CHAPTER IV
The First Encounter
"There! Over there you can see a mass of horsemen, and I think there areinfantry just behind them," said Daglish, one of the officers formingthe patrol which had gone out in front of the two troops of Indian Horsesent out to reconnoitre. When Geoff pulled up his Arab, Sultan, he foundclose beside him the young officer who had just spoken, standing withhis reins hooked over one arm, his feet wide apart and sunk almost tothe ankles in the soft sand of the desert, and his glasses glued to hiseyes, as he surveyed the ground to his left front, adjacent to the RiverShatt-el-Arab.
"Hang it!" Geoff heard him say as he too dropped from his saddle and lethis reins fall on Sultan's neck--for Sultan had been trained by theknowing and experienced Joe Douglas to stand as still and as steady as arock without a rider, so long as his reins were left in that position.
"Hang it, Keith! there's a sort of a mist out there, and while just asecond ago I could have sworn that there were several hundred horsemen,either Turkish or Arab, there is now nothing but shimmering water andpalm-trees and houses, and a devil of a big village."
Daglish, a young, spirited, and handsome cavalry officer, dropped hisglasses and let them dangle about his neck, while he turned impatientlytowards Geoff.
"See!" he cried, stretching his hand out. "Look for yourself, Keith;there's the village yonder and hundreds of palm-trees round it; but itcan't have sprung up in a moment, and can't have taken the place ofthose horsemen. What's it mean?"
The line the officers' patrol had taken had brought them to a lowelevation--for though the estuary of the Tigris and the Euphrates ismore or less flat, and the greater part of it but desert country, theground rises here and there almost imperceptibly into hard gravelpatches, and it was on the summit of one of these that the patrol hadhalted, and from which they had first sighted what was taken to be enemyhorsemen, and which now, to the amazement of the officer, had developedinto merely a native village. Pulling out his glasses, Geoff first ofall surveyed the scene without their aid, and noticed that from theslight elevation to which they had attained he was able to look downupon the course of the river as it ran through a broad belt of greenpalm-trees. He could see stretches of the water flashing here and thereunder the brilliant rays of the sun. Elsewhere peeps of it only wereobtainable, while in other parts the brilliant reflection from itssurface shot through a thousand apertures between the trunks of thepalms, the light almost dazzling him as it reached him. It was to apoint, perhaps more than a mile away, and just outside the closest beltof palm-trees, that Daglish was pointing, and as Geoff looked in thatdirection he too saw a native village embowered in palms, its whitehouses gleaming faintly across the yellow stretches of desert.
"Well?" Daglish asked him impatiently.
Geoff smiled.
"Just a mirage," he told his companion. "They are funny things till youget used to them, and you have to come and live in this country forquite a while often before you get a chance. Before now I've seen awhole Turkish city rise up before me out of the desert, lookingwonderfully realistic, with people moving about, and horses, and asses,and dogs in all directions. Then I've gone on a little way, or goneback, and the whole scene has vanished. That's a mirage. Some trick ofthe sun's rays playing upon the atmosphere spread out over the desert.How it's brought about beats me altogether; but it's real enough whenone sees it, and equally elusive when one's moved from one's position.Let's walk our horses across here to the left; we needn't trouble to godownhill at all, for if you have seen the enemy horsemen out there inthe open, they will most distinctly have seen you up here on this littlebit of an eminence."
Leading their horses, they strode off some distance to their left,sinking ankle-deep into the sand at almost every stride. There werethree of them by now, for Harmer, another of the Indian cavalryofficers--the one who had come back to make his report--had joined them;and as they went, each one cast glances over his left shoulder, till ofa sudden Daglish gave a cry of delight.
"I was beginning to doubt you, Keith," he said with energy; "but now, byJames! you are right. That must have been a mirage, though I have neverseen one before in all my life. The native village has gone completely;and look at those horsemen!"
They came to an abrupt halt, the three wheeling round at once andraising their glasses.
