One evening the sergeants and corporals were ordered to forewarn the
men that the battalion would leave the neighbourhood of Lang-Son early
the following morning. Where we were going we did not know; indeed, I
believe that even the commandant himself was unaware of our destination
when he ordered the battalion to hold itself in readiness for a march.
When the morning parade had been inspected--we, of course, paraded in
full marching order--the commandant ordered us to stand at ease. While
thus waiting in the ranks, an officer of the staff came and gave a
written paper to the commandant. Shortly afterwards the staff-officer
went away, and we were marched off in column of fours for some place
or other, where, we--sub-officers and men--knew not, nor did we care.
Restlessness is the chief characteristic of the soldier; he stagnates
in garrison, or, if he doesn't, he avoids _ennui_ by illegitimate
amusements--excitements, I should say, that sooner or later get him
into trouble.
I am ashamed to confess that I was as happy as the others as we tramped
along. Of course, I was sorry for Nicholas, and as I spent the money
he had left me with the other sergeant and the sergeant-major of the
company, I felt that all the fun and gaiety that money can produce
cannot make up for the loss of a good comrade. I took care to do as
Nicholas would wish me towards my late associates, the corporals, and
my former associates, the simple soldiers--they were not forgotten when
the money was spent. Of course, I did not go outside my section, and I
took good care that my former squad, the squad I had soldiered in ever
since I was sent from the depot to a battalion, first as soldier of the
second class in the little trouble with the Arabs in Algeria, in the
big trouble at Three Fountains, in the troopship, at Noui-Bop; then as
soldier of the first class till the end of the vengeance at a place I
have not named--you may be sure it gets scant mention in the official
records; then as corporal in the defeat at Lang-Son and the retreat
afterwards, and at the second battle, when we recaptured the town:--oh
no, I did not forget the men who were what Xenophon would call my
table-companions; for their part, they thanked me but little, but we
all understood.
There is no use in detailing our life for the next few weeks. We were
always marching, now to the north, anon to the west, then a sudden turn
to east, perhaps, or south or back towards the north again. It was all
one; we looked for the enemy; we did not find him. At last a momentous
order came for us. We were much reduced in strength, and the general
commanding-in-chief determined to send most of the battalion to the sea
coast and, if the doctors should recommend, back to Algeria. I don't
think that we mustered six hundred of all ranks at the time, possibly
we did not exceed five hundred. When I tell you that we were constantly
receiving batches of fresh men--almost every troopship brought out a
hundred or two hundred soldiers of the Foreign Legion--you will be
surprised at this; but then the country is bad for Europeans, and we
were always in the fighting line of the battles and on tramp here,
there, and everywhere between them. Anyway, the commandant asked for
volunteers to form a company to be left behind, and officers as well as
men were asked to come forward.
"First," said the commandant, "I want a captain."
All the captains stepped out He selected mine. I forgot to state that
my captain had been sent back to duty, as soon as the surgeons found
that the blow on the head had produced only temporary ill-effects.
"Now," said the commandant, "a lieutenant."
Forward stepped every officer of that rank. The sub-lieutenant--now a
lieutenant--who had come out with my company, the _vieux militaire_
who had risen from the ranks, the man who was good at fighting and
better at pillage, the man who could overlook much if you were a
good looter and handed him over a decent percentage of your gains,
the man with the piercing eye, the hooked nose, the spike-like grey
moustache was taken on the spot. I believe this selection gave the old
soldier immense pleasure. "Ah," I can fancy him saying to himself,
"the commandant knows better than to take boys fresh from school."
Everybody under forty was to him a boy fresh from school, except, be
it noted, Nicholas. He did not understand Nicholas, but he was too
old a soldier, too experienced in the Legion, not to know the ruined
nobleman, the dangerous man, when he met him. A sub-lieutenant was
selected in turn, a mere boy who had been sent to us for some little
peccadillo, some little indiscretion, probably in connection with a
senior officer's wife. Then a sergeant-major was taken, an Alsatian
from No. 3. The sergeants were now called on for volunteers, and, just
as we all stepped forward, a French officer of chasseurs approached the
commandant to speak with him.
"Select your own sergeants and corporals, captain," the commandant
cried out to my captain; "the doctor will select the men, for I assume
that all will volunteer."
