring rather wildly. For the first time since he joined Tom Strachansaw his captain, Fitzgerald, in a rage.
"You confounded idiots!" he yelled to his men, "what's the use of firingat them a mile off! What are you shooting at, Smith--a balloon? Youare no use at all, Strachan; why don't you make your section reservetheir fire? Steady, men, steady!"
All the other officers were making similar efforts, but for a time itwas no good. Bodies of Arabs kept sweeping round some seven hundredyards off, watching their chance for a dash, and the men would keepfiring at them, and, what was worse, hurriedly, without a cool aim.Indeed a good aim was not to be had, for they were only dimly seenthrough the smoke. And it was this probably which bothered the men; theground in front was rough, and might conceal enemies close to them;there were swarms in all directions, and they fired at those they got aglimpse of.
Neither was the distance anything like out of range, only recentexperience had shown that it required very severe concentration of fireat the closest quarters to make any impression on these brave Soudanese,and the losses which can be inflicted at seven hundred yards are slightcomparatively, especially if the aim is not very cool and deliberate.
"Cease firing!" at last shouted a superior officer, and the word beingpromptly echoed by all, and enforced by actually grasping the shouldersof the most excited and flurried men, it slackened at length, and thereseemed to be a good prospect of the unsteadiness calming down; and afterall, this burst of wild firing had only lasted about three minutes. Theatmosphere, however, was heavy; there was not a breath of air stirring,and the smoke hung in so thick a pall overhead, that it was impossibleto see what was going on.
"Steady!" cried our friend Tom, who really had not deserved hiscaptain's reproach, for he had been struggling all he knew to restrainhis men's fire, only they got out of hand with him as with everybodyelse for a minute.
"Wait till the smoke clears, unless they come out of it a yard from yourmuzzles. Not a shot at present, or ever without a steady aim."
"That's right," shouted Major Elmfoot; "stick to that, Strachan. Nomore wild shooting, men. Ah!"
There is an infinite variety of expression in the various tones of thehuman voice, and that simple "_All_!" conveyed more than I can give youany idea of. There was surprise in it and dismay, but not a suspicionof panic; on the contrary, determination was clearly expressed. Theaccent of the exclamation indeed was so striking that Strachan turned assharply as if he had been struck, and at the further corner of thesquare he saw white teeth, gleaming eyes, tangled black locks, darknaked forms, and glittering spearheads, and--_British soldiers recoilingbefore them_!
As the major uttered his cry, he crammed his spurs into his horse'ssides, and with one bound was among them, cutting and pointing like atrooper, and Tom found himself close to him, though whether he moved orthe seething, struggling mass came upon him where he stood he did notquite know. One thing he felt sure of, that the situation was just ascritical as it possibly could be. Careless, light-hearted lad as hewas, he could not lead the life and pass through the scenes of the lastfew days without becoming familiar with the thought that every hourmight very likely prove his last.
But that conviction, which would have been so terrible in cold blood,gave him little concern now; it was the feeling of _being beaten_ whichwas such mental agony. What was his life, what was the life of any man,of a million of men, compared with defeat? At that moment he would haveflung himself into the fire to secure victory for his side. I do notwish to make him out an exceptional hero, and he was not a fellow tobrag, but it is certain that at that crisis he felt no fear whatever, nomore than when having got hold of the ball in a football match atHarton, he had thought:
"I must have it between the goal posts, if I die for it!"
It has been explained before how he had attained a rare proficiency withhis weapons; he had not fired his pistol yet, and he was as clear-headedand firm in nerve as man could be. While the chambers of his revolverwere loaded he was in little danger from spearmen in front of him, forhe parried the thrust with his sword, and shot the assailant _throughthe head_, and even an Arab is knocked out of time by that. But againsta thrust in the side or the back no skill or coolness could defend him.And presently he was so jammed up by retreating soldiers that he couldnot use his arms, and then he was quite powerless for self-help.
It happened, by the best accounts, in this fashion. Covered by thedense smoke, the Arabs swarmed out of the nullah upon the face of thesquare on the edge of it. The foremost flung themselves on thebayonets; those behind pressing them on to them, the soldiers could notdraw their weapons out, and found themselves hampered with dying foes,whose breast-bones were jammed against the muzzles of their rifles. Ifthey drew back to release their weapons, the enemy took instantaneousadvantage of the space yielded. When they strove to stand firm theywere pushed bodily back by the dense mass surging upon them since theSoudanese in rear could push on with perfect impunity wherever thebayonets were sheathed in the bodies of the front rank. The sailors whomanned the machine-guns at one corner were driven back by main forcewith the rest, but made a desperate effort to keep back the savages,while certain parts without which the guns were useless could beremoved. They succeeded, but at the cost of many lives, and then backthey had to go, leaving the guns, now happily harmless, in the enemy'shands.
