How long that silence lasted neither could have afterwards said, but
after a time Bracy felt a couple of hands busy drawing the spare
_poshtin_ more about him. Then a face was placed close to his, and a
hand touched his forehead softly. "I'm not asleep, Gedge," he said.
"Ha!" sighed the lad, with a long drawn breath: "getting afraid, sir;
you lay so still."
"It's all over, my man," said Bracy wearily.
"No, no; don't say that, sir," cried Gedge. "I was obliged to--"
"Hush! I don't mean that. I only feel now that I can sleep."
"Yes, sir; do, sir. Have a good try."
"I cannot while I know that I have your coat."
"Oh, I don't mind, sir; and I've got to be sentry."
"We want no sentry here, my lad. Take the coat from under me."
"But--"
"Come, obey me now," said Bracy quietly. "Get close to me, then, and
cover it over us both."
"You mean that, sir?"
"Yes.--There, my lad, all men are equal at a time like this. I have
striven to the last, but Fate has been against me from the first. I
give up now."
"I didn't want to run against you, sir; but I was obliged."
"Yes, I suppose so."
"You wouldn't have gone and left me, sir?"
"I don't know," said Bracy slowly.
"I do, sir; I know you wouldn't."
"Let it rest, my lad, and we'll wait for day. God help the poor
creatures at the fort, and God help us too!"
"Amen!" said Gedge to himself; and as the warmth began to steal through
his half-frozen limbs he lay gazing at the distant glow of the enemy's
fire far away below, till it grew more and more faint, and then seemed
to die right out--seemed, for it was well replenished again and again
through the night, and sent up flames and sparks as if to give a signal
far away, for the supply of fir-branches was abundant, and the fire rose
in spirals up into the frosty sky.
Bracy too lay watching the distant blaze till it grew dim to his
half-closed eyes. A calmer feeling of despair had come over him, and
the feeling that he had done all that man could do softened the mental
agony from which he had suffered. This was to be the end, he felt; and,
if ever their remains were found, those who knew them would deal gently
with their memory. For the inevitable future stared him blankly in the
face. Gedge would strive his utmost to obtain help, but he felt that
the poor fellow's efforts would be in vain, and that, if they lived
through the night, many hours would not elapse before they perished from
hunger and the cold.
The feeling of weary mental confusion that stole over him then was
welcome; and, weak from the agony he had suffered, he made an effort to
rouse himself from the torpor that, Nature-sent, was lulling the pangs
in his injured limb, but let his eyelids droop lower and lower till the
distant light was shut out, and then cold, misery, and despair passed
away, for all was blank.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The specks of golden light were beginning to show on the high peaks, and
gradually grew brighter till it was sunny morning far up on the icy
eminences, chilly dawn where the two sheepskin-covered figures lay
prone, and night still where the fire was blazing by the pine-forest,
and the great body of the enemy had bivouacked.
The two motionless figures were covered by a thick rime frost, which
looked grey in the dim light, not a crystal as yet sending off a
scintillation; and tiny spicules of ice had matted the moustache and
beard of Bracy where his breath had condensed during the night, sealing
them to the woolly coverlet he had drawn up close; while a strange
tingling sensation attacked his eyes as he opened them suddenly, waking
from a morning dream of defending the fort and giving orders to his men,
who fired volley after volley, which, dream-like, sounded far away.
He was still half-asleep, but involuntarily he raised a warm hand to
apply to his eyes. In a very few minutes they were clear, and he began
breaking and picking off bit by bit the little icicles from his
moustache.
It was strange how it mingled still with his dreams--that firing of
volleys; and the half-drowsy thoughts turned to wonder that there should
be firing, for he must be awake. Directly after he knew he was, for
there was a sharp rattle in the distance, which came rolling and echoing
from the face of the great cliff across the gulf, and Gedge jerked
himself and said sleepily:
"That's right, boys; let 'em have it."
"Gedge!" cried Bracy hoarsely.
"Right, sir; I'm here," was the answer; and the young soldier rolled
over from beneath the _poshtin_, rose to his feet, staggered, and sat
down again.
"Oh, murder!" he cried. "My poor feet ain't froze hard, are they?"
"I pray not," said Bracy excitedly.
"'Cause I can't stand. But, hallo! sir; what game's this? They're
a-firing at us, and coming up over the snow."
"No, no, it can't be!" cried Bracy wildly. "No tribes-men could fire
volleys like that."
"Course not, sir. Hoorray! then the Colonel's sent a couple o'
comp'nies to help us."
"Impossible!" cried Bracy. "Hark! there is the reply to the firing.
Yes; and another volley. I almost thought I could see a flash."
"Did yer, sir? Oh, don't talk; do listen, sir. There they go. There
must be a big fight going on down there."
