_The Convoy_
Bertram never forgot this plunge into the primeval jungle with its
mingled suggestions of a Kew hot-house, a Turkish bath, a shower bath, a
mud bath and a nightmare.
His mind was too blunted with probing into new things, his brain too
dulled by the incessant battering of new ideas, too drunk with draughts
of strange mingled novelty, too covered with recent new impressions for
him to be sensitive to fresh ones.
Had an elephant emerged from the dripping jungle, wagged its tail and sat
up and begged, he would have experienced no great shock of surprise. He,
a town-bred, town-dwelling, pillar of the Respectable, the Normal and the
Established, was marching through virgin forest at the head of a thousand
African porters and two hundred Indian soldiers and their camp-followers,
surrounded by enemies—varying from an _ex_-Prussian Guard armed with a
machine-gun to a Wadego savage armed with a poisoned arrow—to the relief
of hungry men in a stockaded outpost! . . . What further room was there
for marvels, wonders, and surprises? As he tramped, splashed, slipped
and stumbled along the path, and the gloom of early morning, black sky,
mist, and heavy rain slowly gave way to dawn and daylight, his fit of
savage temper induced by “liver,” hunger, headache and disgust, slowly
gave way, also, to the mental inertia, calm, and peace, induced by
monotonous exercise. The steady dogged tramp, tramp, tramp, was an
anodyne, a sedative, a narcotic that drugged the mind, rendering it
insensitive to the pains and sickness of the body as well as to its own
worries, anxieties and problems. . . .
Bertram felt that he could go on for a very long time; go on until he
fell; but he knew that when he fell it would be quite impossible for him
to get up again. Once his legs stopped moving, the spell would be
broken, the automaton would have “run down,” and motion would cease quite
finally. . . .
As daylight grew, he idly and almost subconsciously observed the details
of his environment.
This was better than the mangrove-thicket of the swamp, in a clearing of
which the base camp lay. It was the densest of dense jungle through
which the track ran, like a stream through a cañon, but it was a jungle
of infinite variety. Above the green impenetrable mat of elephant grass
and nameless tangle of undergrowth, scrub, shrub, liana, bush, creeper,
and young trees, stood, in solid serried array, great trees by the
million, palm, mango, baobab, acacia, live oak, and a hundred other
kinds, with bamboo and banana where they could, in defiance of
probability, squeeze themselves in. Some of the trees looked like the
handiwork of prentice gods, so crude and formless were they, their fat
trunks tapering rapidly from a huge ground-girth to a fine point, and
putting forth little abortive leafless branches suggestive of straggly
hairs. Some such produced brilliant red blossoms, apparently on the
trunk itself, but dispensed with the banality of leaves and branches.
Some great knotted creepers seemed to have threaded themselves with beads
as big as a man’s head, and the fruit of one arboreal freak was vast
sausages.
Through the aerial roadways of the forest, fifty feet above the heads of
the _safari_, tribes of monkeys galloped and gambolled as they spied upon
it and shrieked their comment.
Apparently the varied and numerous birds held views upon the subject of
_safaris_ also, and saw no reason to conceal them.
One accompanied the advance-guard, piping and fluting: “_Poli-Poli_!
_Poli-Poli_!” which, as Ali Suleiman informed Bertram, is Swahili for
“Slowly! _Slowly_!”
Another bird appeared to have fitted up his home with a chime of at least
eight bells, for, every now and then, a sweet and sonorous tolling rang
through the jungle. One bird, sitting on a branch a few feet from
Bertram’s head, emitted two notes that for depth of timbre and rich
sonorous sweetness could be excelled by no musical instrument or bell on
earth. He had but the two notes apparently, but those two were
marvellous. They even roused Bertram to the reception of a new
impression and a fresh sensation akin to wonder.
From many of the overhanging trees depended the beautifully woven
bottle-like nests of the weaver-bird. Brilliant parrots flashed through
the tree-tops, incredible horn-bills carried their beaks about, the
hypocritical widower-bird flaunted his new mourning, the blue starling,
the sun-bird, and the crow-pheasant, with a score of other species,
failed to give the gloomy, menacing jungle an air of brightness and life,
seemed rather to emphasise its note of gloom, its insistence upon itself
as the home of death where Nature, red in tooth and claw, pursued her
cycle of destruction with fierce avidity and wanton masterfulness. . . .