The confusion was frightful, the front face of the square being drivenback upon the rear, and the sides jammed up with them. And then thewhole tangled mass was forced slowly back, fighting its hardest. Forthere was no turning tail; the retreating soldiers kept their faces tothe foe, and where they had their arms free delivered thrust for thrust.Marines and Highlanders fought back to back, and fought like bull-dogs.So did the Arabs for that matter; they lay tumbled over in hundreds,but others came on over their bodies. Seventy English were killed in afew minutes. Fighting thus the Second Brigade, now no longer a square,was pushed back nearly half a mile.
But now the charging Arabs came under the fire of the First Brigade, thesquare on the right, up to which the enemy had not been able topenetrate. This was so well directed and murderous as to check the rearmasses of the Arabs, and the Second Brigade having only those inimmediate contact to deal with, and relieved from the tremendouspressure, soon got on terms with their enemy again, shook them off, andrecovered their lost formation.
The battle was restored; the retreat turned into an advance.
The Arabs, now driven back in turn, retired some distance and openedfire, which was not very effective. Indeed, in spite of it, the re-formed square, when it had recovered some hundred yards of its lostground, was halted for a quarter of an hour for the purpose of servingout fresh ammunition, the men being exhorted not to waste it as they haddone before. Desirous of retrieving their former error in this respect,they were as steady as veterans now, and advancing in line, firingdeliberately and with careful aim, they cleared the ground in front, andfought back to the brink of the nullah where the enemy had broken theirranks, and re-captured the guns, the First Brigade moving up at the sametime on their right. Savage with the idea that they had been forced toretire and leave their guns, though it was principally the sheer weightof numbers that had done it, and burning with revenge, the men set theirteeth and went down into the nullah, clearing all before them. TheArabs defended every bush, every rock, every boulder; but there was nowild firing now, at thirty, twenty, ten paces, and even closer; everybullet had its
billet, and the valley was cleared of the living, thoughevery point which afforded cover, and had been tenaciously held by OsmanDigna's soldiers, had its groups of corpses behind it.
Officers were intoxicated with delight at the way their men behavedafter their early discouragement.
"That's the way!"
"Let them have it!"
"Give it 'em hot, boys!"
"Good man, O'Grady; there's another for you!"
"That's your sort; never pull trigger till you can blow him tosmithereens."
The advance of the line was not rapid, but it left nothing living behindit. Then the First Brigade under Redvers Buller went into and acrossthe nullah, making for the second ridge held by the enemy some half mileoff, still keeping the square formation. It was well that the distanceto be traversed was so short, for it was now getting on for ten o'clock,and the power of the sun was intense. The ground, too, was covered withsharp rocks of red granite, and these had become so hot as to burn thefeet. But what do brave men feel in the delirium of battle? When closeto the foe a volley rang out, and then from every parched throat"Hurrah!" "Hurrah!" "Hurrah!" burst forth, as with levelled bayonetsthey rushed upon the broken ranks before them, and the ridge wascarried.
There was a second beyond it, where the Arabs still lingered, and forthat again they went. But the enemy, the fight at last taken out ofthem, made but a feeble stand, and it was carried at the first onset.But what was that firing in their rear? Had a body of Soudanese lainconcealed somewhere? Or had their dead come to life again? Neither.
One of the Gardner guns had been overturned into the limber containingits ammunition, and set fire to. This kept burning, hissing, and firingshots like a gigantic and malevolent cracker for a long time. But theBlue Jackets recovered the gun. When the victorious troops crowned thelast ridge, the valley of Tamai lay below them, and there was spread thecamp of Osman Digna, the object of their march, the prize for which theyhad been fighting. The enemy made no further attempt to defend it; theyhad proved to their cost that the Mahdi's assurance that the infidelguns would "spit water" was a lie.
They were disheartened, beaten at all points, and hundreds of their bestand bravest lay in heaps on the hills and in the valleys to feed thevultures and the jackals. It was no retreat such as they often made,stalking slowly and sullenly from the field where they had been foiled,but a disorderly flight, a rout.
The camp was left to the conquerors, with two standards, all theirammunition, tents, stores, and the spoils of former victories, andbefore noon the English, without fear of molestation, were slaking theirthirst at the wells.