"Stand by!" roared `old Hankey Pankey' from his perch on the top of
Larry's shoulders, noticing our hasty retreat from the left of the
stockade, our fellows indeed rushing back in their scurrying flight into
the midst of the centre column and mixing it up into irretrievable
confusion. "Steady there! Face round, my men, stand firm!"
Just at that moment, though, when starting forwards again, with the
captain still pick-a-back on his shoulders, Larrikins stumbled over a
dead Arab that lay in front of him, and down came he with `old Hankey
Pankey' all in a heap together, with a couple of Somalis, at whom they
were going full butt.
This second catastrophe broke up our ranks, some of the chaps--only a
few, though, I am proud to say--bolting into the bush; but Mr Chisholm,
who was leading the rear division, waved his sword in the air, and cried
out for volunteers to rescue our captain.
At once, the whole lot of us that were left followed him up to the
front, where Larrikins and `old Hankey Pankey'--the latter of whom of
course could not rise of his own accord, by reason of the injury to his
legs--were fighting as only Englishmen can fight amidst a perfect horde
of Arabs, who had poured out from the stockade on seeing us retreat.
"Hurrah, boys!" cried Larry, as we came up at the double, firing away
with our rifles right and left, and digging our sword-bayonets, till
they were dyed red with blood, into the body of every Somali who barred
our onward progress to the help of our comrade and the captain. "Give
it to the bloomin' beggars hot!"
We did not need the advice, however, as the Arabs themselves could have
borne testimony to, for with a wild rush, that carried everything and
everybody before it, we drove our foe back into their stronghold, and
recovered `old Hankey Pankey,' who was at once hoisted triumphantly up
by a couple of marines. These gallant fellows, I should add, to give
all honour to the corps, stood stauncher even than we bluejackets did
that day; for, not a man turned his back on the foe until the captain
gave the word.
This `old Hankey Pankey' was forced to do, much against the grain, a
moment or two later on, Captain Oliver having been driven off from the
right attack, thus leaving both our flanks now exposed as well as our
front to the fire of the Somalis, who once more rushed out from the
stockade upon us.
"We must retire, my lads," cried the captain in a hoarse voice, the
words coming out with almost a sob. "But no hurry! Fall back by
sections, each wheeling and firing in turn. The company will now
retire! Quick march! Halt! Front!--fire!"
He suited the action to the word himself as he said this, discharging
both his revolvers point-blank at two of the Arabs, who were leading on
the gang in hot pursuit of us, tumbling them over like ninepins.
We had retreated in this fashion for about a mile or so, changing front
continually and facing the Somalis, who pressed us hard every inch of
the way; until, coming to an open space on the main road that had been
cut in a sort of zigzag through the bush from Malindi up to Uganda, the
captain determined to make a stand here and teach our pursuers a lesson,
the more particularly as we now had with us all our little nine-pounder
boat-guns.
These, with the exception of one, that only got up at the last moment
when too late, we had been unable to drag along with us for the attack
on the stockade, the path we had traversed through the bush in the first
instance under the leadership of our treacherous guide having almost
been impassable for ourselves, let alone guns.
Accordingly, with a rapid order to Mr Shrapnell, or `Gunnery Jack,' who
had accompanied the column from the ship, but had remained behind with
his little battery of field-pieces on their becoming bogged in the bush,
trying all he could to extricate them so as to get up with the column,
he being anxious, of course, to take his part in the fighting, we formed
square in the open.
The thirty odd marines we had with us were drawn up two deep in front,
they being the oldest and most seasoned men of our force; while we
bluejackets were quickly echeloned along the sides and rear of the
square, at each corner of which was stationed one of the nine-pounders.
Our Maxim gun, which had become jammed at its first discharge when using
it against the stockade but had now been made serviceable again, was
placed right in the centre of our front line, so as to fire over the
heads of the rank kneeling.
"Now, men," shouted out Captain Hankey, who had dismounted from the
shoulders of the `jollies' who had been carrying him in the place of
Larrikins since the latter's tumble, and was now seated on the stump of
an old tree in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by us all and
commanding a view of every part of the square, "aim low, and don't waste
a shot; but, wait till I give the word!"
The Arabs, who had checked their advance on seeing us halt, hesitating
as if waiting to learn what we were up to, now began to press forward
again, their ugly bronze faces, of a Jewish cut, peering at us out of
the bush on either side; while a large number came out into the open
with a rush, making for the front of the square and firing their queer
long muskets, as well as hurling their jereeds, or short spears, right
into our faces as they charged.
Every one of us, I can tell you, gripped his Martini rifle as if he
would dig his nails into its steel barrel, sighting it for point-blank
range and aiming low, as the captain had told us, to catch the beggars
full in the bread-basket as they came up, yelling and waving their
weapons about, thinking, no doubt, to frighten us.
But, though we might have faltered after our third repulse at the
stockade, we were not frightened now; nor did a man of us wish to fall
back, even if he had the chance.