The captain promptly selected the two sergeants of his own company. I
was delighted. I, a boy of less than seventeen, as the captain knew,
though in the records of the battalion I was approaching nineteen,
found myself senior sergeant of a company that was evidently to be
a separate unit for some time. How I mentally thanked the officer
of chasseurs for his timely intervention, for I felt sure that the
commandant would not have selected me. The corporals were quickly
chosen as the captain took all his own corporals who had not been
seriously wounded and who did not show signs of breaking down, the
others were taken by him from corporals of other companies after
a hasty walk down the line of volunteers. He was a clever man,
that captain of mine: all the outside corporals he selected were
fair-haired. I have already mentioned that such men can stand hardships
better than the black-haired ones.
When the commandant had finished his chat with the chasseur, he said:
"All men in the front ranks"--we were drawn up in column of
companies--"that wish to volunteer, step one pace to the front; all men
in the rear ranks that wish to volunteer, step one pace to the rear.
March."
All stepped forward or backward, as the case might be; the commandant
went down the right flank and saw all the companies opened out.
"Very well, _mes enfants_, since you all volunteer, the doctor will
make a selection."
The doctor examined every man. As he marched down the ranks he cast
out almost half, one glance told him that these could not be accepted,
wounds and disease and semi-starvation and hardship had worn them
out; the rest he carefully examined in the afternoon, and, to cut
the matter short, next morning the commandant and other officers and
other sub-officers and other soldiers said good-bye to a fairly strong
company--we were more than two hundred and twenty all told--and started
on their march to the coast. We felt sad as our comrades went away.
In twenty-four hours we had forgotten them, as, undoubtedly, they had
forgotten us. Wrong! you say; well, the soldier who can't forget will
die of brooding over his memories.
In a day or two a few Annamite tirailleurs and eight or ten French
engineers had came into camp. The chief officer of the tirailleurs
brought a message for our captain, and in accordance with this we
pushed forward about seventy or eighty miles and seized a strong
position, right, as one may say, in the heart of the enemy's country.
This we proceeded to fortify, the engineers superintending, the
legionaries working, and the Annamites out on all sides to give us
notice of any movements against our little post on the part of our
foes. These, however, allowed us to finish the little fortification
in peace; once it was finished, we cared not a jot for them. We
had brought along a good deal of supplies; more of every kind that
the country produced were collected from all sides; ammunition was
plentiful, so why should we care?
This was my captain's first separate command, and he had a nice
little force to help him to keep the post. First, there were the
legionaries, two hundred and twenty seasoned soldiers; then about a
hundred and eighty native levies under French officers; last, a really
admirable demi-squad of engineers. No artillery, of course; but who
wants artillery when he has enough of rifles? My captain did not, and
he was really a clever man. Not that guns and gunners have not their
uses--oh, they have--but they are wanted with brigades and divisions
for big battles; they are useless, they are worse than useless, to
small parties on the trail of the enemy or holding some out-of-the-way
position which may have to be abandoned at a minute's notice. In a
retreat, when you are burdened with guns, one or two things must be
done--destroy the artillery, and so produce a bad effect on the men;
keep it, and by so doing slow down your march in swampy ground. We were
all glad that no guns had been sent to us. We were quite confident that
we could maintain our ground with the rifle alone; then, if we really
had to withdraw, we felt more confident of cutting our way through
with steady bayonet fighting than if we had to depend on the spasmodic
assistance of artillery in a retreat.
When the little fortification was finished to the satisfaction of the
captain and the sergeant in command of the engineers, the little force
was divided into four parts. Every part had a special duty every day.
If No. 1 were employed guarding the camp for the twenty-four hours, No.
2 would be out in the day gathering stores of all kinds and getting
information; No. 3 would be cooking and doing the other work of the
camp, except guarding it; and No. 4 would be quietly resting. Thus
every part had three days' work for one day of rest, but, be it well
understood, every man was on guard-duty only one night in four. Every
party, I may mention, had one-fourth of the legionaries and one-fourth
of the Annamite tirailleurs. As for the engineers, they examined the
fortifications every day, and did nothing then but cook and eat,
mend and wash their clothing, and lie about and smoke. The officers
commanding the parties were the lieutenant and the sub-lieutenant of
the legionaries, the lieutenant and the sub-lieutenant of the native
levies, while the captain exercised a general supervision over all,
especially the entrenchments, the engineers, and the stores.
