A SKIRMISH
They started at once, not trying to mount the hillside above the point
where they had been hidden, but to keep along as far as possible at
the same height. After making their way painfully for a couple of
hours, they came to a spot from which they could see the valley below
them. They then gradually made their way down till only two or three
hundred feet above its bottom, and then kept along its side. In the
still night air they could hear many voices, and knew that the coming
of these mysterious and dangerous visitors was being warmly discussed.
Lights burned much later than was usual in the villages, but at last
these altogether disappeared, and they ventured still lower, keeping,
however, a sharp look-out for any villages situated on the spurs. The
valley was not above eight or ten miles long, and they were well past
it before morning dawned.
The country they now entered was a little more precipitous and rugged
than that they had recently passed, and they agreed that it would be
impossible to climb over it, and that they would have to make use of
the pass. They therefore chose a good hiding-place some distance up on
the hill. It was sheltered from behind by a precipice, at whose foot
grew a clump of bushes of considerable size.
"We cannot do better than this," Carter said, "and as the people will
be starting in search of us in less than an hour we have no farther
time to look for another hiding-place, and, indeed, I don't think
that we should be likely to find a better one if we did. There is one
comfort: however numerously they turn out, they will take care not to
scatter much, in view of the lesson you gave them, and unless they do
scatter, their chance of lighting upon us is small indeed. I don't
suppose their heart will be very much in the business, except on the
part of the relatives of the men you shot, who are, after all, as
likely to belong to the valley we left as to this one. These tribesmen
are good fighters when their liberty is threatened, but they are not
very fond of putting themselves into danger.
"I feel much more comfortable," Carter continued, "now I am no longer
condemned to go about unarmed. It was a grand idea taking the rifles of
those two men we shot. The pony carries one, and I carry the other."
"But you have carried one all the time."
"Yes, but as I was under orders to hand it over to you whenever you
wanted it, it has not been any great satisfaction to me. Now I can feel
that I can play my part, and although these Martinis are not quite as
good as your Lee-Metford, they are quite good enough for all practical
purposes, and with your magazine always in readiness we ought to be
able to give a good account of ourselves."
The day passed quietly. Parties of men were seen moving about on the
hills, but none came near them. At night they went forward again, but
moved with great caution, as it was possible that as fugitives could
hardly get across the mountains the Afridis might keep a watch in the
pass. They had crossed the highest point, and were descending, when
they saw rising before them, by the side of the path, an old Buddhist
temple. When within a short distance from it half a dozen men jumped
out and fired a volley. The shots all went wide, but the reply was not
so futile. Four men fell, and the rest, appalled by the heavy loss,
fled down the hill.
"That is sharp," Carter said, "but soon over. However, this is but the
beginning of it; they will carry the news down to the next valley, and
we shall be besieged here. However, fortunately, it appears to be very
steep on both sides of the temple, and I don't think even the Afridis,
firm-footed as they are, will be able to climb the hill and get behind
us."
"But we can no more get up than they can."
"No, but at least it will give us only one side to defend, and we can
keep an eye on the hills and pick off any who try to make their way
along the top, and if the worst comes to the worst we must retire down
the pass again to-night, and try to strike out somewhere over the
hills. It doesn't much matter which way so that we get out of this
neighbourhood, which is becoming altogether too hot for us."
Daylight was just breaking when a number of men were seen coming up the
pass. The two fugitives had already ensconced themselves and their pony
in the temple, and had posted themselves at two of the narrow windows.
Nita shouted, "Keep away, or it will be worse for you. We don't want
to hurt you, if you will leave us alone, but if you attack us we shall
defend ourselves."
The answer was a volley of shots, to which the defenders of the
temple did not reply, as they were anxious not to waste a cartridge.
Emboldened by the silence, the enemy gradually approached, keeping up a
steady fire. When they were within eighty yards the defenders answered
steadily and deliberately. By the time twenty rounds had been fired the
enemy were in full flight, leaving six dead upon the ground, while
several of the others were wounded.
"I expect that will sicken them effectually," Carter said, "and that,
at any rate, they will not attempt to renew the attack until it becomes
dark again. I think we had better wait an hour and see what they intend
doing."
The hour was just up when a white figure was seen high up on the
hillside, making his way cautiously along the face of the precipitous
hill.
"What is the distance, do you think?" Carter said.
"Five to six hundred yards, I should say."
"I suppose it is about that. Well, he must be stopped if possible."
And, levelling his rifle, he took a long steady aim and fired. The man
was seen to start as the bullet sung up close to him. "You can beat
that, Nita," he said in a tone of disgust.
"I will try, anyhow," she said, "but the range puzzles one, the man
being so far above us." She steadied her rifle against a stone and
fired. The man was seen to disappear behind a rock.
"A splendid shot!" Carter exclaimed.
"I am not sure that I hit him, I think he fell at the flash. However,
there is a space between that stone and the boulder ahead of it."
It was five minutes before any movement was seen, then the man started
forward suddenly. Nita was kneeling with her rifle aimed at a spot
half-way between the stones, and as he crossed she pressed the trigger.
This time there was no mistake; the man fell forward on his face and
lay there immovable.
"I have no doubt that they are watching down below, and when they see
him fall no one will care to follow his example. Now I think we had
better be moving. We must risk meeting people coming over the pass.
If we can get over the worst of it, we must hide and then climb the
mountain, on whichever side appears easiest."