Suddenly a whistle rang out—sharp, clear, imperative. Its incisive blow
upon the silence of the deadly jungle startled Bertram from his apathy.
His tired wits sprang to life and activity, urged on his weary flagging
muscles. He wheeled round and faced the Sepoys just behind him, even as
the blast of the whistle ceased.
“_Halt_! _Baitho_!” {148} he shouted—gave the drill-book sign to lie
down—and waited, for a second that seemed like a year, to feel the
withering blast of fire that should tear through them at point-blank
range. . . . Why did it not come? . . . Why did no guttural German
voice shout an order to fire? . . . . He remained standing upright,
while the Sepoys, crouching low, worked the bolts of their rifles to load
the latter from their magazines. He was glad to see that they made ready
thus, without awaiting an order, even as they sank to the ground. Would
it not be better to march in future with a cartridge in the chamber and
the cut-off of the magazine open? . . . Accidents? . . . Not if he made
them march with rifles at the “slope.” . . . Better the risk of an
accident than the risk of being caught napping. . . . Why did not the
accursed German give the order to fire? . . . Was it because Bertram had
got his men crouching down so quickly? . . . Would the crashing volley
thunder out, the moment they arose? . . . They could not stay squatting,
kneeling and lying in the mud for ever. . . . Where was the ambush? . . .
Had they Maxims in trees, commanding this path? . . . Were the enemy
massed in a clearing a foot or two from the road, and separated from it
only by a thin screen of foliage? . . . . What should he do if there
were a sudden bayonet-charge down the path, by huge ferocious _askaris_?
. . . You can’t meet a charge with efficient rifle-fire when you are in
single file and your utmost effort at deployment would get two, or
possibly three crowded and hampered men abreast. . . . On the other
hand, the enemy would not be charging under ideal conditions either. . . .
More likely a machine-gun would suddenly nip out, from concealment
beside the path, and wither the column away with a blast of fire at six
hundred rounds a minute. . . . Perhaps the “point” marching on ahead
would have the sense and the courage and the time to get into the
gun-team with their bayonets before it got the gun going? . . . _Why did
not the enemy fire_? . . . He would go mad if they didn’t do so soon. . . .
Were they playing with him, as a cat plays with a mouse? . . .
The whistle rang out again, harsh, peremptory, fateful—and then Ali
Suleiman laughed, and pointed at a small bird. As he did so, the bird
whistled again, with precisely the note of a police-whistle blown under
the stress of fear, excitement or anger, a clamant, bodeful, and
insistent signal.
Bertram would have welcomed warmly an opportunity to wring little
birdie’s neck, in the gust of anger that followed the fright.
Giving the signal to rise and advance, Bertram strode on, and, still
under the stimulus of alarm, forgot that he was tired.
He analysed his feelings. . . . Was he frightened and afraid? Not at
all. The whistle had “made him jump,” and given him a “start,” of
course. The waiting for the blast of fire, that he knew would follow the
signal, had been terribly trying—a torture to the nerves. The problem of
what to do, in response to the enemy’s first move, had been an agonising
anxiety—but he would certainly have done something—given clear orders as
to object and distance if there had been anything to fire at; used his
revolver coolly and set a good example if there had been a charge down
the path; headed a fierce rush at the Maxim if one had come out of cover
and prepared to open fire. . . . No—he decidedly was not frightened and
afraid. . . He was glad that he had remained erect, and, with his hand
on his revolver, had, with seeming coolness, scanned the surrounding
trees and jungle for signs of an ambushed enemy. . . .
The road forked, and he turned to Ali Suleiman, who had marched near him
from the start, in the proud capacity of guide.
“Which of these paths?” said he.
“The left hands, sah, please God,” was the reply; “the right is closed
also.”
“What d’you mean?” asked Bertram, staring down the open track that
branched to the right.