Things went on well and pleasantly for some time. In fact we were all
getting tired of the monotony--that is, all except the Annamites, who
were quite satisfied--and we sergeants and corporals especially were
desirous of some excitement. This we got, and in full measure. That
everything may be understood I must give a brief description of the
post--the fortified encampment I may call it.
The main post was almost rectangular in shape, but a little way out
from one corner stood a block-house, its nearest angle pointing towards
an angle of the fort. This block-house was built with the intention of
protecting the portion of the camp nearest to it, and also in order
to prevent the enemy from taking up a commanding position within less
than half musket-shot of our quarters. Furthermore, it dominated a
spring from which a stream flowed in close proximity to the main
fortification. This was very necessary, for the Black Flags have no
compunction about poisoning "foreign devils." The block-house had two
storeys, and was generally occupied by about twenty men, detached, of
course, from the party on guard for the day. It was rather exposed on
the two sides away from the main position, but being well and solidly
built no one dreamed that it could ever be in any great danger. Well,
it was; but that came afterwards, and will be dwelt on in due course.
As for the big position being in danger, everyone scouted the thought.
Ah, it's well for men that they are generally fools!
Well, the time came at last when the Black Flags came to visit us. The
first token of their arrival in force was given by the cutting off of
a squad of Annamite tirailleurs; the second, firing at long range on a
party of legionaries; the third, the burning of a couple of villages.
I suppose they thought that the people in these hamlets were friendly
to us; they were, indeed, friendly, but so they would have been to any
men who carried arms. The poor people who remain quietly at home and
take no part in fighting always suffer most. We took their property and
paid them for it, at least our officers did; the Black Flags came, took
their money, their women, and often their lives, and then set fire to
their wretched habitations. In war both sides live very much, if not
altogether, on the country. You can imagine how pleasant that is for
the cultivators and others who seek to continue the occupations which
can be profitable only in time of peace. Well, cowards sow and brave
men reap.
After the burning of the villages we scouted much more cautiously. Up
to the first appearance of the Black Flags the Annamites were often
by themselves, but afterwards we never went in smaller parties than
thirty, of whom two-thirds were legionaries. So long as we had the
natives, we could not very well be surprised; and so long as they had
us with them, they knew that they would not be asked to bear the brunt
of the fighting, if the enemy only showed himself in force.
One day I was in command of a small party that cautiously felt its way
towards the north-east, where a village had been seen burning the night
before. I had two weak squads of my section and a dozen natives, in all
we were about thirty-five rifles. As we went slowly on, the corporal
of the tirailleurs gave me to understand that there was danger ahead.
I did not thank him for the information--I knew as much myself--but,
as the ground was fairly open, I determined to push on a little
farther. At the same time I took the precaution of sending a couple
of men to reinforce the little party guarding each flank, and four to
the corporal of legionaries who commanded the advance-guard. Scarcely
had these soldiers reached their respective destinations, when heavy
firing began in front, followed almost at once by scattered shots on
the right. The Annamite tirailleurs came back at once, the legionaries
did not retreat so quickly; they fired as they retreated, and showed
no signs of panic. I steadied the natives by telling them very plainly
that the man who moved without orders would be at once shot. When they
understood this, they stood up to their fight fairly well.
As the outlying squads closed on my command, I asked the corporal
who had led and the legionary of the first class who had commanded
on the right, what they thought of the attack. The corporal said it
seemed serious; the soldier of the first class, that we ought to move
off to the base at once, as many men were trying to creep round to
our rear. Now both of these might be depended on. The corporal was a
man of much service; the other a Prussian who had found life in his
own country too exciting, but who was a good soldier in all respects
on active service; in garrison, of course, it was different. I fell
back, therefore, showing a bold front, keeping the Annamites and six
legionaries together--the latter to hold the former--and leaving all
the other legionaries to fight in skirmishing order as we went away.
A few of ours were wounded, and these the natives had to carry, but
we managed to withdraw for more than half-a-mile without any serious
casualty. Then a legionary was shot through the heart; an Annamite was
sent for his rifle and ammunition, and the retreat went on as before.
