A blow from an axe had broken Munza's left knee, a lance head had
penetrated deeply into his right side, and from these two wide,
gaping wounds the blood flowed in streams. Nevertheless, the King
fought on; he no longer attacked, but he defended himself, kept his
enemies at a distance, and prevented their coming to close quarters
to despatch him. Powerless to rise from the spot where he had fallen,
his bleeding body scarce raised from the ground, he still wielded the
battle-axe, so terrible in his hands, looked so ferociously at the
Walindis, and uttered such fear-instilling cries, that he kept the
space around him clear.
Little by little, however, the surrounding host closed in upon him;
they knew that their prey could not escape them, but they were not in
a hurry to fall upon him. They advanced slowly, cautiously, silently,
ready to rush in the moment Munza showed any sign of weakness.
But now M. Périères, followed by the Monbuttoos armed with revolvers,
hurried out of the encampment to the rescue of the wounded King. It
was high time; Munza had made such superhuman efforts to defend
himself that his wounds had opened, and, weakened by loss of blood,
he swooned upon the ground. Some soldiers lifted him up in their
arms, whilst M. Périères and his little band kept at bay the maddened
and yelling mob.
They succeeded in bearing the King within the enclosure set apart by
Madame de Guéran for the sick and wounded. But Delange, after a
moment's examination, saw clearly that this time his skill would be
of no avail. They had not brought him a wounded man, but an already
stiffening corpse, whose large eyes alone were open and rivetted on
Madame de Guéran, who had just appeared on the scene.
Munza might, perhaps, have had strength enough left to speak to her
and touch her; but he only fixed his eyes upon her and appeared
well-content to die near her and for her. He had struggled heroically
against his enemies, but he disdained to fight against death. He
accepted his fate without a murmur, without reviling. This savage
died like a Frenchman.
Madame de Guéran knelt down beside him, and, after having solemnly
made the sign of the cross over him, laid her hand on his forehead.
He shivered at her touch; his already closing eyes opened wide with a
last effort, his face was lighted up with a smile of intense meaning,
his lips moved, and in a long, deep sigh his soul fled away.
Laura de Guéran remained on her knees for a long time, praying to the
God of the Christians to receive into His keeping the heathen soul
which, lifted out of its former abasement, was in a state to expand
into something far higher and better. She prayed, too, for ail those
friends who were fighting so valiantly in her defence, and for her
husband, so near to her and yet so far removed, not by mere distance,
but by the terrible obstacles lying between them.
Whilst she thus knelt beside the body of Munza, the Walindis came on
again to recover from the Europeans the wounded man snatched from
their vengeance. They did not know that he was dead, and they
hungered after the pleasure of strangling him with their own hands,
carrying off his body, casting it down at the feet of the Queen, and
saying to her—"You see that we can fight as valorously as your women;
your warriors are in no way inferior to your amazons."
Intoxicated by their first success, and thinking now that victory was
within their grasp, they rushed in one huge, compact body against the
encampment.
"Fire!" called out de Morin.
A hundred rifles volleyed forth their messengers of death; every
bullet told on the mass; a hundred bodies fell, and the remainder,
terrified and dismayed, recoiled as one man, and attempted to fly.
But that was out of their power; they now found themselves enclosed,
cooped up, and penned in, so to speak, between their enemies and
their friends.
The army of the amazons had moved down from the neighbouring hills on
to the plain to reinforce the battalions already engaged. The latter,
on turning to fly, consequently found behind them an impenetrable
human wall, five thousand women, who reviled them as cowards, and
threatened them with death if they retreated. Put thus to the blush,
and in despair at flight being impossible, they attempted a fresh
attack. They were received with a second volley, and another hundred
of their number bit the dust.
But this time the fire was continuous, a never-ceasing storm of
leaden hail, where every bullet found its billet. The Europeans saw
clearly that if they ceased firing for a second, or if their line was
broken at any one point by their countless enemies, it would be
death, speedy, inevitable death!
The Walindis were now in utter confusion, fighting amongst themselves
and killing each other. The front rank fell under the European fire;
the rear-rank, borne backward, was hurled against the amazons, and
suffered terribly from the sharp blades with which the bodies of
these women were covered. The brutal terror which had taken
possession of this human herd at length inspired them with an
intelligent idea. They, suddenly, made a simultaneous rush against
the living barrier which shut them in, made a breach in it, and sped,
through this opening, in haste and disorder across the plain.
