A STRATEGIC RETREAT
John, the headman, was very intelligent. His sense of locality and
direction appeared to be good. But Royce felt a little anxious about
his ability to act as guide in their march towards the fort. The man
had only visited it once. Hurrying to the head of the column, he
said:
"You are quite sure you can find the way?"
"Nebber lose it, sah!" replied John, with a gurgling laugh at his own
simple joke. "Savvy way all same quite correct."
"Very well. Remember that we all depend on you. You will save time
by getting some of these new men to take turns with our boys in
carrying the stuff. I leave you to arrange that."
The party now consisted of more than forty men. John went ahead with
two or three of his original gang and the released prisoners, who
numbered over a score. Some distance in the rear came Royce and
Challis with the rest of their boys, armed.
"I'm a little doubtful whether we are doing the right thing," Royce
remarked to his companion.
"Why?" asked Challis.
"Because I'm out of my element. I don't know in the least how these
Tubus are likely to act. If they were a civilised enemy, I should be
sure that the check we have just inflicted would not choke off the
pursuit. In that case we should be doing the right thing--the only
thing, in fact, to avoid extermination."
"You mean that if we have choked them off, we ought to be hurrying
away to the south?"
"That's it. My experience in field days with the Scouts and the
O.T.C. doesn't help much now."
"I'm not so sure of that," said Challis. "I think you have done
jolly well so far."
"Well, looking at matters from the worst point of view, and assuming
that the Tubus will still come after us, I don't see that we could do
better than we are doing. The difficulty is this: if we get into the
fort, we escape immediate destruction, but we are in no position to
stand a siege. Our ammunition will hold out a good while, but our
food won't."
"Still, we shall gain a little time. Perhaps they won't pursue us
farther. If they do, they may sheer off when they find us behind
defences. Let us hope for the best."
They were marching through thin forest on more or less undulating
ground. In some places, while the trees and bush offered few
obstacles to men marching on foot, they would considerably impede
horsemen. In others, the country was so open that mounted men would
gain on them.
Whenever they passed over stretches of open ground, they would halt
for a few minutes, and scan the country behind for signs of the
enemy. It was on such clear spaces that most was to be feared.
In the forest land the party had a certain advantage over mounted
pursuers. They could avail themselves of cover far more effectually
than was possible for horsemen. They could move nearly as fast, and
more safely and secretly. A tree or a bush that would conceal a man
on foot might give little cover to a horse and its rider.
They had marched for two or three hours, and had just halted on the
brink of a stream for rest and refreshment, when Royce, mounting to
the crest of a low hillock, caught sight of three or four horsemen
amid the scrub far in their rear, on the other side of the stream.
He watched them anxiously, hoping that they were not the forerunners
of a more numerous body. In a few minutes his worst anticipations
were confirmed. At a little distance behind the small group of
horsemen stretched a long column, vastly more numerous than the band
whom he had checked and put to flight. There could be no doubt that
a large force of Tubus was in hot pursuit.
With a quick eye Royce examined the ground, calculating the chances
of making a stand. The hillock was covered with brushwood that gave
excellent cover; the enemy, on the other hand, before they could
reach the stream, must pass over a wide space of almost open land.
They had evidently descried the fugitives. Royce felt very uneasy as
he caught fleeting glimpses of horsemen moving among the tall grass
for some distance up and down stream. It was clear that they were
taking advantage of their superior numbers to try to outflank him.
There was no time to be lost if a successful resistance were to be
made.
He shouted to Challis to bring all the men from the low ground up the
hillock.
"We must try to make a stand here," he said. "If we go on we are
bound to be ridden down."
He placed the unarmed men well to the rear, and posted the others in
a crescent line behind the scrub on the crest of the hillock, facing
the enemy.
"Lie flat on your faces," he said, "and fire when I give the word."
The Tubus had been advancing in column at a trot, but within a few
hundred yards of the hillock they opened out into line, and came on
at a gallop with fierce cries. In the centre was a gigantic negro
whom Royce recognised as Goruba.
The Hausas kept absolute silence, awaiting their leader's command.
It came when the Tubus were no more than two hundred yards distant.
The rifles flashed; several of the horsemen fell; some halted behind
the largest bushes near to them; others turned and galloped to the
shelter of a clump of trees.
Royce rose on his knees, and peering over the brushwood, anxiously
scanned the farther bank up and down stream. In both directions the
flanking movement was continuing, and what was more serious, in
response to a mighty shout from Goruba, whose tall form could be seen
threading its way between the bushes in the distance, the Tubus
dismounted, and tethering their horses, began to work their way
forward on foot.
Royce tried to pick off the leader, who was clearly something of a
strategist. But the negro took such skilful advantage of the bushes
that Royce was never able to get a clear shot at him.
His intention was obvious. It was to hold the party in front, while
his men crept round on each flank, and enveloped them.
"We run the risk of being surrounded," Royce called to Challis at the
other end of the line; "there's nothing for it but to retreat."
To retreat, even with a disciplined force, is, as Royce knew, one of
the most hazardous operations of warfare. The risks were tenfold
with his Hausas, none of whom had served in the West African Rifles,
who have become such excellent soldiers under the training of their
British officers. But they were a compact little band, all devoted
to him, and he decided to take the risk.
First sending word to the unarmed men to make all speed to the rear
with their loads, he divided his little force into two parties.
"You see that ridge yonder?" he said to Challis, pointing to a
bush-covered position some distance away. "Fall back to that slowly
with your lot. I'll join you as soon as I can."
Challis set off. Meanwhile Royce retained his position, and kept up
a steady fire on the enemy as they advanced, creeping on yard by yard
under cover of the bushes.
"Whenever you see a man, shoot!" said Royce to the Hausas. "Don't
shoot without marking your man."
The Tubus made no use of their firearms. Royce and his men were
hidden from them by the brushwood, and they did not waste their shots
on an enemy whom they could not see. No doubt, Royce reflected, this
was a mode of warfare to which they were unaccustomed. They were
used to carry all before them in a dashing charge, and he wondered at
their persistence under the new conditions.
Presently a shrill whistle from the rear announced that Challis had
taken up his position on the ridge. The space between was a long
undulation, only a few yards of which, at the rearward end, were in
view of the enemy.
"Now, boys, run!" said Royce.
Heading his men, he sprinted down the incline, rushed up the farther
acclivity, and dashed past Challis and his party, calling to Challis
to hold the Tubus until he had gained a new position still farther to
the rear.
He noticed a clump of trees a little to the right, nearer the bank of
the river, and made straight for that. As he ran towards it, he came
within view of the horsemen working round on the left flank. They
immediately wheeled round, and galloped hard in pursuit.
But their course brought them below the ridge on which, all unknown
to them, Challis and his band lay concealed. As they rode past,
within range of about a hundred yards, a sudden volley on their right
flank sent some of them reeling to the ground. The rest, taken all
aback, swerved to the left, and dashed frantically away towards their
main body, who had now become aware that the hillock was deserted,
and were surging up it.
"Well done, Tom!"
The ringing words came faintly from the rear. Challis brushed his
sleeve across his sweating brow, and ordered his men to run with him.
It was something to have gained half-an-hour without the loss of a
man.