“See, _Bwana_,” replied Ali, pointing to a small branch that lay in the
middle of the path, with its broken end towards them and its leaves away
from them. “Road closed. I ’spec _askari_ patrol from Butani putting it
there, when they know _Bwana_ coming, thank God, please.”
Apparently this twig, to the experienced eye, was precisely equivalent to
a notice-board bearing the legend, _No Thoroughfare_. Bertram signalled
a halt and turned to the Havildar at the head of the advance-guard.
“Take ten men and patrol down that path for a thousand yards,” said he.
“Then march back, wait for the rear-guard, and report to the Jemadar
Sahib.”
The man saluted, and Bertram saw him and his patrol move off, before he
gave the order for the column to advance again. . . . That should secure
the _safari_ from attack down _that_ path, anyhow. Ten determined men
could hold up any number for any length of time, if they did the right
thing. . . . These beastly bush fighting conditions cut both ways. . . .
Yes—then suppose a small patrol of enemy _askaris_ were on this track in
front of him, and decided to hold the convoy up, what could he do?
To advance upon them, practically in single file, would be like
approaching a long stick of sealing-wax to the door of a furnace—the
point would melt and melt until the whole stick had disappeared without
reaching the fire. . . . Of course, if there was a possibility of
getting into the jungle, he would send out parties to take them in flank
as he charged down the path. But that was just the point—you _couldn’t_
get more than a few yards into the jungle in the likeliest places, and,
when you’d done that, you’d be utterly out of touch with your right and
left-hand man in no time—not to mention the fact that you’d have no sense
of direction or distance. . . .
No. . . . He’d just head a charge straight for them, and if it were a
really determined one and the distance not too great, enough of the
advance-guard might survive to reach them with the bayonet. . . .
Evidently, if there were any rules at all in this jungle warfare, one
would be that the smaller of the two forces should dispose itself to
bring every rifle to bear with magazine fire, and the larger should make
the swiftest charge it possibly could. If it didn’t—a dozen men would be
as good as a thousand—while their ammunition held out. . . . What an
advantage over the Indian Sepoy, with his open order _maidan_ {150}
training, the _askari_, bred and born and trained to this bush-fighting,
would have! The German _ought_ to win this campaign with his very big
army of indigenous soldiers and his “salted” Colonials. What chance had
the Sepoy or the British Regular in these utterly strange and
unthought-of conditions? . . . As well train aviators and then put them
in submarines as train the Indian Army for the frontier and the plains
and then put them in these swamps and jungles where your enemy is
invisible and your sole “formation” is single file. What about the
sacred and Medean Law: _Never fire until you can see something to fire
at_? They’d never fire at all, at that rate, with an enemy who
habitually used machine-guns from tree-tops and fired from dense
cover—and small blame to him. . . .
A sound of rushing water, and a few minutes later the path became the
edge of a river-bank beneath which the torrent swirled. It looked as
though its swift erosion would soon bring the crumbling and beetling bank
down, and the path would lead straight into the river. He must mention
the fact at Butindi.
He stared at the jungle of the opposite bank, apparently lifeless and
deserted, though menacing, secretive and uncanny. An ugly place. . . .
Suppose the Germans bridged the river just here. . . . He found that he
had come to a halt and was yearning to sit down. . . . He must not do
that. He must keep moving. But he did not like that gap in the path
where, for some yards, it ran along the edge of the bank. It was a gap
in the wall, an open door in the house, a rent in the veil of protection.
The jungle seemed a friend instead of a blinding and crippling hindrance,
impediment, and obstacle, now that the path lay open and exposed along
that flank. Suppose there were an ambush in the jungle on the other side
of the narrow rushing river, and a heavy fire was opened upon his men as
they passed? He could not get at an enemy so placed, nor return their
fire for long, from an open place, while they were in densest cover.
They could simply prohibit the passing of the _safari_. . . . Anyhow,
he’d leave a force there to blaze like fury into the jungle across the
river if a shot were fired from there.