Once only did the enemy attempt to rush us. I hurried to the right with
tirailleurs and legionaries when I saw them nearing for the charge, but
our rifle fire was so effective that no man reached our bayonets.
Not very long afterwards the lieutenant of my company came up with
about forty men, two-thirds of whom were legionaries. He at once took
over the chief command, and had little difficulty in getting us all
back to camp. I fancy, however, that the Black Flags could have done
a great deal of harm to us if they had tried more resolutely to come
to close quarters, for they outnumbered us certainly by six to one.
They made only faint-hearted attempts to rush us, and every time they
tried that game, we concentrated our fire on the men concentrated for
the charge. They made a great mistake in massing themselves together,
for our bullets could not fail to find a man or men amongst them in
the too close formation they assumed. We, on the contrary, kept a very
open formation in the firing line, but behind there were always two
little squads ready to hurry up to the part where there was any danger
of a serious attack. For my part, I was glad to see that the lieutenant
practised the same tactics as I; in the first place, it was a sort of
compliment to me; and in the second, no one could blame the sergeant
for doing what the officer, a most experienced fighter, did. To end
this portion of my story, I may say that the little party got back
safely to the fortification with the loss of three legionaries and one
Annamite tirailleur killed and about seven or eight wounded severely
enough to go into hospital. There were other men wounded, but their
wounds did not count--they were only bullet-grazings or flesh wounds.
When we were safely inside the little post, the captain ordered us to
see first to our wounded and then to hold ourselves in readiness to go
to any part of the defence where we might be required. The Black Flags,
however, did not press the attack; evidently they were only part of the
enemy who meant to assault our position, probably a few hundred sent
out for raiding purposes.
Nothing of any importance occurred for two or three days. We knew that
the Black Flags were closing round us; in fact, we could not go five
hundred yards from the camp without being fired on, but that gave us no
uneasiness. Ammunition and stores were plentiful, the block-house made
our water supply safe, our friends were only a hundred miles away, and
we guessed that very soon a general or other high officer would come to
inspect the post, and, of course, such people are always accompanied by
at least a couple of thousand men. A gold-laced cap and an escort are
not a sufficient outfit for a general; you must, to satisfy his _amour
propre_, give him an army as well. One thing must be noted here. Though
the block-house commanded the spring from which arose the rivulet that
ran by the outer side of the fortification, yet the captain was not
satisfied. He feared that in spite of all vigilance the well might be
poisoned or polluted, so that orders were given that no water was to
be taken into camp until four hours after sunrise. By that time all
poisons that might have been deposited in the spring during the dark
hours would be washed away, and a fatigue-party would have examined
the stream carefully for dead bodies of men or animals. As I shall not
allude to this again, I must tell here that on several occasions we
found putrid bodies in the stream. We always took them out on the spot,
and the men would take no water from the parts below where they were
found for at least twenty-four hours. If the carcasses were got in the
spring itself, a couple of engineers and two or three legionaries went
out and cleansed it.
At last we recognised that regular siege was being laid to our
position. The Black Flags, assisted by a fair number of Chinese
regulars--we knew these by their uniforms--had possession of every
natural vantage-point around the camp. In some places, the nearest
enemies were fifteen hundred yards away from the outer face of the
entrenchments, in one or two the ground permitted them to come with
safety as near as six or seven hundred yards. The average distance
between the opposing forces was, I believe, about a thousand yards.
They did not carry round a big fortified line--that would be too much
trouble and would require a large number of soldiers to man it at all
points--but they selected six or eight places of natural strength,
erected forts upon them, and crowded these forts with defenders. The
intervals between these were held by constantly moving bands, numbering
anything from half-a-dozen to a hundred.
For some time the fighting was desultory. We did not fire at them
unless they came within easy range, for there was no use in throwing
away ammunition, and, besides, it would be a good thing if they would
only learn to despise us. They knew our strength to a man. If they saw
or believed that we were short of cartridges, they would surely reckon
us a certain prey. At the same time they would be doubtful of the
success of a mere blockade, as our stores were plentiful, and any day
might bring a relieving force. As for us, we eagerly desired a grand
attack. We had enough of men to provide all parts of the entrenchment
with a sustained rifle fire, and even if they did get up to our
fortifications we trusted to our bayonet work too much to have any fear
of the issue. Moreover, since the second battle of Lang-Son and our
selection to remain behind when our comrades went down to the coast,
we had conceived, unconsciously, I believe, a very high idea of our
prowess both as individual soldiers and as a company.
