Tom Willoughby's Scouts: A Story of the War in German East Africa

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER XX--RAISING THE SIEGE

  Midnight passed: the still hours stole on; and Tom was dozing when Mwesaroused him.

  "Noise dis way, sah," said the boy.

  Tom sprung up. From the direction of the forest came slight sounds.The enemy were on the move. He sent to the trenches above the mendetailed to hold them: the rest he ordered to their posts behind thebarricade. Their movements were silent.

  The sounds from without were so faint that it was clear the enemy hopedfor a surprise. Presently they ceased altogether, and Tom guessed thatthe men had assembled in their trench and only awaited the word. Ateach end of the barricade he had placed an askari with flares andmatches.

  The silence was brief. Suddenly a whistle sounded. The air was rentwith a great shout as the enemy askaris leapt from the trench and surgedforward towards the barricade. Instantly Tom gave a signal; two blazingflares soared over the barricade and fell on the ground beyond, lightingup a wide space around them. Peering through a gap, Tom saw the line ofblack men pressing on. Some carried axes, others oblonghurdles--pontoons for throwing across the moat. Only a few seconds afterthe signal for the attack had been given, another whistle cut the air.From the barricade and the trenches above rifles flashed, and there weregaps in the ranks of the assailants. In the pressure of a moment likethis regular volleys were impossible: each man fired as fast as hecould.

  In spite of their losses the enemy pushed on with scarcely a check.They had not yet fired a shot. Some crossed the moat with flying leapsand began to hack at the barricade with their axes. Others rushed overon the hurdles, and thrusting their rifles into the gaps, fired atrandom. The defenders here, having emptied their magazines, lunged atthe foremost assailants with their bayonets, while the men in the raisedtrenches kept up a hot fire on the supports rushing up behind. But thestream seemed never to slacken. If a man fell back from the barricade,another took his place. A big askari forced his way through a gap, andwounded two men before he was transfixed by Mirambo's bayonet. Almostbefore the bayonet could be withdrawn others of the enemy came throughat the same spot, and Mirambo and the men about him found themselvesengaged in a fierce hand-to-hand struggle. The same thing happened atmany parts of the defences, and though for every man who got through twoor three had been hurled back into the moat or among their comrades, itwas clear that by pressure of numbers the Wahehe must soon beoverwhelmed.

  Tom created a temporary lull in the attack by emptying his revolver onthe largest group of the askaris. The flares having now gone out, hetook advantage of the darkness to sound the signal for withdrawal, andhis men, obedient to their training, rushed back into the trench andreloaded. From beyond the barricade the enemy were pouring a hot fireupon the higher trenches, and Tom knew by the sounds that there werestill large reserves to deal with. Coming to the conclusion that theposition at the entrance of the nullah could not be held much longer, hesent the greater part of his force to take up new positions at the bend,retaining a few to fight a rearguard action. But it appeared eitherthat the first ranks of the enemy were exhausted, or that they had hadorders not to push forward into the nullah at once after the entrancehad been won. Their officers, who had not yet come into view, probablysuspected that the nullah might have many traps and pitfalls for theirmen in the darkness, and reckoned on an easy conquest in daylight. Atany rate there was no immediate pursuit, and within half an hour Tom hadwithdrawn all his men into the trench at the bend.

  A few minutes afterwards a flame burst out at the entrance, spreadingacross the nullah from side to side. The enemy had set fire to theshattered barricade. None of them were visible in the glare: it seemedthat, content with having forced the outer defence, the main body hadhad returned to their trench to await the dawn, now near at hand.

  When Tom numbered his men, he found that thirteen were missing, and somethirty were wounded, many of them lightly. He felt a pang at thethought that some of the thirteen were lying seriously wounded on thefield, but it was impossible to search for them.

  He realised that he was now in the last ditch. If the enemy once roundedthe bend, the village on the high ground a quarter of a mile beyondwould be exposed to their fire, and for the sake of the non-combatantsit would be necessary to yield. True, given time, another trench mightbe dug across the nullah, and the enemy's advance delayed again there;but his men were too weary to start digging at once, and, in any case,it was unlikely that the work could be completed in the short hourbefore dawn. There was nothing to be done but to hold the trench aslong as possible, and inflict such losses on the enemy that they wouldbe compelled to await reinforcements before attempting a final assault.They might even be satisfied with having captured the entrance, andleave the rest to time and famine. Escape was impossible, for, knowingof the "back door," they would certainly take care to block exit thatway, which could easily be done by posting a few men at the head of thenarrow cleft.