“Naik,” said he, to a corporal, “halt here with twenty men and line the
edge of the bank. If you are fired at from across the river, pour in
magazine fire as hard as you can go—and make the porters _run_ like the
devil across this gap.” He then translated, as well as he could, and
marched on. He had done his best, anyhow.
For another hour he doggedly tramped on. The rain ceased, and the heat
grew suffocating, stifling, terrible to bear. He felt that he was
breathing pure steam, and that he must climb a tree in search of air—do
_something_ to relieve his panting lungs. . . . He tore his tunic open
at the throat. . . . _Help_! he was going to faint and fall. . . . With
a great effort he swung about and raised his hand for the “halt” and
lowered it with palm horizontal downward for the “lie down.” . . . If
the men were down themselves they would not realise that he had fallen. . . .
It would not do to fall while marching at their head, to fall and
lie there for the next man to stumble over him, to set an example of
weakness. . . . The officer should be the last man to succumb to
anything—but wounds—in front. . . .
He sank to the ground, and feeling that he was going to faint away, put
his head well down between his knees, and, after a while, felt better.
“_Bwana_ taking off tunic and belts,” said Ali Suleiman, “and I carry
them. _Bwana_ keep only revolver, by damn, please God, sah.”
A bright idea! Why not? Where was the sense in marching through these
foul swamps and jungles as though it were along the Queen’s Road at
Bombay? And Ali, who would rather die than carry a load upon his head,
like a low _shenzi_ of a porter, would be proud to carry his master’s
sword and personal kit.
In his shirt-sleeves, with exposed chest, Bertram felt another man, gave
the signal to advance, and proceeded free of all impedimenta save his
revolver. . . .
Suddenly the narrow, walled-in path debouched into a most beautiful open
glade of trees like live oaks. These were not massed together; there was
no undergrowth of bush; the grass was short and fine; the ground sloping
slightly upward was gravelly and dry—the whole spot one of Africa’s
freakish contrasts.
Bertram determined to halt the whole _safari_ here, get it “closed up”
into something like fours, and see every man, including the rear-guard,
into the place before starting off again.
With the help of Ali, who interpreted to the headmen, he achieved his
object, and, when he had satisfied himself that it was a case of “all
present and correct,” he returned to the head of the column and sat him
down upon the trunk of a fallen tree. . . .
Everybody, save the sentries, whom he had posted about the glade,
squatted or lay upon the ground, each man beside his load. . . .
Though free now of the horrible sense of suffocation, he felt sick and
faint, and very weary. Although he had not had a proper meal since he
left the _Barjordan_, he was not hungry—or thought he was not. . . .
Would it be his luck to be killed in the first fight that he took part
in? His _good_ luck? When one is ill and half starved, weary beyond
words, and bearing a nightmare burden of responsibility in conditions as
comfortless and rough as they can well be, Death seems less a grisly
terror than a friend, bearing an Order of Release in his bony hand. . . .
Ali stood before him unbuckling his haversack.
“Please God, sah, I am buying _Bwana_ this chocolates in Mombasa when
finding master got no grubs for emergency rasher,” said he, producing a
big blue packet of chocolate.
“Good man!” replied Bertram. “I meant to get a stock of that myself. . . .”
He ate some chocolate, drank of the cold tea with which the excellent Ali
had filled his water-bottle, and felt better.
After an hour’s rest he gave the order to fall in, the headmen of the
porters got their respective gangs loaded up again, and the _safari_
wound snake-like from the glade along the narrow path once more, Bertram
at its head. He felt he was becoming a tactical soldier as he sent a
lance-naik to go the round of the sentries and bid them stand fast until
the rear-guard had disappeared into the jungle, when they were to rejoin
it.
On tramped the _safari_, hour after hour, with occasional halts where the
track widened, or the jungle, for a brief space, gave way to forest or
_dambo_. Suddenly the head of the column emerged from the denser jungle
into an undulating country of thicket, glade, scrub, and forest. Bertram
saw the smoke of campfires far away to the left; and with one accord the
porters commenced to beat their loads, drum-wise, with their _safari_
sticks as they burst into some tribal chant or pæan of rejoicing. The
convoy had reached Butindi in safety.