"Bracy, my dear old man!"
"My dear old chap!" These were the salutations of Drummond and Roberts
later on in the morning, when they sought him out, to find him with
Gedge in a portion of the soldiers' quarters which had been temporarily
turned into a hospital.
"Ah, Roberts," sighed Bracy drowsily as he raised himself on one arm.
"Not hurt, I hope?"
"Not a scratch. But you--you? Morton tells me you fought like a lion
all through that horrible attack."
"Like a very weak lion," said Bracy, smiling faintly.
"But how are you?"
"Oh, so much better," said the young officer, with a sigh. "I feel so
restful, and as if I could do nothing but sleep."
"Thank Heaven! But what a change in you!"
"And you, Drummond? But your face--blackened. Were you in that
explosion I heard?"
"Yes; I helped to pop off the powder."
"Helped!" cried Roberts. "Why, you placed the powder-bag and fired the
fuse."
"Well, what of that? Some one had to do it. I wasn't hurt there,
though, old man. It was in setting fire to the store and coaxing it
into a blaze, for the blessed wood refused to burn. Spoiled my lovely
looks a bit--eh? But I say--it's harder work than you would think for
to burn a--I say! Bracy, old chap!--Why, he's asleep!"
"Fast," said Roberts, looking wonderingly at their friend, who had sunk
back on his rough pillow, formed of a doubled-up greatcoat, and was
breathing deeply, with his face looking peaceful and calm.
"Here, I say, you, Bill Gedge," cried Drummond; "this can't be right.
Go and fetch the Doctor."
"No, sir; it's all right, sir. The Doctor was here half-an-hour ago.
He was fast as a top then; but he heard the Doctor speaking to me, and
roused up while he had his wounds looked at. What d'yer think o' that,
sir?"
He drew a small, ragged scrap of something from his pocket, and held it
out before the two officers.
"Nothing," said Roberts shortly; "but I don't like Mr Bracy's looks.
This can't be right."
"Doctor says it is, sir, and that it's exhorschon. He's to sleep as
much as he can. You see, he had a horful night of it, sir, just when he
wasn't fit."
"But how in the world could he fight like the Doctor says he did?"
"I dunno, sir," replied Gedge, grinning. "Doctor says it was the
excitement set him going, and then he couldn't stop hisself. You know
how he was a bit ago, gentlemen, when he hit out and kicked, and
couldn't help it."
Roberts nodded.
"And he did fight wonderful, and never got a scratch. That's what the
Doctor said it was, and when he zamined his bandages he found this here
under his back."
"That! What is it?" said Drummond, now taking the object and examining
it curiously.
"His complaint, sir, that kept him bad so long. The bit of iron the
Doctor said he dursen't try to get out. It worked out last night in the
fight. He's going to get well now."
It was Roberts's turn now to examine the little ragged scrap of
discoloured iron.
"Seems wonderful," he said, "that so trifling a thing as that should
cause so much agony, and bring a man so low."
"Oh, I dunno, sir," said Gedge respectfully. "I had a horful toe once
as got bigger and bigger and sorer till I couldn't get a boot on, only
the sole; and when my leg got as big as a Dan'l Lambert's, some un says,
`Why don't you go to the orspital?' he says, sir; and so I did, and as
soon as I got there I began to wish I hadn't gone, for there was a lot
o' doctors looked at it, and they said my leg must come off half-way up
my thigh, but they'd wait a day or two first, and they did; but only the
next morning one of 'em has another good look, and he gets out
something--just a teeny bit of a nail as had gone into my toe out of my
boot."
"Humph!" said Roberts rather contemptuously.
"Lor' bless yer, gentlemen, I was 'nother sort o' feller that night, and
was just like Mr Bracy here; hadn't had no proper sleep for weeks, and
there I was at it like one o'clock, going to sleep as you may say all
over the place. Shouldn't ha' been here if it hadn't been for that
there doctor. Wouldn't have had a one-legged un in the ridgiment, sir--
would yer?"
"No," said Roberts, who was leaning over and gazing at his sleeping
comrade curiously. "Yes, he is sleeping as peacefully as a child. And
what about you, Gedge?"
"Me, sir? Oh, I'm all right, sir. Bit stiff in the arms with all that
bay'net exercise, and got the skin off one elber with ketching it agen
the wall. Yer see, we'd no room."
"We've been there this morning," said Roberts, with a slight shudder.
"The woodwork is chipped and cut into splinters, and the sight is
horrible."
"Well, yus, I s'pose so, sir. It was horrible work, but we was obliged
to do it; they'd have cut us all to pieces. Reg'lar butchers--that they
are--and deserved it. Coming on like that at a lot o' poor cripples and
a woman, besides the nong-combytant. Savages they are to try and cut
down a doctor who's ready to 'tend to everybody, either side, and tie or
sew them up."