"Then friends have attacked the enemy in camp--advanced upon them so as
to catch them before daylight."
"Oh! they might ha' waited till it was light enough for us to see, sir.
Mr Bracy, sir, don't, pray don't say it's reg'lars, because if it ain't
I couldn't stand it now. I should go down and blubber like a great
gal."
"It is a force of regulars, my lad," cried Bracy, whose voice sounded as
if he were choking. "Friends are there below in the valley. I know:
the Colonel must have been badly beaten at the fort."
"Oh, don't say that, sir."
"It must be. They have been too much for him, and he is retreating with
our lads trying to make for the Ghil Pass. That is the meaning of the
gathering last night to bar their way."
"Oh Lor'! oh Lor'! and us not able to fire a shot to help 'em. Be any
use to begin, sir, like for signals to show we're here?"
"No," said Bracy sadly; "our single shots could not be heard."
"Not if we fired both together, sir?" cried Gedge wildly. "I'll load
for you."
"How could they distinguish between our shots and those of the enemy you
can hear crackling?"
"Course not, sir. I'm a poor idjit sometimes. But oh! why does it keep
dark down there so long when it's getting quite light up here? We can't
see what's going on a bit."
"No; but my ears tell me pretty plainly," said Bracy excitedly.
"Mr Bracy, sir."
"Yes?"
"We aren't worse, are we, and all this a sort o' nightmare before we
loses ourselves altogether?"
"No, man, no. Listen. They must be getting the worst of it."
"Our lads, sir? Oh, don't say that! There must be a lot of them, by
the volley-firing. Don't say they're being cut up."
"The enemy, man. Can't you hear how steady the firing is?--Splendid. I
can almost see them. The enemy must be retiring stubbornly, and they're
following them up."
"Yes, sir; that's it," cried Gedge wildly. "Go on, sir; go on."
"Their officers are holding the men well in hand, so as not to come to a
charge in that broken country, and withering the crowd with their fire
to make them scatter."
"Right, sir, right. That's it. Oh, if we was only there!"
There was a pause--the two men listening.
"The enemy's firing sounds more broken up, and is getting feebler."
"Yes, sir; I can make out that," panted Gedge. "Oh! I say, don't let
the lads get out of hand and follow the beggars where they can get hold
of the bay'nets and use their long knives."
For another half-hour the pair lay listening to the engagement going on,
till it seemed as if the daylight below would never come. Then the
darkness gave way, to display far below a cold grey mist, through which
clouds of smoke were softly rising; and Bracy brought his glass to bear
upon the fight still raging furiously, and looked in silence till Gedge
turned to him:
"Oh, do say something, sir! Our lads--they ain't being cut up, sir, are
they?"
"No, no, I think not, my lad; but I can hardly make out what is going on
at present. Ha! it's gradually growing lighter there. The enemy are
not where they were last night, and the troops are there."
"Then they've took the beggars' camp, sir?"
"That does not follow," said Bracy, whose eyes were glued to his
glass.--"I can make out the white-coats now. They have divided, and are
upon the rising ground all round. Our poor fellows must have fallen
into a trap."
"No, sir; no, sir, they couldn't, sir," cried Gedge; "they'd have seen
that fire and known there was an enemy."
"Yes, I forgot the fire," said Bracy. "Oh, if the sun would only shine
down upon them now!"
"But he won't, sir; he never will when he's wanted to. He won't shine
there for an hour yet."
"Yes--no--yes--no," panted Bracy at slow intervals; and Gedge wrung his
hands, like a woman in trouble, whimpering out:
"Oh! who's to know what that means, with his `Yes--no--yes--no'? Mr
Bracy, sir, do--do say that our lads are whipping the beggars back."
"Yes," cried Bracy excitedly; "I can see now; the hill-men are scattered
and running towards the mountains."
"Hoorray!" yelled Gedge. "Hoorray! Hoorray! Hark at the steady
volleys still, sir! Hoorray! Who wouldn't be a soldier of the Queen?"
"Ha! Who indeed?" sighed Bracy.
"And it don't matter, sir, now?" said Gedge.
"No; not so much, my lad; but they'll be harassed like this all the way
to the Ghil Pass."
"And drive the beggars back, sir. But don't you think we ought to make
one try to get down to them, sir? Same as I said last night?"
Bracy was silent as he kept on using his glass, with the valley below
growing clearer--so light now that, the young soldier could begin to see
something of the fight with the naked eye, and he joined in the eager
watch downward for a time before repeating his question.
"I fear not, my lad," said Bracy, with a sigh. "The enemy are cut in
two; one body is retreating down the valley in the direction of the
fort; the other, widely scattered, is making for the snow-slope."
"Not coming this way, sir?" cried Gedge.