We were only waiting for `old Hankey Pankey' to give the word.
He did not delay this long.
"Steady, my lads!" he cried, in a warning voice, after a quick glance
round the square to see that we had made all proper preparations to give
our friends the Somalis a hospitable reception. "Are you ready, Mr
Shrapnell?"
"Aye, aye, sir," replied `Gunnery Jack' instanter, "all ready!"
"Then, we'll blaze away and let the beggars have it all together,"
yelled out `old Hankey Pankey,' raising himself up in some wonderful
sort of way on the top of the tree stump, for he could not stand on his
legs; and, taking off his cap and waving it round his head thrice, he
gave out the words, "One--two--three, Fire!"
Like a thunderclap, sharp, sudden, and rolling through the air with a
concussion that shook the very ground under our feet, a murderous volley
belched forth from our square, mowing down the Arabs as with the swath
of a mower's scythe, the mass of on-rushing, howling, swarthy Somalis
sinking down to the ground, overborne by the avalanche of shot and shell
we hurled at them; for, the rifles of us men, the guns of Mr
Shrapnell's battery, the revolvers of the officers, and the Maxim, all
spoke at once and together.
Aye, so they did; and, though varied in tone, from the musical `Ping!'
of our Martinis to the crackling grunt of the quick-firing weapon, whose
irritable cough could be heard above the deep boom of the nine-pounders
which echoed through the woods, all spoke the same word--Death!
We had no need to give them a second volley, the fearful effects of our
first having so intimidated the few survivors we could see in the
distance, that these incontinently fled back into the bush, leaving us
now to pursue our retreat to the coast without any further molestation
on their part.
But, albeit conquerors in this our last stand, the victory came too late
to cheer us; and it was with greatly saddened hearts and drooping faces,
thus offering a strongly marked contrast to the bright enthusiasm with
which we all had started up country in the morning, we now slowly
retraced our way to the shore, to the south of Malindi.
Out of the two hundred bluejackets and marines who had landed from the
_Mermaid_ and _Merlin_ at break of day, but half that number returned on
board their respective ships at nightfall, when the sun sank over the
hills to the westward like a ball of fire, crimsoning the heavens to the
hue of the blood that had been spilt!
On reaching the _Mermaid_ the surgeon had Captain Hankey carried down to
his cabin at once, as he was now becoming faint with exhaustion; though,
I believe, the mortification he felt at the Arabs having licked us gave
him more pain than the damage done to his legs by the ball of the
matchlock, which had taken him athwartship through the fleshy part of
his understandings--breaking no bones, but crippling him all the same.
The surgeon, however, could not keep him quiet long below; for no sooner
had his wounds been dressed than he insisted on being brought up on deck
again, when he had the hands all mustered aft and spoke a few
sympathising words to us anent the events of the day. He expressed his
sorrow at the loss of so many good men and true, and added that, though
defeated for the time, we would shortly have `a go at the Arabs' again,
and nail the Union Jack of old England yet on top of the Somali
stronghold.
"Three cheers now, my lads!" he called out at the end of his harangue,
which was interspersed with a lot of `ahem'-ing and `haw'-ing, `old
Hankey Pankey' not being much of a speaker--"three cheers for the old
flag that has never been licked yet in the long-run!"
If you could have only heard the shout that went up from the lusty
throats of the chaps standing round me and Larrikins, you would not have
thought we had just been beaten off by those black devils nor had to
mourn so many jolly shipmates whom we would never see again in this
life!
But, sailors can't afford to waste any time in `crying over spilt milk';
it would be a poor lookout for them, aye, and for our country too, if
they did!
`Old Hankey Pankey' was of a like opinion.
So no sooner had the echo of our ringing cheer died away amidst the
hills beyond Malindi, now purpling with the shades of evening, ere,
turning round as well as he could with his bandaged limbs, still sitting
in the easy-chair in which he had been brought up from below, he hailed
the signalman and told him to make the _Merlin's_ number, calling Mr
Gresham at the same time to his side, the two of them confabulating
together.
Presently, in response to another signal from us, Captain Oliver came on
board, when he joined in the talk going on between `old Hankey Pankey'
and Mr Gresham for a bit and then returned to his own ship; the
_Merlin_ shortly afterwards slipping her moorings and making off at full
speed to the southwards.
"I tell 'ee wot, Tom," said Larrikins to me on our going down to the
lower deck just then, the `disperse' having sounded, and it being our
watch below, "she's gone h'off fur to tell the h'admiral o' the bloomin'
mess we've made on it!"
This we found was the case next morning when the captain's steward came
forwards as usual; this worthy being better than a newspaper to all of
us, for he used to tell us of things before they occurred, and truly
enough too, instead of waiting for events to happen and then garbling
them, as some prints I have seen do!
Two or three days later the _Merlin_, which reported having had a long
chase after the senior officer, going almost as far as Zanzibar and back
to Mombassa before she picked him up, returned to Malindi, in company
with the _Bullfinch_, another small cruiser attached to the East African
squadron.