"Eh! What do you make of 'em?" Daglish said, when a minute had passedduring which Geoff focused the distant horsemen carefully and watchedthem critically. "Turks, eh? Or Arabs?"
"A mixed force," Geoff told him promptly. "Arab horsemen, perhaps two orthree hundred strong, and Turkish infantry behind them; there are noguns with them, so I take it that it's simply a reconnoitring force, ormaybe it's a garrison, from some point lower down the river, retiringbefore us."
"Then the sooner we send back to our fellows the better," cried Daglish."There's open ground before us, and the two troops could operate so asto drive in a blow at those fellows."
Pulling his notebook from his pocket he wrote a few hurried lines, and,having folded the "chit" up, he addressed it to his commanding officer.
"Take it back, Harmer," he ordered. "You can tell them that Keith and Iwill go on a little and make out those fellows a trifle more clearly."
A minute later the third of the officers was in his saddle and gallopingback towards their comrades, whom they had left some distance away,halting at the bottom of this long sloping eminence. Then Geoff andDaglish climbed into their saddles and urged their horses forward, Geofflooking critically at the mount upon which his companion was riding.
"Better go easily, Daglish," he told him, "for that little horse ofyours doesn't look as though he was fast, and I can tell you many ofthose Arab horsemen are superbly mounted. We can go on a little way, ofcourse, and then, if it's the same to you, I'll push on still closer,for there's not a horse yonder that can even look at Sultan."
It was perhaps five minutes later when the two drew rein, for eventhough Daglish was full of energy and enthusiasm, and indeed was abrilliant cavalry officer, yet he was not devoid entirely of discretion.Though he was itching with eagerness to get to grips with the enemy, andto come to close quarters, he could not fail to realize the weight ofthe warning which Geoff had given him; nor, having seen that littleexhibition which Sultan and his master had given them so close to theplace of disembarkation, could he doubt that there were few who couldcome up to the magnificent Arab Geoff was riding.
"All right!" he told Geoff, a little reluctantly, as he pulled in hishorse. "I'll stay here and keep my glasses on them, while you go on alittle. Now, don't be reckless; for recollect you are of some value tothe expedition, seeing that you speak the lingo."
Shaking his reins, Geoff set Sultan in motion, while Daglish watched himfor a while as he cantered towards the enemy; then he threw up hisglasses, and, fixing them upon the Arab horsemen, watched their wavinglines, the chiefs who sat their horses in front of them, and one man inparticular, who cantered slowly along their front--his white cloakthrown back, his dusky arm bare, the weapons he was carrying distinctlyvisible. It was fascinating to watch that gallant horseman, for a finesight this Arab made. He pulled in his horse after a while in front ofhis men, and from the movements of his head it seemed as if he must beharanguing them; then of a sudden he stood in his stirrups and flung thepistol he was carrying high in the air, while an instant later thererolled musically across the desert the sound of shouting--a soundunfamiliar to Daglish's ears.
"Allah!" he heard; "Allah!" That weird, majestic, inspiring call of theArab. It made the young officer almost twitch; made him admire thosehorsemen even more, and made him start violently when a second later hesaw through his glasses that self-same chief swing his horse round,shield his eyes with one hand as he stared in Geoff's direction, andthen set his horse going at a mad pace which promised to bring himrapidly up to him. Almost at the same instant the Turkish infantry--amere handful of men--who had been hidden behind the horsemen almostcompletely, debouched into the open at their lef
t, and at once the sharprattle of rifle-fire came echoing across the desert. As for Geoff, heheard the sounds and saw that horseman. Little puffs of sand began torise up all round him, while now and again something buzzed past hishead, humming its way on into the distance.
"Near enough," he told himself coolly, pulling Sultan up, while he feltfor his glasses; then, dropping his reins, he focused the enemy again,and took very careful stock of them. "Doubt if there are three hundredhorsemen there," he thought; "two hundred is more like their number, anda mere handful of Turkish infantry I should say, though having infantrywith them points to the fact that they are a garrison retiring up river.And what's that chief mean by riding out like that in front of all hispeople? Anyway, he's now between the infantry and me, and that will puta stop to those bullets."