The grand attack which we had been expecting and praying for--I mean
that we should have prayed for, if we ever prayed--was delivered at
last. For a couple of days and nights the enemy kept up a brisk fire,
giving us no rest. To this we made but little reply. The Black Flags
became bolder every hour, and on the second day of the fusilade some
were so contemptuous of our fire that they crawled up to within less
than two hundred yards of the entrenchments to burn their powder.
Our arrangements for the second night did credit to the captain. He
divided his little force into two parts. The first of these kept watch
and ward from sunset until half-past one in the morning; the second,
which had been resting with rifles by their sides, took up guard duty
in turn until six. Thus, along the entrenchments half the men, clad
in greatcoats, were standing up, looking out for any movement of the
enemy, while the other half, wrapped up in greatcoats and blankets,
lay down only a yard away from their watching comrades. Thus half the
rifles in garrison were ready for instant use; the remaining half could
be in action in thirty seconds. Our captain was clever--I have always
said so, and I will always assert it; other captains are creatures of
routine, and will do the same thing in a fortified post in the enemy's
country as they were in the habit of doing in a quiet town in the heart
of France. Routine, so admirable in time of peace, is a thing rather to
be neglected in time of war.
The moiety to which I was attached lay down just behind the men on
guard from sunset to half-past one. Then we were called to take our
turn of duty. I had only dozed off once or twice while lying down, but
for all that I was as wakeful as if I had slept for a week, when I
turned out of the blanket and stood up in my greatcoat in the chilly
air. Very soon I had the men under my charge at their posts. First, the
lieutenant came round to ask in an undertone if all were ready within
and if all seemed right outside; then the captain visited me and bade
me pass the word up and down my command that the attack, if made at
all, would be made within an hour, or an hour and a half at most, and
that all should be thoroughly on their guard, for on every man's rifle
a good deal depended. I, standing at the centre of my section, told
the men on my right and left what the captain had said, each of them
whispered the message to his next man, and so the words went down the
ranks. After this all was quiet; the men seemed like so many bronze
statues, but one knew that every eye was peering out intently into the
blackness and that every ear was straining to catch the lightest sound.
As for me, I looked now to the front, then to the right, and then
towards the left; I neither saw nor heard anything which could betoken
the approach of an enemy.
We were nearly an hour so waiting, watching, and listening, and the
constant strain had just begun to tell upon the nerves, when from the
eastern side of the camp a report of a rifle came. Almost at once this
was followed by a constant fire, not firing by volleys, be it well
understood, but a well kept-up fire on both sides, never ceasing, but
swaying, as it were, up and down, as now the reports came almost all
together, now they came in twos and threes, or in dozens and in scores.
The eastern side was not engaged long when the northern and southern
ones joined in. A moment afterwards the red spirts came to us out of
the darkness of the night. We replied, and a hot fusilade was well
maintained without and within. The block-house garrison was also hotly
engaged. They had little trouble with two faces, for the fronts of
them were swept by the fire from the nearest angle of the fort, but on
the other faces their work was far harder than ours. As was obvious
afterwards, when the light came and gave us the advantage, the Black
Flags had tried to catch the main position unawares, if possible,
but at least to give its garrison enough to do. The chief object was
to win the block-house; that captured, we others could be poisoned
out. I afterwards learned that in the block-house there were two
engineers and twenty-one legionaries, the whole being commanded by the
sergeant-major I spoke of, the Alsatian who came from No. 3. They were
good men; one engineer and seven legionaries, all simple soldiers, were
killed; almost all the others were wounded, but even wounded men who
could stand remained at their posts, and those others who had to stay
out of the fight loaded their rifles and the rifles of the dead, and
passed them to the fighting men, so that two shots often went through a
loophole when, in the Black Flags' minds, only one should be expected.
They were good men; I am proud of having soldiered with such.