Nothing now separated the Europeans from the army of the amazons.
Five thousand women, bristling with iron and armed with axes and
lances, five thousand raving maniacs, only awaited the word to
assault the camp, defended by scarcely a hundred men.
"This time," said Dr. Delange, cheerfully, to his two friends, "I
imagine that we shall see the end of all this, and a very good end,
too. At all events, I am glad of it. We shall no longer have to say
to each other every morning, 'Is this the day? Are we to be
exterminated before or after sunset?' Now we are regularly in for it;
in five minutes there will remain of our caravan only an agreeable
memory—for the Walindis. What have we to complain of? We might have
died of fever, which is a stupid sort of thing to do, or we might
have fallen into the hands of the Bongos, Niam-Niam, or Domondoos,
all very second-rate people, whereas we are going to die by the hands
of those charming women. Only look at them! They are perfectly
adorable! Here they come, on purpose that we may admire their pretty,
graceful necks, their flashing eyes, their dear little noses, and
kissable lips!"
The whole of the amazons were, indeed, advancing, but in hostile
array and good order, commanded by the Queen in person, who was in
the centre of the front rank.
"Are you not going to give the word to fire?" said M. Périères to M.
de Morin.
"I shall take very good care to do nothing of the kind," replied M.
de Morin. "We have but one hope—that of frightening them by a general
attack, and so throwing them into disorder."
"You are the commander-in-chief, but I do not think that these sweet
creatures are to be daunted so easily."
"Nor I either, but we must do something."
"What have they done with M. de Guéran?" asked Delange. "I cannot see
him, even with my telescope."
"The Queen," said de Morin, "no doubt thinks that it would be useless
to expose so valuable a life, and has put her prisoner in some quiet
corner."
Whilst he was saying these words, Madame de Guéran came out of the
inner enclosure, and gravely, calmly, and almost smilingly, joined
her three friends.
"Gentlemen," said she, "I am come to die with you."
She had barely finished speaking, when a loud shout came from the
ranks of the Walindis, and those immediately around the Queen seemed
to be thrown into disorder, as if they were fighting amongst
themselves. At length their ranks opened before a man, armed with an
axe, which he was whirling furiously round his head. He walked
backwards, with his face to his enemies, who followed and tried to
surround him, but dared not strike him.
He had already accomplished about twenty yards in this manner, when
he turned round towards the Europeans; his eyes sought those of
Madame de Guéran, with whom he exchanged a long, lingering glance.
Then, calling out to the three young men who were preventing her from
rushing out to meet him, he exclaimed—
"Fire! Fire!"
"Our bullets may hit you," shouted de Morin.
"What matter! You are all lost if you hesitate a moment longer."
"Fire!" said de Morin.
As soon as the smoke had cleared away, everybody looked for M. de
Guéran. He was no longer as he had been but a moment before, standing
upright and formidable. The Queen had got up to him, and, whilst he
hesitated, no doubt, to strike her, had thrown her arms round him,
and borne him down to the ground, where she was stabbing him in a
perfect fury with all the iron blades fixed to her neck, her arms and
her ancles.
At the same time, the amazons, now beyond Walinda's control, and
undeterred by the dropping fire from the entrenchment, rushed
altogether against the camp, and succeeded in effecting an entrance.
Fortunately for the Europeans, they had crossed the ditch to rescue
M. de Guéran, and were consequently on the outside of the rampart.
The Nubians, and a few Monbuttoos, had followed them, and now formed
a forlorn hope, still capable of a sturdy defence. The amazons gave
them a moment's breathing time; wholly occupied in killing the
unfortunate wretches left in the camp, intoxicated with blood,
frantic with rage, and half-mad, they had even forgotten their Queen,
whom Nassar and three Dinkas, after a severe struggle, had managed to
tear away from the mangled body she was hugging convulsively.
But a hundred victims were not enough to satisfy the ferocity of the
amazons. As soon as they had massacred all the enemies they found
within the entrenchment, they turned their attention to those who
were outside.
Their numbers were still so great, that they completely filled the
space between the mountain and the ditch; a second more, and they
would have rescued their Queen, and butchered the Europeans and their
surviving defenders.
But, suddenly, a fearful sound was heard—the mountain seemed to open
out—rocks and immense blocks of granite rolled down its slopes;
enormous stones, hurled high into the air, were falling on all sides;
they crushed everything beneath them, inspired all around with
terror, and either destroyed or dispersed the remnant of the army of
the amazons.