If he could, Daglish would have shouted to his companion so far ahead,and for a while he was consumed with the fear that Geoff had failed tonotice that single horseman, that magnificently mounted chief, who camegalloping across the desert. Then he swung himself into the saddle, and,gripping his reins, sat motionless, watching the figure of his comrade.
Ah! Geoff was beginning to move a little. He had dropped his glasses,and, peering at him through his own, Daglish saw that he had opened thepouch containing his revolver.
"Confound the chap!" he exclaimed. "Does he mean to stay out there andhave a single-handed encounter with that beggar? If I'd have thoughtthat possible I'd have sent the idiot back long ago."
Then he dropped his glasses again and sat spellbound, peering across thedesert, longing for Geoff's return, and yet hoping, in spite of himself,that the young officer who had so recently joined them would stand hisground, would face this Arab enemy, and would show right at thecommencement of this coming campaign that an Englishman was not to befrightened easily.
"Steady does it!" Geoff was saying to himself as he watched the furiousapproach of the Arab. "By the time he gets up to me his horse will bewinded, and he'll be considerably shaken; that will be my chance, and,by George! I'll take it. A captive at this stage would be a tremendousthing for the General; for once an Arab sees that the game is up, andonce he realizes that rewards are given for information, he will speak,will speak the truth, indeed. That's one of the curious parts aboutthese Arabs--they've no fondness for the Turks, though many of them willfight for them, seeing that we are heathen and the Turks are of the'Faithful'; but, on the other hand, they are just as likely to turnagainst the Sultan and help an invader. Ah! That's just a gentlereminder to let me know that the beggar is armed, and quite eager tokill me."
The horseman galloping furiously towards our hero was now within somesixty yards of him: a picturesque figure, his turban and his flowingrobes blowing out in the breeze he made, his Arab horse and the gaudyharness with which it was decorated making quite a remarkableappearance. It was just then, when Geoff was able to clearly distinguishthe man's face, that the Arab's right arm was suddenly raised, a puff ofwhite smoke swept away from above the head of his galloping horse, andsomething sang past Sultan's tail and kicked up a splash of sand beyondhim. Then a dull, deep report reached Geoff's ears, and caused Sultan tobound sideways. Speaking to him, and pressing his knees into his flanks,Geoff then set him in motion, and instead of galloping away towardsDaglish--who still watched the proceedings with bated breath--he set himflying off at a tangent, a movement which caused the Arab to swing hisown horse round and come hurtling after him. Nor was he on the newcourse more than a few seconds when, pulling another pistol from hisbelt, he sent a second bullet in Geoff's direction.
"A little too close to be pleasant," thought our hero as he heard themissile hum past his head, and saw the splash of sand it made beyondhim. "I'll let Sultan out a little, and increase the distance, so that,if one of his bullets happens to strike us, no great damage will beinflicted. That's doing it! That's making him writhe with anger! He'sgrandly mounted, and I shouldn't wonder if he had the idea that therewas nothing he couldn't come up with; but Sultan knows better. Don'twe?"
He leaned forward in his saddle and patted his horse's neck, while heglanced backward again at the pursuing Arab. That sudden spurt had takenhim some hundred yards in front of his enemy, and even at that distanceGeoff could see the chief brandishing his smoking weapon, and could hearas he shouted curses at him. Then slowly, almost imperceptibly, hecircled from his course, till in a while he was heading almost directfor the point where Daglish was waiting.
"Give him another two or three shots at the most," thought Geoff,casting many glances over his shoulder. "That Arab fellow may have twoor three pistols with him--double-barrelled fellows--and if he's richand lucky it may be that he's got a revolver. But I'll wager my hat thathe ain't, or he'd have used it already."