  What hope was there of relief from the British border? In reply to hisnote a Major Burnaby had bidden him "hold fast," a message that seemedto hold some slight promise of help. Would that help come in time? Ifthe enemy were in sufficient strength, a few hours might see the defenceoverwhelmed and the little community at the mercy of the conquerors.How many days was it since he had received Major Burnaby's message?Three?--or four? He could not tell. He had lost count of time. Soobsessed had he been with the problems of the defence that he had givenscarcely a thought to what might have been passing in the village. Moseshad kept the fighting men supplied with food, sending down carriersunder cover of night. The men on guard at the cleft had reported thatall was well, and the single sentry who kept watch on the island prisonhad sent word that the firing had at first caused some excitement amongthe prisoners. They had grouped themselves on the shore, gazing downthe nullah, talking to one another--all but Reinecke, who had stoodapart from the rest, and sometimes walked up and down with quickimpatient footsteps, twirling his long white moustache. Tom had notseen how the sound of the shells had caused the women and children tohuddle together and sit cowering and moaning in their huts. He had notheard their wails when word came that such-and-such were dead, nor theircroons of pity and tenderness as they did their little best for thosewho were wounded. All his thoughts were centred on the one pressingproblem: how to hold out, to wear down the enemy, to gain time.

  When morning dawned he looked anxiously down the nullah. Its downwardslope enabled him to survey its whole length to the entrance withoutunduly exposing himself. He saw a few figures moving about where thebarricade had been, but between him and them none of the enemy was insight. The vegetation on either side of the stream, growing to thebases of the precipitous sides, would shelter hundreds: had any of themcrept up towards him under this cover during the night? He could nottell; nor dared he send out scouts to reconnoitre.

  Presently he saw that the men at the entrance had been joined by twowhite officers. The Germans, who had kept in the background while theaskaris fought at the barricade, had now come forward to inspect theposition and direct the further operations. Their intentions were soonmade manifest. There was a burst of smoke from the middle of the burntbarricade, and a shell exploded on the cliff-side just behind thetrench. Tom at once withdrew his men to the cover of the bushes beyondthe bend, leaving only a handful in the trench to fire if any of theenemy showed themselves within effective range. The bombardment thusopened did not greatly disturb him. The bend effectually protected hismen from harm, and the gun was not of a calibre large enough to demolishthe trench, of which only a portion was visible to the gunners. Somedamage was done to the parapet on the eastern side, but the enemy'sobject was clearly to intimidate the defenders, for the futility oftheir shots, in a material sense, must have been clear to them.

  It was clear, too, that they had learnt to respect the quality of thedefence opposed to them. They gave no sign of an intention to advance inthe open. The bombardment was vigorous and sustained, but except forthe few figures moving about the g
un at the entrance, not a man of themwas seen. This inaction seemed ominous to Tom. He could not think thatthey meditated another night attack, for, unfamiliar with the ground,they would be at a disadvantage in darkness. Was it not more probablethat, relying on the bombardment to distract the defenders and to drivethem under cover, they were creeping through the brushwood nearer andnearer to the trench, and would by-and-by make a rush, with the hope ofprofiting by surprise? This was the movement that he most dreaded,because the result must depend absolutely on the numbers opposed to him.

  Just after mid-day the bombardment suddenly ceased. For a few minutesthere was a breathless silence in the nullah: nothing was heard but thegurgling of the stream. Then the storm broke. From the bushes on eachside, within a hundred yards of the trench, burst a swarm of men at thedouble. Tom had already summoned his men to their posts in the trench,and the masses of the enemy had covered only a few yards when theyencountered a hail of lead from the parapet. In spite of many gaps intheir crowded ranks they dashed forward with ferocious yells, andpressed the charge up to the very edge of the trench. There, however,they came under fire from some of the best marksmen, whom Tom hadstationed in the block-houses and also in the bushes on higher ground inthe rear. They reeled under the double fire; a few who sprang over theparapet into the trench were bayoneted or clubbed; the rest turned andfled panic-stricken into the cover they had lately left with suchconfidence, many of them falling to the shots of the triumphant Wahehe.