But one attempt was made to rush the fort. This occurred at the angle
where the fire from the two sides swept the ground in front of two
faces of the block-house. I don't believe that the enemy dreamt of
taking our place by storm, but one thing was certain, the attack in
force took away all aid for the block-house from the main position
and made the men outside dependent altogether on themselves. That the
determined attack on the little garrison outside, weakened as it was by
death and wounds, did not succeed was due, first to their determined
resistance, and secondly to the fact that, just as the attack became
fiercest, the light became good enough for us to see our foes, to
reckon their strength, and then to allow our captain to withdraw men
from the two sides that were but feebly fired at to the others where
the firing was practically point-blank. The sudden reinforcement
overpowered the attack. A rapid and unexpected sally by fifty or sixty
legionaries with fixed bayonets relieved the pressure round the
block-house. The little garrison received from the sortie party a dozen
men as reinforcements, the rest returned, and that really finished the
engagement. A few shots still continued to be exchanged, but the firing
after the sally was of no account--a man killed or wounded on either
side "did not count in the tale of the battle."
After this we had a little peace. We buried our dead outside the
ramparts, but we left no mounds to afford shelter to enemies. All the
earth that would in ordinary cases form heaps above the graves was
taken to strengthen our defences; the plain outside was left as level
as before. Was he not a clever captain? As for the enemy's killed and
wounded, the uniformed men amongst them took them away under a flag
of truce. We never allowed more than twenty-five to be engaged on the
work within a hundred yards of the outer face of the fortifications,
because we never trusted the Chinese. One thing else we did, we sent
out the Annamites to gather all the weapons and ammunition of those who
had fallen near the camp. These were of no use to us, but we deprived
the enemy of them. Some of the wounded fell out with the Annamite
tirailleurs; well, it was so much the worse for the wounded.
When the burials were over and the wounded were going along well, we
began to look forward to another attack. The Chinese regulars evidently
took the business in hand this time, for there was no attempt to carry
the main post or the block-house by assault; now we had to contend
with mines. It was very well for us that there were engineers in the
garrison; without them we should in all probability have seen most of
our defences blown into the air. As it was, the Chinese mined and our
engineers countermined. At first the mining was comparatively simple,
as far as we were concerned. The Chinese had not the skill of the
French sappers, and the result was that we always found out where they
were boring, before they even imagined that we could know anything
about their operations, but after we had destroyed a few mines, and
with them a certain number of men, the underground attack became more
skilful and more concealed. On more than one occasion both parties of
tunnellers discovered each other at the same time, and the earth was
quickly put back by both; we did not want a communication between mine
and countermine, for that might give passage to a couple of thousand
Chinese and Black Flags into our camp; the enemy did not want to come
to close quarters with us, for more than once they had learned that,
bayonet to bayonet, the Asiatic stood no chance against the European.
I shall not say much about the underground operations, as I am not an
engineer; moreover, my duties as sergeant kept me almost always above
ground; we allowed the military engineers to direct everything below.
Of course, it will be understood that the legionaries, and sometimes
the Annamite tirailleurs, furnished the working parties; the regular
engineers chiefly concerned themselves with planning the works first
and overseeing them afterwards. There is a story of one countermine
which, however, I must narrate, as it intimately concerned myself.
Our fellows had cautiously dug forward for a considerable distance.
No sound of tunnelling on the side of the Chinese had been heard; as
the _dénoûment_ proved, they had been as cautious as we. The working
party was tearing down the earth with the sharp edge of the pick, not
striking with all their strength. Thus very little noise was made,
and, besides, it was enjoined on all who were at work in the mine that
talking could not be allowed. The men loyally obeyed orders, even if
they had not felt inclined to do so through the spirit of discipline,
the knowledge that the others were doing their best to tunnel under
the fortification and then blow part of it to pieces prior to a grand
attack with rifle and bayonet, would have made them obedient enough. I
had gone down into the mine, more out of curiosity than because I had
business there; my excuse was that I wished to get the names of the
men of my section working in the pit. When I went down, I stayed for
a moment or two. While I was holding a whispered conversation with a
sub-officer of engineers, a cry from a worker drew our attention. In a
moment the engineer saw what had happened, and cried out: "Les Chinois,
les Chinois!"
As a matter of fact, the Chinese miners and we were separated only by
a thin wall of loose earth; a blow or two struck by I know not which
party tumbled this down, and we were all mixed up together, French and
Chinese, in the tunnel. All struck out at random. I drew my bayonet,
which, of course, I always wore, and dashed the point in the face of a
yellow man from outside.