Captain Oliver also brought orders from our chief, that parties of
bluejackets were to be landed to protect Malindi from any hostile attack
of the Arabs, while he with the admiral and all the force on the station
were busy preparing an expedition on a grand scale, to drive the Somalis
altogether out of the British protectorate, and so prevent any further
attempt on their part to invade the country for some time to come.
These instructions were acted on immediately by `old Hankey Pankey' to
the letter, parties of seamen and marines from each ship in turn landing
and patrolling the outskirts of the settlement, in front of which our
little fleet of three vessels was anchored; and so we `marked time,' so
to speak, for the next few months, waiting for the ships belonging to
the West African squadron to come up with the admiral himself, as not
until then would we be able to resume active operations against the foe,
whose defeat of us before their stockade at Wooromoloo we were burning
to avenge.
"Lor', Tom," said Larrikins to me, expressing the current feeling of all
on board the _Mermaid_, "I'd die happy, s'help me, if I could only pot
that there bloomin' Arab thief Abdalah, him we see'd shoot poor little
Dabby. They told us, Tom, you reck'lect t'other day over in the nigger
town there when we was on sentry go, him were the chief of the gang, and
were boastin' o' killin' our h'officers and makin' all on us cut and
run. Lor', I'd give a year's pay to settle that there beggar's hash!"
At last one morning, when we were pretty well tired of this forced
inaction, a despatch boat came up from Mombassa, bringing orders from
the admiral, who had arrived there in his flagship, accompanied by
several gunboats and other vessels, nearly all the crews of which had
been landed.
The admiral informed our captain that he was about to proceed inland
through the province of Teita with this formidable column; and that he,
`old Hankey Pankey,' was to assemble as strong a force as he could
muster from the ships under his command and with a second column thus
formed he was to start from Malindi and work in a south-westerly
direction, when the two bodies would meet, completely hemming in the
Arabs.
`Old Hankey Pankey' got us all ashore the same afternoon the admiral's
orders came; and, early the next morning, nearly four hundred strong
now, just double our former strength, we marched off up country towards
the scene of our defeat at the hands of the Somali chieftain Abdalah, on
the occasion of our previous trip inland.
When we got near his stockade, though, which, it need hardly be stated,
we approached with considerable caution this time, the old bird had
flown, having crossed the Sabaki River before our approach and gone to
join the rest of the Somalis at Teita, whom the admiral was now busy
encompassing.
Our way, therefore, so far, was clear; and, breasting the hills
manfully, we proceeded along the route marked out for us, our hopes high
and our spirits buoyant at the chance of now turning the tables on the
old miscreant who had previously beguiled us.
The country a little way from the coast began to get beautifully wooded:
while a series of undulating plateaus were planted by the natives with
plantains and sugar-canes, besides various vegetables whose names none
of us knew.
Farther up the mountains some of the trees were tall and spreading,
unlike anything, I thought, that ever grew in Africa; for I recognised a
mountain-ash and a sort of oak, while the juniper-tree perfumed the air
with its aromatic smell.
I have good cause to remember these same junipers! On our way up the
heights, Larrikins and I, who were scouting in advance, on either side
of the front of the column, met a native, who told us in the bastard
jargon of the coast called the Swahili language that some big animals,
which he said were bigger than us and covered with long hair, were in a
valley on our right; and that, if we valued our lives, so at least
Larrikins told me, he having picked up some of the lingo from a negro
woman at Malindi, we had better make a detour so as to avoid this place.
"Nonsense," said I. "The rascal, perhaps, is another spy like that chap
who led us into the stockade trap! I ain't going out of the straight
road the cap'en laid down for us to steer. He said the column was to go
west sou'-west by compass, and west sou'-west, Larry, I'm going!"
So saying, off I bore in the direction I had indicated, keeping to the
right of the main column, which was following the bank of the Sabaki
River.
Trudging along steadily, Larry just keeping in sight of me, so as to
hold touch with the column, I came, a little way farther on, upon a most
beautiful grove of camphor and juniper-trees, that seemed cut out of a
gorge in the Kilima-Njaro mountains.
The smell was so overpoweringly sweet and delicious, after the toil of
our long march and the arid wastes through which we had drearily toiled,
knee-deep in hot sand that had burnt the soles of our feet through our
boots, that I really could not help halting for a moment to inhale the
soft perfumed air, which seemed to me like a breath from the portals of
Paradise!
Leaning against one of the trees, a fine juniper it was, I had just
taken off my cap to wipe the perspiration that was rolling down my face
like rain, it having been a stiff climb upwards from the undulating
country below, besides having to battle, too, with the brushwood most of
the way, and the creepers that hung down from the branches, making some
of the places through which we passed perfect jungles of massed
vegetation, when, all of a sudden, a big hairy hand clutched me round
the throat and I felt myself drawn up into the tree.