The Colonel was right; there were plenty of men in the hills, and they
all belonged to fighting tribes-men who, whether Moslem or of the
various sects which inhabited the vast tracts of mountainous countries,
looked upon it as a religious duty to cut off every one who believed
differently, as an infidel or a dog. Many days, then, had not elapsed
before there was another gathering of the fierce tribes, whose object
was to secure the fort, with its wealth of arms and ammunition. But
during the week of respite Colonel Graves and his officers were busy
enough. The country round was foraged for stores; and, partly in fear,
but as much for the sake of cheating good customers and making
everything possible out of the people whom they might be helping to
slaughter the very next day, a couple of the tribes brought in grain,
fodder, and other necessaries largely.
So the loss incurred by the burning of the store was soon made up, and
the fort was better provisioned than ever, even to being prepared to
stand the stern winter when it should leave the hills and descend to the
valleys and plains.
No despatches had reached the fort for some time past; but the last, in
answer to the Colonel's report of his having relieved the fort, where
all was well, and that he had no doubt of being able to hold it as long
as was necessary, bade him go on holding it at any cost, and wait for
further orders. But if he found reinforcements necessary to give the
tribes a severe lesson, he was to communicate with the station in the
Ghil Valley, whence a Ghoorkha regiment would be immediately despatched
to his help.
A little council of war was held, in which Colonel Wrayford managed to
take part; and, after due consideration, it was decided that the help
was not required, for the unanimous opinion was that the Ghittah force
could hold its own, and that they did not need any regiment to come in
and carry off part of the laurels they wished to keep for themselves.
Doctor Morton had probably been the busiest man at the station; for,
after the repulse of the night attack, every hospital-bed had been
occupied, and an additional ward provided; but he had hardly a loss, and
he went about, as Gedge said, "looking as proud as a two-tailed peacock
in a 'logical garden."
Certainly he chuckled and rubbed his hands a great deal over his
patients; and one evening at the mess dinner, when the topic had arisen
of the number of men he had sent back to duty cured, and all were
rejoicing in the fact, that Bracy--looking thin and careworn, but now
wonderfully well--was back in his place, the Doctor, who was pleased and
flattered, became exceedingly confidential, and talked more freely than
was his wont.
"There, dear boys," he said: "I won't be a sham. I've worked hard among
my cripples, of course, and I'm proud of what I've done. If you want an
example of the powers of surgery, there you are--look at Bracy. He's a
better man than ever now. Look at his condition--hard as a nail. Got
rid of all that superfluous fat."
"Here, gently, Doctor," cried Bracy, flushing. "What superfluous fat?"
"All that you got rid of, sir."
"Why, I've always been thin."
"You leave me to judge best what you have always been, sir. I know.
Come, you'll own that you're well as ever now?"
"Certainly."
"Be satisfied, then. Well, as I was saying, my dear boys, I'll be quite
open with you all. I've been wonderfully successful with all my cases--
have I not?"
"Wonderfully," came in a chorus.
"And frightfully modest," whispered Drummond.
"Eh! what is that, Mr Drummond?" cried the Doctor. "I heard what you
said. Don't you offend me, for you may come under my care some day.
Now, then, all of you--wonderfully successful. Yes, Mr Drummond, and
modest too, as you'll own if you'll let me finish my remarks before you
stick yourself up as a judge. For I'm going to let the cat out of the
bag."
"Let's have her, Doctor," cried the younger men merrily.
"Here she is, then," said the Doctor. "My colleague. She has done ten
times as much for the wounded as I have."
"He means Mrs Gee," said Bracy quietly. "Well, she is a splendid
nurse."
"Ha! what a woman!" said the Colonel. "She is quite well now, Doctor--
is she not?"
"Always is," said the Doctor. "Absolutely perfect."
"I don't understand you, Doctor. The poor woman suffered a great deal
in her daring defence of her patients."
"Hah! we're playing at cross purposes," said the Doctor importantly.
"You're talking about Mrs Gee."
"Of course. Weren't you?"
"Pish! Poo! Bah! No. I meant my great help and patroness Dame
Nature."
"Oh!" ran round the table, in disappointed tones.