"You're right, Gedge, my lad; they are savages," said Drummond, patting
the speaker on the shoulder.
"Hff! gently, please, sir," said Gedge, flinching.
"I beg your pardon. Are you hurt there?" cried Drummond hastily.
"Oh, all right, sir," said the lad, grinning; "but you said, `Hurt
there.' Why, it's all over, sir. There aren't a place as I've found
yet where you could put a finger on without making me squirm. Doctor
made me yell like a great calf. But there's nothing broke or cracked,
and no fresh holes nowhere."
"That's a comfort," said Drummond.
"Yus; but it aren't very comf'table yet, sir. He says I shall soon be
better, though."
"Yes, Gedge, you must regularly lie up till the pain has gone."
"I mean to, sir, all the time that I can get from tending Mr Bracy
here. I must tend him."
"You can stay with him; but someone else ought to be sent in."
"No, sir, please; I can manage. It wouldn't be fair, sir, for some un
else to come in now the gov'nor's getting better. Doctor says I've
saved his life so fur, and I wants to go on and save his life so
further. See?"
"Yes, of course," said Roberts, smiling. "It would not be fair for you
to be robbed of the credit of what you have done."
"Thank ye, sir. That does a chap good, sir. But I beg your pardon,
Captain: you see, I'm noo to sojering and fighting. I thought we'd had
it tidy 'ot in the coming up along o' the stone-throwing. Then it was a
bit warm when Mr Bracy was shot down and I got my bullet. But that was
all like playing skretch-cradle to our set-to last night in the dark.
Shall we have it much worse by-and-by?"
"Worse? No," cried the Captain sharply. "Nothing could be worse than
last night's work."
"Oh, come, I'm glad o' that, sir; for arterward, when I begun to cool
down, it seemed to me that if it could be much worse I should begin to
think as sojering might get to be a little bit too strong."
It was just then that Doctor Morton came in, and for the moment he
frowned; but the angry look passed off after a glance at Bracy.
"I was afraid you would disturb him," he said; "but there is no need to
mind; he will sleep a great deal for days, till this state of exhaustion
has passed off. My dear boys, what a night we had! I wonder that any
of us are alive."
"There were some narrow escapes, Doctor," said Roberts.
"Awful, awful; and what a morning for me! I feel as if I could do as
Bracy is doing--sleep for days; but here I am with a terrible load of
fresh cases on my hands, and my chief nurse turned into a patient--Gee's
wife. What a woman! what a woman! She must have descended from the
Amazons of old. But there, I must go; I only wanted to see that poor
Bracy was all right."
"And you do think he is, Doctor?" said Roberts.
"Sure of it, sir. He'll be back with his company before long."
He nodded sharply, and after a word or two with Gedge, who looked ten
years older for his night's work, the room was left for sleep, and the
young officers hurried off to their several duties. For there was ample
work for every one of the defenders, whose loss had, however, been
wonderfully small, the Ghazis having been comparatively helpless after
their successful entry, their attacks being repulsed by the bayonet, and
the soldiery for the most part having the advantage of the walls, while
their fanatical foes were raging about the court, repulsed at every
attempt to get on close quarters with the infidels they sought to
destroy.
As the morning wore on, and the horrible traces of the deadly fray were
rapidly removed by the fatigue-parties set to work, a soft breeze from
the mountains waited away the heavy clouds of mist, the sun came out,
and with it the horrors of the night faded away so rapidly that, had it
not been for the blackened ruins of the fodder-store, it would have been
hard to realise the fact that such a night had been passed.
Scouting parties went, out in different directions, and returned all
with the same report--that the enemy had disappeared, not a trace of
them being visible, not even one of the dead or wounded, though their
losses must have been considerable. That evening a time of perfect rest
seemed to have descended upon Ghittah, which, by the light of the
sinking sun, looked, with its magnificent surroundings of dazzling
snow-peak, verdant hill, forest, and falling water, orange, golden, and
sparkling in the reflections from the glorified sky.
"Yes, lovely, lovely," said Colonel Graves sadly, "if one could only
feel that we might lie down and sleep in peace."
"Well, can't we?" said one of the younger officers. "Surely, sir, this
has been such a lesson as the enemy will not forget."
"Quite right," said the Colonel; "they will not forget it, nor rest till
they have had revenge."
"But look at their losses last night," said the Major.
"I do," replied the Colonel; "but men are plentiful up here in the
hills, and they all belong to a fighting race. If they were not
fighting with us they would be among themselves, and it is the education
of their boys: being taught to fight."
"Then you think they'll renew their attacks, sir?" said Roberts.
"I feel sure of it, and they must find us more upon the _qui vive_ next
time. I feel ashamed for allowing myself to be such an easy victim to
their cunning _ruse_."
"Never mind now," said the Major; "it has furnished us with a fine
supply of fresh meat."
"Yes," said the Colonel sadly; "but at a heavy cost of wounded men."