SECOND ADVENTURE
The next time we were taken to the front was after the Rasseldar
recovered from his slight wounds. On this occasion he took both Hira
and me. I knew at once that the message we were to carry was so
important that two had to be trusted with it so that at least one might
succeed.
"It was very cold. I felt as if I were living in a kingdom of ice. It
rained all the time. The ground was so foul that every time you stepped
on it your feet got caught in mud like quicksand, and your feet felt
so cold, as if you had stepped on a corpse. Now we reached a strange
place. It was not a trench, but a small village. Around it beat and
burst the tides of burning destruction. It was, by the look on the
men's faces, a very sacred and important place, for they did not want
to give it up though the red tongues of death licked almost every roof,
wall and tree of this place. I was very glad to be in an open space.
One could see the grey sky low, oh, so very low. And one could see the
frost-whited patches of ground where no shell had yet fallen. Even
there, in that very heart of pounding and shooting, where houses fell
as birds' nests in tempests, rats ran from hole to hole, mice stole
cheese, and spiders spun webs to catch flies. They went on with the
business of their life as if the slaughtering of men by their brothers
were as negligible as the clouds that covered the sky.
"After a while the booming stopped. And it looked as if the village,
that is what was left of it, were safe from attack. It grew darker and
darker. The sky lowered so far that I could put my beak into it. The
dank cold seized every feather of my body and began to pull it out, as
it were. I found it utterly impossible to sit still in our cage. Hira
and I hugged each other tight in order to keep warm.
"Again firing broke out. This time from every direction. Our little
village was an island surrounded by the enemy. Apparently under cover
of the fog that had enwrapped everything, the enemy had cut off our
connection from the rear. Then they started shooting the sky-rockets.
It was dark and clammy like a Himalayan night though it was hardly past
noon. I wondered how men knew it was anything but night. Men after all
know less than birds.
"Hira and I were released to carry our respective messages. We flew
up, but not very far, for in a short time we were devoured by a thick
fog. Our eyes could see nothing. A cold clammy film pressed itself on
them, but I had anticipated something like this. I did what I would do
under such circumstances, whether in a field of battle or in India. I
flew upwards. It seemed as if I could go no further than a foot at a
time. My wings were wet. My breathing was caught in a long process of
sneezing. I thought I should drop dead in an instant. Thank the Gods of
the pigeons I could see for a few yards now! So I flew higher. Now my
eyes began to smart. Suddenly I realized I must draw down my film--my
second eye-lids that I use in flying through a dust storm--if I were
to save myself from blindness, for we were not in a fog--it was an
evil-smelling eye-destroying smoke let out by men. My eyes pained as
if somebody had stuck pins into them. My films now covered my eyes and
holding my breath I struggled upwards. Hira, who was accompanying me,
rose too. He was choking to death with that gas. But he was not going
to give up his flight. At last we rose clear of the sheet of poison
smoke. The air was pure here, and as I removed the film from my eyes I
saw far away against the grey sky, our line. We flew towards it.
"Hardly had we flown half way homeward when a terrible eagle with black
crosses all over it flew nearer and spat fire at us--puck puff, puck
puff, pop pa.... We ducked and did the best we could. We flew back
to its rear. There the machine could not hit us. Imagine us flying
over the tail of that machine-eagle. It could do nothing. It began
to circle. So did we. It turned somersaults. So did we. It could do
nothing without wriggling its tail, unlike that of a real eagle, its
tail was as stiff as a dead fish. We knew that if we once came in front
of it again we would be killed instantaneously.
"Time was passing. I realized that we could not go on staying over the
tail of that machine eagle for ever. The village covered with poison
gas that we had left behind held the Rasseldar and our friends. We must
get our message through for their safety and succour.
"Just then the machine-eagle played a trick. It flew back towards its
home. We did not wish to go into the enemy's line flying over its tail
in order to be sniped by sharp-shooters. Now that we were half way
to our own home and in sight of our line, we gave up being careful;
we turned away from the machine-eagle and flew at our highest speed
rising higher every few wing-beats. No sooner had we done that than the
miserable beast turned and followed. Fortunately it took him a little
time. There was no doubt now that we were flying over our own lines.
Just the same that plane rose to our level and kept on pouring fire on
us--puff puff popa! Now we were forced to duck and dive. I made Hira
fly under me. That protected him. So we flew, but fate is fate. From
nowhere came an eagle and fired at the enemy. We felt so safe now that
Hira and I flew abreast of each other. Just then a bullet buzzed by me
and broke his wings. Poor wounded Hira! He circled and fell through the
air like a silver leaf, fortunately in our line. Seeing that he was
dead, I flew at lightning speed, never turning back to see the duel of
the two eagles.
"When I got home I was taken to the Commander-in-Chief. He patted my
back. Then for the first time I realized what an important message I
had brought, for as soon as the old man had read the piece of paper
he touched some queer ticking things, and he lifted a piece of horn
and growled into it. Now Ghond took me to my nest. There as I perched,
thinking of Hira, I felt the very earth shake under me. Machine-eagles
flew in the air thick as locusts. They howled, whirred and barked.
Below from the ground boomed and groaned innumerable metal dogs. Then
came the deep-toned howl of the big spit-fires like a whole forest of
tigers gone mad. Ghond patted my head and said: 'You have saved the
day.' But there was no day in sight. It was a darkening grey sky under
which death coiled and screamed like a dragon, and crushed all in its
grip. How bad it was you may gauge from this: when I flew near our
base for exercise next morning I found that hardly a mile from my nest
the ground was ploughed up by shells. And even rats and field mice did
not manage to escape: dozens of them had been slaughtered and cut to
pieces. Oh! it was terrible. I felt so melancholy. Now that Hira was
dead I was alone, and so weary!"