Ping! There came another shot, very wide of the mark, for the rage intowhich the Arab chief had worked himself, and the disappointment he wassuffering, had unsteadied him--that and his frantic gallop across thedesert. By now, too, his horse was blowing hard, and was slackening itspace, a fact which Geoff noted clearly, and made allowance for byholding Sultan in and curbing his paces. It was perhaps a minute laterwhen he swung Sultan round on his haunches and pulled him in abruptly,the sudden halt causing the Arab to decrease the distance between themrapidly and to come rushing towards them.
"Now shall Allah reward me!" the chief bellowed, his eyes gleaming, histeeth set, and his lips parted in a snarl of triumph and anger.
Thrusting his empty pistol back into his belt, he dived for his curvedscimitar, which was dangling beside him, and, getting his horse well inhand at the same moment, sped onwards without halting. It was then thatGeoff revealed his own weapon, and, taking careful aim, pressed thetrigger. An instant later the horse which the chief was riding reared upon its hind legs, whinnying loudly, and there for a moment it stood,pawing the air and snorting; then it collapsed of a sudden, as if thestrength which had permitted it to fly so rapidly across the desert hadbeen suddenly torn from it, and, crumpling up, fell back, bearing itsrider with it.
"Drop your scimitar," shouted Geoff, covering the fallen chief as hestaggered from his saddle and got to his feet. "Now throw your pistolson one side. Good! You'll run in front of me as fast as you can, withoutlooking to either side or behind you; if you fail in this, I have stillanother bullet to spare for you."
Amazement was written on the face of the chief--amazement which was fargreater for the moment than his wrath and his disappointment at beingmade a prisoner. For wrath does not last for long when a man has metwith a fair opponent and has been fairly worsted. Moreover, whateveryour Arab may be--fierce revengeful, treacherous, a false friend, if youwill have it--he is yet a philosopher, a child of the desert, one whotakes things as they come, and makes the best of them.
"By Allah," he grunted, "but this is a strange thing that has happened.A while ago and I thought that you--a white man, one of the race ofunbelievers--were surely in my hands, were surely killed or captive; buta while ago, had a man dared to tell me that I, Suliman, should fallbefore one of the invaders, and this at the very first encounter, Iwould have slain him; while, had one dared to say that this fine Arab Iride could meet his match anywhere in the desert, I would have had himstripped and beaten. But now, surely this is fate. Allah is great! andif this is his reward, then why should I be wroth with it? My master, Iobey."
Quite cheerfully he cast his empty weapons aside and threw his scimitarto a distance; then, with long active strides he set off in thedirection that Geoff had indicated, casting not a single glance back athis comrades, content as it were with his fate, and careless of what wasbefore him--a true philosopher indeed, a true child of the desert.
Perhaps ten minutes later they came up with Daglish, finding that youngofficer amazed, delighted beyond words, hugging himself with enjoyment.
"My word!" he exclaimed as Geoff rode up beside him; "of all the cheek,of all the dare-devils I ever saw. But what the devil do you mean byit?"
He quite exploded as he recollected the fears which h
ad assailed him;indeed, as he sat there, a witness of the moving scene which was takingplace before him, he had had many and many a twinge of conscience, andhad recollected that Keith was an officer whose loss would reflect onthe head of any of his brothers responsible for it. "Why hadn't he toldhim to halt some hundred yards ahead? Why had he allowed him to go offon such a fool's errand? What the devil was the fellow doing? He'd bekilled if he didn't look out, for look at all those splashes of sandabout him, and listen to the rifles of those Turkish infantry,and--and----Good Heavens! He was going to wait for that Arab chap! Hewas going to----Bravo! Bravo, Keith!--took his fire withoutflinching--and now he is giving him a run for his money. There goesanother shot, and can't have missed Keith by more than a trifle. Dashthe fellow! He'll get killed yet, and here am I unable to help him."