"Yes, gentlemen," repeated the Doctor; "Dame Nature. She has set all my
wounded right again, and put it to my credit. Why, if the poor fellows
had been in stuffy barracks down in the hot plains they'd have died like
flies. But up here, in this wonderfully pure mountain air, all I have
to do is to see that the wounds are carefully bandaged, and cuts and
bullet-holes grow up and together again in no time. As for the
hill-men, their surgeon seems to be the next man, who operates with a
bit of rag."
"And kills or cures at once," said Roberts, smiling.
"Exactly," said the Doctor good-humouredly; "but really it's wonderful
how Nature does nearly all the work. Well, any news, Colonel?"
"About the enemy?"
"Yes; you've been doing nothing lately, and my last bed was vacated
to-day."
"I am very sorry that you should be in so low a condition, Doctor," said
the Colonel coldly; "but you must understand that I shall do my best to
keep you so."
"Why, of course," cried the Doctor. "You don't suppose I want to have
the poor fellows cut or shot down to keep me busy--do you?"
"You spoke as if you did?"
"Then I spoke clumsily," cried the Doctor. "But tell me--the Dwats are
collecting again--are they not?"
"Yes; they mean to give us no rest."
"So much the better for the men. Keep 'em active. You boys had any
sport to-day?"
"Yes; we got six mountain sheep," said Roberts.
"Safe into camp?" said the Doctor eagerly.
"Oh yes. It was hard work, though; for three of them fell right down
into one of the deepest gorges from the snow-slope on which we shot
them--splendid shots Drummond made after our stalk, he killed with right
and left barrels. My one dropped at the first shot, but sprang up and
was going off again till my second barrel stopped him."
"Had an awful job to get them out of the gorge and home; but the hunters
fetched them out, and we got all safe into quarters."
"Ha!" cried the Doctor; "I'm glad of that. Splendid gamy meat, that
mountain mutton. Glorious stuff for convalescents. It gives me the
heartache when I hear of you leaving lost ones to the wolves and
vultures."
"I quite agree with the Doctor about the quality of the mutton," said
the Colonel gravely; "but I'm getting anxious about these
shooting-trips, gentlemen. Your guides belong to one or other of the
tribes."
"Yes, I suppose they do, sir," said Roberts carelessly.
"Well, what is to prevent them from leading you some day into a trap,
and, instead of the news coming into mess of there being an extra supply
for the larder, I hear that I am minus two or three of my best
officers?"
"I don't know about best officers, sir," said Roberts, laughing; "but I
don't think there is anything to fear. These hill-shikarees are very
genuine fellows, and their intense love of the sport will keep them
honest and true to us. You cannot think how proud they are of leading
us to the quarry if we are successful."
"I grant all that," said the Colonel, "knowing as I do what a
freemasonry there is in sport, and how clever hunters have a feeling of
fellowship for men of their own tastes, whatever their religion; but you
must not forget that the hill-tribes are completely under the thumb of
their Mullahs, and that the will of these priests is the law which they
must obey. Supposing one of these Mullahs to give them orders in the
interest of their tribe, they would lead you into an ambush for a
certainty."
"Oh, Colonel Graves," cried Drummond, "this is spoiling the only
pleasure we have!"
"I hope not," said the Colonel, smiling gravely. "Set it down to
interest in my officers' welfare. I only ask you to be careful--well on
your guard--and not to do anything rash."
"Just as if it was likely that we should do anything rash," said
Drummond pettishly later on. "I'm sure I'm always as careful as can
be."
"Always!" said Roberts, laughing, and giving Bracy a peculiar look.
"Here, I say--what does that mean? You two are chaffing me again."
"Oh dear, no," said Bracy. "Our consciences are smiting us for being so
reckless, and we're making up our minds to be more careful in future."
"Yes, as the Colonel suggests," chimed in Roberts, "and take friend
Drummond o' that ilk for our example."
"Here! Yes, you are chaffing me," cried Drummond anxiously. "I say,
old chaps, though--you don't think I am rash, do you?"
"Rather," said Roberts.