The lamps were extinguished in the struggle that ensued; we were all
striking blindly about with pick-axe, shovel, and bayonet; no man knew
who might receive his blow. It was a horrible time. In the darkness I
heard the cries and oaths and groans; I shoved forward my bayonet, it
met something soft; I drew it back and lunged again; again it met the
soft, yielding substance, or perhaps the blow was lost on empty air. If
I struggled forward, I tripped over a body; if I went back, surely a
miner would knock my brains out with his pick. This went on for a short
space that seemed an eternity. At last hurrying footsteps and shouts
of encouragement and a welcome gleaming of lights told of the arrival
of aid. When our comrades came up, we found that all the Chinese able
to flee had fled; fourteen of them, however, and eight or nine men
of ours, were lying pressed against and on top of one another in a
narrow space. All, dead and wounded alike, were carried out; the place
was blocked up at once, and the countermine that had taken so much
time and work on our part was filled in. When the dead and wounded
were examined two legionaries and two engineers were found dead, four
legionaries and an Annamite tirailleur wounded, ten Chinese killed
outright, four just alive. An ugly list for the small place in which
the fight was, but it was the darkness that caused so heavy a casualty
list amongst comparatively few combatants. It was a most unpleasant
struggle. After that experience I shall never care to fight again in
the dark.
For some time afterwards the siege went on in a less exciting way. The
enemy had evidently resolved to starve us out. We had, as we thought,
enough of stores in the beginning to last until relief came, but when
the relief did not make its appearance at or after the time expected,
the captain began to have serious misgivings for the future. We were
utterly shut off from all communication with the outside world; for all
we knew, another disaster might have befallen the French troops, and,
if that were the case, there could be no hope of relief in time. A full
fortnight had now elapsed since the date that we had confidently set
for the coming up of reinforcements; we were all asking one another the
reason of the delay. Other questions also arose. Would our comrades
come soon? If they did not, would our provisions hold out? Should we be
able to fight our way through, in case the post had to be abandoned?
There was no thought of surrender, for all understood that it was
better to die fighting than to give ourselves up to the diabolical
tortures inflicted by the Black Flags and their allies on unlucky
prisoners of war.
One day rations were reduced by one half. In some way to make up for
this an allowance of native spirit was served out every afternoon, but
the brandy and the wine were carefully kept for the use of the sick
and wounded. These were by no means few, and when the dead were added
to the ineffectives the total reached almost fifty per cent. of the
original force. Indeed, after we had been on half-rations for a time,
we legionaries formed a skeleton company of skeletons; we were so few
and so reduced in weight. But through all we were resolute and, nearly
to the last, cheerful. Certainly when the half-rations were further
diminished, our spirits markedly sank, but no one expects starving men
to show much gaiety.
The soldiers were kept constantly on the alert both by the enemy and by
us, their sub-officers. The captain told the sergeants and corporals
that the men were to be always engaged in some work or other, as he
did not wish to give them time to annoy themselves by thinking. This
instruction made me a busy man. I was always on the look-out for little
duties for my section, at the same time taking care not to overwork the
men, and I tried to be as cheerful as possible with them. My fellows
and I got along well together on the whole. I never brought a man
before the captain if I could help it, and I let the corporals of the
section understand that the squads were not to be sworn at more than
was absolutely necessary. At the same time all knew that an order once
given had to be at once obeyed.
Things had been going on in this fashion for some time when the enemy
again plucked up courage to attack. We were very glad of this, because
it showed that they feared the arrival of a French force before they
could reduce us to extremity by a mere blockade. The second big
fight was a replica of the first one, only that on this occasion the
assault on the block-house was more determined than before. It lasted
longer too, for we were too few in number to risk fifty or sixty
men in a sortie, but, in spite of all, the defence was successfully
maintained. Two days afterwards some Annamites captured a Chinese.
He was in a state of abject terror when brought before the captain,
and on the promise that his life would be spared and liberty given
him, he soon told us all he knew of the French movements. We learned
then that a strong force was approaching and might be expected almost
at any moment; we were also told that a third and last attack was in
preparation. This attack, however, and the relief of the post will be
told in the next chapter, as they deserve a chapter to themselves.