Imagine the shout of delight the enthusiastic Daglish indulged in whenhe saw that last manoeuvre of Geoff's, and watched as the Arab's horsereared and then crumpled up beneath him. Why, he had never been soexcited in all his life, and now watched with staring eyes as the Arabclambered to his feet and then set off at a fast trot towards theeminence whereon he was standing. But that was a few minutesago--minutes of huge relief to Daglish, minutes during which he couldcongratulate himself on a fortunate escape from something approaching adisaster, and upon a tale which would make excellent telling; and then,as a sharp order from Geoff brought the Arab to a standstill, and thatyoung officer halted like a culprit before him, the anger of this otherofficer--who was senior to Geoff--burst out as he recollected thequalms which had assailed him.
"My word," he bellowed, "what the dickens do you mean by it? Isn't itenough to draw fire from those Turkish infantry, and to stand quitestill, like an idiot, to make their shooting more perfect? Isn't itenough to make a fellow swear to see an officer chucking his life awayout there in the desert? And, by James, Keith," he cried, as hestretched out a hand and gripped Geoff's, "but it was fine! I wish togoodness I'd been in it; and to think you've got a captive at this earlystage. Here, what's your name? Who are you? And where do you come from?"
The Arab, tall, calm, almost austere, handsome and active, stood erectbefore the two young officers, not a shadow on his face, not a look ofanimosity about him; he even smiled, and then addressed himself to ourhero.
"Doubtless it is one of your chiefs, my master," he said, looking acrossat Daglish; "doubtless, too, he is both angry and overjoyed atsomething. Maybe you are his brother, and in that case, seeing thatAllah has spared you, and it is I who am a captive, why, I joy with himin his delight and pleasure. My master, if it is ill to be taken by anenemy, it is still an honour and a fine thing to be taken by one who isdoubtless of value to his own people--a man respected and looked up to."
"Can't make a word out," exclaimed Daglish, impatiently casting anxiousglances over his shoulder and then away towards the enemy. "But, as Isaid, Keith, you've got a captive, and if you handle him rightly you maymake him jolly useful. Now, I'll stay here and keep my eye on thosebeggars, while you trot this fellow back towards our comrades."
A sharp order from Geoff set the Arab in motion again, and presently,steering a course towards the two troops of horse which could now beseen advancing towards them, they halted a few yards before them--nor isit to be wondered at that a torrent of questions was immediately pouredout in Geoff's direction.
"What's this? Who's this fellow?--a fine-looking beggar, a chief Ishould say. How did you get hold of him? Where's he come from? Andwhat's the latest about this enemy force that Harmer has reported?"
As quickly as possible Geoff told his tale; merely mentioning that heand Daglish had advanced towards the enemy, and that by a fortunatechance they had managed to capture this chief, who had ventured out tomeet them.
"I think, if you'll allow me, sir, I may be able to get some importantinformation from him," he told the Officer in Command. "Of course he wasvery angry, in fact furious, at being captured, but, like a truefollower of the Prophet, he is a born philosopher, and is already quitereconciled to his fate. I have told him already that no harm will cometo him; and if you will allow me to make promises of good treatment andof reward, I think he'll tell us as much as he knows of the Turks andtheir movements."
"Then fire ahead! The horses have come along at a smartish pace and willdo with a breather. I have already sent off strong advance- andflanking-parties, so that we are not likely to be surprised,particularly as Daglish is still out there in front watching theenemy and can signal back to us. Now, Keith, get on with thecross-examination. I think I may say that you may promise your captive ahandsome present of money if he will give us every scrap ofinformation."
Saluting with precision, Geoff dropped out of his saddle, and, leavingSultan to take care of himself, faced his captive. Then, handling himwith that care and tact which residence amongst the Arabs had taughthim, and in fact winning his confidence at once--for it was impossiblefor the Arab chief to have suspicion of this British officer's goodintentions--Geoff very quickly gained from him information as to thepositions taken up by the Turks and Arabs in the immediateneighbourhood, together with such news as the chief had of forces inother directions.
"But, my master, it is mere rumour--this latter information that I havegiven you," the chief told him. "I and my men have been posted downbeside the river, and know little of what is occurring elsewhere.Doubtless there are Turkish troops here and there, and it may be that inparts there are large forces of them, but between this and Basra theyare few. That is true, as Allah hears me!"