  In the silence that followed, Tom was startled by sounds of firing fromthe north. It flashed upon him that the Germans had arranged asimultaneous attack on the cleft. The guard of twenty men he had postedthere, behind their barricades, ought to be able to hold their own onground so favourable to them; but Tom at this moment felt that he mustsee for himself how they were faring. The repulse of the main attackgave him at least a respite: he would not be absent more than thirty orforty minutes; so leaving Mirambo in command, he hurried up the nullah.

  On the way he was met by Moses himself, running to tell him that the menabove had sent word that the enemy was upon them, and asking that them'sungu would come to their assistance. Knowing the nature of the groundthey were defending, Tom guessed that the support they craved was rathermoral than material. He did not care to send for reinforcements toMirambo, who might yet be hard pressed; but as he passed through thevillage he collected half a dozen men who had been slightly wounded inthe first action, and ordered them to follow him up the ladder. Unknownto him they were joined by the armed sentry who patrolled the lake-sideopposite the island. The man afterwards explained that he was tired ofwatching prisoners, and wished to have his share in useful work.

  Tom found, as he had expected, that the men guarding the cleft had noreason to be alarmed. Posted behind the first of the barricadescommanding a difficult passage along which the enemy must come in singlefile, they could have held the position indefinitely. It appeared thatthe sight of a white officer among the askaris who had emerged from theend of the ravine had struck them with dread: how could black men standagainst a m'sungu? They hailed Tom's arrival with shouts of delight.Being for once unaccompanied by Mwesa, he was unable to cheer them withwords; but he managed to make them understand by signs that he trustedthem, stayed with them for a few minutes while they fired at the enemy,who showed no eagerness to risk the perils of advancing against aposition so formidable; then, confident that all was safe in thisquarter, at any rate for a time, hastened back to where the dangerthreatened.

  Just before he came to the rock from which the lake was visible, heheard shouts of alarm and excitement from below. Surely the enemy couldnot already have broken through? There had been no firing. Hurryingdown at some risk of a fall, he halted at the rock in amazement at anextraordinary drama that was being enacted.

  Between the island and the shore a crazy raft was rocking in the water,under the paddles, rough branches of trees, wielded in desperate hasteby the German prisoners. From Tom's high position the reason of theirfrantic exertions was only too apparent. He could see far into theclear water of the lake. About the raft it was alive with crocodiles.The hideous reptiles swam round and round, sheering off where the waterwas churned by the paddles, but pushing their snouts on to the edges ofthe raft where the paddlers stood.

  The scene would have been laughable but for a possible element oftragedy. The raft was so slight, evidently so hastily put together,that it dipped now on one side, now on another, under the strokes of thepaddles or the pressure of the crocodiles' snouts. Water poured overit. The men dared not shift their positions, for every momentthreatened to make it capsize. Divided between anxiety to gain theshore and the urgency of beating off their horrid foes, they used theirfutile paddles, now for propelling the raft, now for smiting thereptiles' heads.

  "The madmen!" thought Tom. "How do they suppose they can escape? Butwhere is the sentry?"

  Women and children, shouting and screaming, thronged the shore, butthere was no armed man among them.

  Tom watched the scene as if fascinated. The positions of the men on theraft had evidently been arranged with care to ensure its balance, whichwas disturbed from moment to moment by the violence of their blows. Inspite of all, they were making progress towards the lake-side. Suddenly,in a moment, Fate said her last word to Curt Reinecke. Intending tostrike a snout that had just slid on to the raft almost at his feet, heoverreached himself, the raft tilted, and he was in the water. Theshriek that rose from the unhappy man rang long in Tom's ears. At thespot where he had fallen there was a furious swirl as the crocodilescrowded together, and disappeared into the depths of the lake.

  For a moment Tom was paralysed with horror. Then collecting himself, hehastened down to the lake, and summoned the women to assist him inlaunching the large raft on which food was taken to the prisoners.Reinecke's fate had given the others a short respite. Before thereptiles returned to the surface the Germans had transferred themselvesfrom the one raft to the other, and pale, cowed, trembling mortals, werepaddled to the shore.

  Tom had no time to question them, or to inquire about the missingsentry. The sound of scattered shots drew him at his best speed towardsthe trench. When he reached it, he found that his men were sniping atindividual askaris who were hurriedly making their way, not up, but downthe nullah. Surely the enemy were not withdrawing?