"Yes, as far as I can see; and our men are steadily in pursuit, firing
wherever a crowd collects."
"That's the way to do it, sir; but that's cutting off our retreat."
"Yes."
"Well, then, sir, we must lie low till the enemy is cleared off. They
won't come up here."
"No; they must be making for the track we crossed--the one below there,
where we saw the men going towards the valley-bend."
"That's it, sir, and they've got their work cut out; but our lads won't
follow 'em right up there."
"No; they will only follow till they have scattered them as far as
possible."
"And then go back, sir, and leave us where we are."
"Yes," said Bracy sadly.
Gedge was silent for a few minutes, during which they still watched the
scene below. Then he broke out with:
"It's all downhill, sir."
"Yes, Gedge," said Bracy drearily; "it is all downhill now to the end."
"You ain't listening to me, sir," cried the lad. "Do put that glass
away, sir, and we'll have a try."
"A try? What! to get down below? You try, my lad; but there is the
terrible risk of being cut to pieces by the enemy if they see you."
"Don't begin that again, sir, please. You know I won't leave you, but
let's have a try."
"I am helpless, my lad--as helpless as a figure half of lead."
"But I ain't, sir," cried Gedge. "The sight of our lads below there
seems to ha' woke me up. I'm ready to die game; but I want to make one
spurt for life first."
"Why, Gedge," cried Bracy excitedly as he lowered the glass from his
eyes, "they're not our fellows after all."
"What, sir!"
"No; and there's a detachment down yonder coming from the east. I can
almost see that they're doubling to get up in time."
"From the east, sir? Then the Colonel ain't retreating?"
"No.--Hurrah!"
"Hoorray!" roared Gedge, joining in.
"They're the Ghoorkhas, Gedge. They must be a thousand strong."
"Then one o' the messengers must ha' got to them after all."
"Yes; that must be it, Gedge; and they surprised the enemy's camp at
dawn."
"That's it, sir!" yelled Gedge. "Hoorray! hoorray again! Then there is
life in a mussel after all."
"They've scattered this force, Gedge, and the fort will be relieved, for
the bravo little fellows will cut their way through all."
"Yes, sir. Now then, sir, you needn't hardly move. There's a bit o'
slaty stone yonder as'll do, and all I want of you, sir, is for yer to
sit still upon it, and nuss the rifles while I steer you down to the
truck."
"Right in among the enemy, my lad?"
"Right through 'em, sir. They're on the run, and won't dare to stop to
go at us. I never heard of a nigger as'd stand a moment when a Ghoorkha
was coming after him with his crooked knife."
"Let's try," said Bracy, setting his teeth. "Life is sweet, my lad."
"Even without sugar, sir. Why, bless your 'eart! there's a lot of it in
us both yet, sir. This here's nothing to what we've been and done."
Wild with excitement now, Gedge fetched the heavy slab of stone, almost
as much as he could lift, drew it close up behind Bracy, and placed his
arms under the young officer's shoulders.
"Now, sir," he said, "you set your teeth just as if the doctor was going
to use his knife."
"What are you going to do?"
"Draw you right back on to this stone, sir. I must hurt you a bit, but
I can't help that."
"Go on," said Bracy; and the next moment he was drawn back upon the
stone, with no worse suffering than a fit of faintness, for his leg was
numb with the cold.
"Right, sir. Now your rifle and mine across your legs. Stop; my
_poshtin_ first. May want it again. Got the cartridges handy?"
"Yes."
"Then I sits here between your legs, sir. Just room, and I can steer
and put on the break with my heels. Ready, sir?"
"Yes."
"Then off."
The surface of the snow was like glass with the night's frost, and the
stone began to glide at once, just as the first gleams of the rising sun
lit up the spot where such terrible hours had been spent; and the next
minute, with a strange, metallic, hissing sound, the pair were gliding
down the slope at a steady rate, which Gedge felt it in his power to
increase to a wild rush by raising his heels from the surface upon which
they ran.
"All right, sir?"
"Yes, all right. Go on."
"Ain't it wonderful, sir? Why, we can get down to the track long before
any of them can get up to it."
"Stop, then, to let them reach it and retreat."
"If you order me to, sir, I will; but they'll never try to stop us;
they'll scatter to see us coming down like this. Why, in less than an
hour, sir, we shall be all among the Ghoorkha lads, and then hoorray for
the fort!"
"Go on, then. I trust to you."
"Right, sir," cried Gedge excitedly; and in spite of several risks of
overturning, he steered the novel toboggan sledge down the gigantic
slide, with the wild, metallic, hissing sound rising and falling on the
keen wind that fanned their cheeks, and a glistening prismatic, icy dust
rising behind them like a snaky cloud.