As a matter of precaution the chief was handed over to one of the sowars(Indian troopers) as soon as Geoff had repeated to his CommandingOfficer what had been stated.
"Then I think we will make short work of those beggars in front of us,"said the latter abruptly, as he swung himself into his saddle. "A brushat this stage of the proceedings will liven the men up wonderfully, andwill raise the spirits of the Expeditionary Force from India--not thattheir spirits can be called exactly low, or the men in any waydown-hearted."
Setting off at a trot, one of the troops rode to the left of theeminence from which Geoff and his comrades had watched the enemy, whilethe other took a course to the right and galloped off into the desert.But an officer and a couple of sowars were left on the eminence itself,from which point of vantage they could keep a close watch on the Arabhorsemen.
It was perhaps half an hour later that the two troops, separated tillthen by quite a wide stretch of desert, and hidden entirely from oneanother and from the enemy by that long, low eminence, converged uponone another and rode out into the open. A careful advance near the bankof the river, where the palms hid them, and the fact that the attentionof the Arab horsemen was fixed for the most part on the signallers andtheir officer left on the eminence, had allowed one troop to get withinstriking distance of the enemy. Then they suddenly debouched from thetrees, and, trotting out into the desert, formed up for a charge; almostat the same moment a cloud of dust far away in the open showed them theposition of the second troop, which, riding faster, had got almostbeyond the position held by the Arabs. In fact, a rapid movement mightenclose the enemy between the two troops, and in any case this menacefrom two points at once threw them into confusion; shouts were heardfrom the Arabs, while at once loud reports burst from their ranks, allmanner of weapons being discharged at the Indian horsemen. To these wasadded the sharp, clear-cut snap of modern rifles, with which the Turkishinfantry were armed. Then a trumpet blared in the distance, and thatcloud of dust suddenly grew bigger, grew bigger and wider, and stretchedout till it covered quite a large area. The troop close down by theriver, which had just emerged from the trees, cantered out now till sixfeet of space separated the horsemen.
Then the pennons at the tips of the lances waved, a sharp order snappeddown the ranks, and in a trice the lances were lowered. That trumpetblaring in the distance had set every horse in this other troopcurveting and prancing, and now, as a note came from their owntrumpeter, the horses were off, the men leaning lo
w down in theirsaddles, their eyes glued on the enemy, their knees gripping theirhorses, and their lances pointed well out before them.
What a shout those Indian sowars gave! Their comrades coming from theopposite direction answered with a shrill yell of triumph, and then,like a flash, the two troops were launched against the enemy.
Converging as they came, till there were perhaps only some four or fivehundred yards between the flanks of each of the troops, the horsemenplunged into the midst of the Arabs. Here and there they had left ahorse rolling on the sand behind them, and there was more than oneanimal without a rider as they got close to the enemy; but nothingstopped the Indians, neither the shouts nor the bullets of the Arabs.With a crash they were in at them, thrusting right and left, riding themdown, riding over them, and then it was over. What was left of thoseArab horsemen scattered and fled in every direction, leaving the IndianHorse conquerors.
"WHAT WAS LEFT OF THOSE ARAB HORSEMEN SCATTERED ANDFLED"]
As for Geoff, his fingers trembled as he pulled Sultan in and droppedfrom his saddle.
"My word," exclaimed Daglish, offering him his cigarette case with ahand which jerked and wobbled badly, "but that was something! If that'swar--the sort of war we're likely to have in Mesopotamia--then the moreof it we have the merrier. Come here, Keith! I want to know what yarnyou've been pitching to our Commander? You've been fibbing, eh? I askedhim as we were trotting along through the palm-trees what report you hadgiven. You said nothing about that flare-up with the Arab chief, aboutthe bullets you were idiot enough to wait for, and about the way youcaptured him. My boy, there's a lively time coming!"
On the Road to Bagdad: A Story of Townshend's Gallant Advance on the Tigris Page 4