"Bosh with your rather! Chaff, because I'm so tall and thin. Bracy,
you're not half such a boy as the Captain. You don't think I'm wild and
harum-scarum, do you--regularly rash?"
"Well, to speak frankly,"--began Bracy.
"Of course I want you to be frank," cried Drummond hastily. "That's why
I like you chaps."
"Well, then, my dear boy," said Bracy, "I do think you are about the
most rash fellow I ever met."
"Oh!" cried Drummond, with a look of distrust.
"You do things that no thoughtful fellow would ever think of doing."
"I? Come now; when?"
"Over those sheep, then, to-day. I felt quite sick to see you walk
along that shelf of snow, when the slightest slip would have sent you
down headlong a thousand feet on to the jagged rocks below."
"Yes, it was horrible," said Roberts.
Drummond exploded into a tremendous burst of laughter, and sat at last
wiping his eyes.
"Oh, I say, come. That is good. I like that. Dangerous--made one of
you feel sick and the other think it was horrible!"
"Well, it's the truth," said Bracy.
"And you both came along it afterwards, and we got that magnificent
sport."
"I came along it after you had set the example," said Bracy quietly.
"But you are a couple of years older than I am, and ought to know
better."
"I was not going to show the white feather after what you had done."
"Same here," said Roberts sharply.
"Oh, that was it--eh? I was a boy to you, and you wouldn't let me think
you daren't."
"Something of that kind," said Bracy.
"Humph!" said Drummond thoughtfully. "I suppose it was dangerous."
"Of course it was," replied Bracy. "You saw that the guide wouldn't
venture."
"Yes; but that made me determined to do it. We can't afford to let
those chaps think we're afraid to go anywhere. Come now--didn't you two
think something of that kind too?"
"Probably," said Bracy.
"But it didn't seem dangerous when I was doing it," cried Drummond. "I
never thought about toppling down, only about getting right across and
after those moufflons."
"Same here," said Roberts.
"Well, I did look down once and think of what might happen," said Bracy.
"Ah, that's where you were wrong. Never do that, lad. Keep perfectly
cool, and you can get almost anywhere up yonder in the snow. I've got
to be quite a climber since I've been here."
"Well, I gave myself the credit of being pretty good on ice and snow
to-day," said Bracy, smiling. "I mean pretty well for a cripple. I
wish I had done as well over the shooting. That was a miserable show of
mine. Thanks for not exposing me at the mess."
"Rubbish!" said Drummond. "Who's going to tell tales out of school? I
say, though, that ice-climbing in the mountains is splendid--isn't it?
The more one does the easier it seems. It feels quite cool and
comfortable."
"Which one can't help feeling on the ice," said Bracy, laughing. "But
seriously, we are getting pretty good at it up yonder in the snow."
"Regular climbers," said Drummond; "and I vote that we do as much of it
as we can while our shoes are good. There, don't look at a fellow like
that--your shoes, then, that you gave me. But I didn't mean shoes
literally. I mean before the old man puts a stop to our hunting and
climbing."
"He soon will, you may depend upon that," said Roberts. "He's getting
nervous about us all."
"Because we are such splendid officers," put in Bracy merrily.
"Well, we are what he has; and, judging from the way we are shut in and
left by the authorities, he is not likely to get a fresh supply if he
loses us."
"What about the messengers he has sent, Bracy? Think they get through
with the despatches? I feel sure they do not. Either they are killed
or so scared by the dangers they run that they destroy their despatches
and dare not show their faces again."
"Well, I hope that's not the case," said Bracy. "I don't want to give
the poor fellows the credit of being treacherous."
"Like enough it is that, treacherous as we deem it; but they are so much
accustomed to the tricks and cunning amongst which they have been
brought up that they look upon such a thing as being very venial--a kind
of cleverness by which we, their conquerors are bested."
"Here, I say, don't get into a dissertation upon the moral character of
the natives," cried Drummond, "because there is no end to that. Here, I
say--"
"Say away," said the others.
"I've been thinking about what old Graves said as to the shikarees
selling us to the enemy. They won't."
"I hope not," said Bracy, laying his hand upon his chest.
"Hullo! What's the matter? Wound hurt?"