  "Me hear shots long way off, sah," said Mwesa, running towards hismaster excitedly.

  Tom thrilled from top to toe.

  "Are you sure?" he asked.

  "Sure nuff, sah. Mirambo he say no: old ears, sah, no can hear, same asme."

  Tom wondered. Could it be true? Was the long-expected relief coming atlast? Could there be any other explanation of distant firing? Hestrained his ears for the welcome sound. He gazed towards the end ofthe nullah. There were certainly signs of activity there. And thencame the sound that could not be mistaken. Somewhere to the south rapidrifle fire was going on.

  For a few moments all other feelings were submerged in overpoweringthankfulness. Then the possibilities of the situation struck upon hismind. It was clear that some of the enemy had been withdrawn to meetthis attack in their rear. Had they all gone? Had the conquest of thenullah been wholly abandoned? That must be put to the test.

  He sent Mirambo out with a dozen sharpshooters to feel his way down thenullah. Stealing along under cover of the bushes, the men had gonenearly two hundred yards before the sound of shots reached the trench.A scout hurried back to report that the whole of the enemy force wasretreating. Tom instantly collected all his remaining fighting men, andled them down after Mirambo's party.

  Presently another scout came with the news that the enemy had not allleft the nullah, but had manned the old trench just within thebarricade. Tom felt his way forward cautiously through the bush, andovertook Mirambo where he had halted about a hundred yards from thetrench. Southward the crackle of rifle-fire was growing louder and moredistinct. It would be a pity to lose an opportunity
of routing thetroops who still remained in the nullah, dispirited as they must be bythe knowledge that a fight was going on in their rear.

  Tom jumped at the chance of employing against the enemy the manoeuvrewhich the enemy had unsuccessfully employed against him. He ordered thegreater part of his men to creep through the trees and bush on eachside, taking care to avoid making the least noise, and to halt when theycame within fifty yards of his old trench, now manned by the enemy. Atthe same time, to divert attention, he sent word to the men he had leftat the bend to fire a shot occasionally, aiming at the cliffs.

  When all was ready he gave the signal, and with a vociferous whoopeighty men sprang from their places of concealment and followed him in awhirlwind dash upon the trench. The askaris there, taken aback by thissudden charge of an enemy who had hitherto stood wholly on thedefensive, had no ears for the commands of their German lieutenant.Without pausing even to fire one volley, they sprang out of the trench,sprinted over the ruins of the barricade, leapt the moat or crossed bythe hurdles, and fled helter-skelter into the forest, flinging awaytheir arms as they ran.

  Tom's men dashed after them in a flush of enthusiasm; among the pursuersnone were nimbler or more excited than the captured askaris. Tomshouted to them to take the fugitives prisoners, and not to use theirweapons except against those who resisted. As for himself, he put everyounce of what little energy remained to him into the chase of the Germanofficer, who, finding himself deserted by his men, had shown a cleanpair of heels. Tom was up with him before he gained the forest. TheGerman, aware that he was outrun, suddenly swung round and half raisedhis arm to fire his revolver. But he was a shade too late. Tom hurledhimself upon him with all the impetus gained in his sprint across theclearing, struck the revolver from his hand with his left fist, and withhis right dealt the officer a smashing blow on the chin that sent himheadlong backward with a crash.

  Leaving him to be picked up by some of the older and less fleet-footedof the negroes, Tom hurried on towards the sounds of firing. He had noneed to go far. Fugitives from the nullah had reached their comrades,who were falling back before a force of white men and Rhodesian policeadvancing on a wide front. Realising that they were between two fires,the enemy gave up the hopeless struggle, and scattered to right andleft, seeking safety in the pathless forest. The firing ceased, andwithin ten minutes of leaving the nullah Tom was grasping the hand of atall bronzed Englishman who bore a major's crown upon his sleeve.

  "Tom Willoughby, I suppose," said that officer, looking with a quizzicalsmile into the tired brown eyes on a level with his own.

  "You're Major Burnaby?"

  "Yes. A nice little scoop, eh? Now, we've no time to lose. Take me toyour nullah. Your people must trek at once. We've cut the wires on theNeu Langenburg road. Two detachments half a mile apart are holding aplace clear for our crossing. With luck we'll get through before theysend up troops from Bismarckburg. But we must hurry."