"Gives me a stab like that sometimes when the weather is going to
change. We shall have rain, I think."
"Ha! and that means snow higher up. Hoo-roar! as the lads say. A nice
light coating of fresh snow, and every bear footprint showing clearly.
We mustn't miss one. Bear ham is good, and then there are the skins.
We shall want 'em in the winter for warm rugs."
"You mean to stay the winter, then?" said Bracy, laughing.
"We shall have to; see if we don't."
"We shall get no bearskins," said Roberts. "The Colonel will stop our
going on account of his uneasiness. I heard him say that we should be
running upon some prowling body of the enemy one of these times, and
never be heard of any more."
"He doesn't know what he's talking about. Just as if it were likely.
They sneak along in the lowest valleys; they never go up among the
snowfields. No one does but the hunters. It's the same as it was in
Switzerland; you never caught the people climbing the mountains till the
English taught them, and bribed them to come as carriers. They'd never
have made the ascent of any of their mountains. I tell you that in our
shooting-trips up yonder we're as safe as we are here. Safer, for the
beggars keep away from there, while here they're lying up in every hole
and corner all around."
"He's about right," said Roberts thoughtfully; "and, now you're strong
enough again, I don't like to lose our trips. We don't get much
pleasure up here. Let's make our hay while the sun shines."
"Even if it is in the snow," said Bracy. "Very well; I'm glad enough to
go, for the mountain air seems to send fresh vigour through me every
time I climb."
The result of this was that whenever the way up into the mountains was
clear, and the Dwats who acted as guides to the different hills came in
with news, the young officers had their excursions, and generally
returned with their men pretty well laden, while the three friends
became masters of the district among the heights in a way that suggested
years of active residence in that silver land.
There were plenty of alarms, plenty of little encounters with the
parties who were always on the lookout to harass the occupants of the
fort; but a little extra work for the Doctor and excitement for the men,
to keep off the stagnation which threatened them, was all that ensued.
In the interim the Colonel sent off five more messengers with
despatches, in the hope that they would get through the enemy and bring
back letters; but they were seen no more; and the Colonel's face grew
more serious day by day.
"Thinks the tribes mean to starve us out," said Roberts one evening when
the Colonel went away from the table looking more depressed and anxious
than usual.
"And they won't," said Drummond. "Why, there are mountain sheep enough
up yonder to keep us for years."
"They get more difficult to shoot, though," said Bracy.
"Pooh! not they. A few close by are a bit shy; but, look here, when we
get right up on the shoulder of that left-hand peak and look north what
do we see?"
"Mountains," replied Bracy.
"And when we were right up on that farthest peak last week, and looked
north, what did we see then?"
"More mountains."
"That's it; and you might go on and on for a month, and it would be the
same--more mountains."
Bracy nodded and looked thoughtful.
"Yes," he said at last; "the world's a long way from being played out
yet. We can see hundreds of peaks, and the soft blue valleys between
them, which I suppose have never been traversed by man."
"That's right enough, and that's where the wild sheep and goats are just
as they always have been, perfectly undisturbed. Thousands--perhaps
millions, without counting the goats and yaks, which look as if they
were a vain brood of beast who try to grow tails like a horse."
"I suppose you're correct, Drummond," said Bracy.
"Of course I am; and if we shoot down all the sheep near at hand one
month, more will come down from the north next month."
"Just the same as when you catch a big trout out of a hole at home,
another is sure to come within a day or two to take his empty house."
"Why, they do up here, and the little seer in the river too," cried
Drummond. "I say, I wish this was a bigger and deeper stream, so that
it held the big forty and fifty pound fish."
"Quite deep and swift enough for us," said Bracy merrily.
"Ah, yes," said Drummond slowly; "I haven't forgotten our going for that
nice long walk."
"No," said Roberts; "that was a close shave for all of us. How many
more times are we going to run the gauntlet and not get hit?"
"Hundreds, I hope," replied Drummond; and Bracy, who was very quiet,
thought, by no means for the first time, of his escapes, and of how it
would be at home if a letter reached them some day reporting that one of
the lieutenants had been checked once for all in his career.