No time was lost. It was still early, for daylight was scarcely
breaking when the attack had taken place. Leaving the temple they
started at once, travelling as fast as the pony could pick its way
along the steep path. Two hours later they saw, far in the distance,
two men coming up. There was fortunately some shelter near, and here
they took refuge and lay hidden until the men had passed them, and
then continued their journey. They were three parts of the way down
the pass, when on their right-hand side they saw a slope that seemed
practicable, and they made their way up slowly and cautiously till they
reached a plateau, the mountain still rising steeply in front of them.
They travelled along this plateau, and presently saw an opening in the
mountain range. They halted now, lit a fire in a hollow, and cooked
some food, and then, confident that they were well beyond the area
likely to be searched, they lay down to sleep.
A start was made at daybreak. They found the difficulty of crossing the
range enormous, and had frequently to retrace their steps, but at last
struck the head of a small ravine and decided to follow it down. Late
in the evening they found themselves at a spot where the ravine widened
into a valley. They waited until morning, when they were able to obtain
a view down this. It was of no very great extent--about a quarter of a
mile wide and half a mile long, and contained but a few houses. They
remained quiet all day, and at nightfall moved along the valley on
the side opposite to the village. They found that a small stream ran
through it, and they decided to follow its course, the next morning
halting well beyond the valley in a deep gorge.
"It is strange," Nita said, as they settled themselves for a rest, "how
these narrow gorges can have cut their way through the mountains."
"Yes; it can only be that ages since these valleys were all deep lakes.
At the time of the melting of the snows they overflowed. No doubt in
some places the strata were softer than others, and here the water
began to cut a groove, which grew deeper and deeper till at last the
lake was empty. Then of course the work stopped and the water would
run off as fast as it fell."
"It must have taken an enormous time," Nita said, "for the hills
bordering the ravines must in some places be three or four thousand
feet deep."
"Fully that. It certainly gives us a wonderful idea of the age of the
world, and the tremendous power exercised by water; in dry weather
these ravines formed the chief roads of the country, though some, no
doubt, are so blocked with boulders fallen from above, or washed down
by torrents, that they cannot be used by laden animals. I fancy there
is not much communication between the valleys. They are governed by
their chiefs, and it is only in cases of common danger that they ever
act together. They prize their independence above everything, and are
ready to gather from all parts of the country for common defence. No
European except ourselves, I feel certain, has ever entered these
valleys, and the inhabitants are absolutely convinced that their
ravines and passes are impregnable. No doubt at some time or other
the British will be driven to send an expedition to convince them to
the contrary. I think that if there were no such things as guns their
belief in their impregnability would be well justified. The men are
brave and hardy, and thoroughly understand how to take advantage of
the wonderful facilities of their ground for defence, and even in
the most remote valleys they have managed to accumulate a store of
first-rate rifles.
"How they have got them is a mystery. A good many, perhaps, have been
carried off by deserters from our frontier regiments. Many of these
enlist for this purpose alone. They serve faithfully for a time, but
at the first opportunity make off with their rifle. Still, numerous
as these desertions are, they would not account for a tithe of the
rifles in the hands of the tribesmen. Some, I fancy, must be landed
by rascally British dealers, in the Persian Gulf, or on the coast of
Beluchistan. Some have been imported by traders from India. At any rate
it is unquestionable that a vast number of rifles are in the hands of
the Afridis, and will give us a world of trouble when we set ourselves
in earnest to deprive them of them."
"I wonder the government doesn't forbid the exportation of rifles
altogether," Nita said indignantly.
"It would be well if they did so, but there are difficulties in
the way. The Indian princes buy them in large quantities for their
followers, and nominally they are no doubt imported for that purpose,
but when well up country they are taken north and disposed of to the
Afridis, who are ready to pay any price for them, for an Afridi values
nothing as he does a good rifle, and he would willingly exchange wife
or child to get possession of one."
"But nobody wants to buy a wife or child," Nita said. "It doesn't seem
to me that they possess any sort of property that could pay for the
rifles by the time they got into the country."
"I fancy they are paid for largely in cattle. Herds are driven down the
country, and no watch that we can keep can prevent the traffic. The
cattle are always consigned to some large town well past the frontier,
where the rifles can easily be handed over."
"I think it ought to be stopped altogether," Nita said indignantly;
"the people of the towns can do very well without Afridi cattle, and if
not, they should be made to. It would be much better for them to have
to pay an anna extra a pound for their meat, than for us to have to
spend hundreds of lives and millions of pounds in getting the rifles
back again."
"Yes, there are many things that we soldiers, who are only here to do
the fighting, can make neither head nor tail of. If India were governed
by soldiers instead of civilians, things would be very differently
managed. As it is, we can only wonder and grumble. The authorities are
so mightily afraid of injuring the susceptibilities of the natives
that they pamper them in every way, and even when it is manifest that
the whole of the community suffer by their so doing. It is the more
ridiculous, because, in the old days, their own rulers paid not the
slightest attention to these same susceptibilities, or to the likes or
dislikes of their subjects."
"It is all very strange," Nita said, "and very unaccountable."
"Everyone on the frontier knows that sooner or later we shall have to
deal with the Afridis, and that it will be an enormously difficult and
expensive business, and will cost an immense amount of life."
"Don't let us talk about it any more; it makes me out of all patience
to think of such folly."
The journey was resumed the next morning, and continued day after
day and week after week. Sometimes they were obliged to turn quite
out of their direct course, and they had to run considerable risks
to get fresh supplies for themselves and forage for the pony. Both
were obtained by entering villages at night, and filling their sack
from stacks of grain and forage. The grain they pounded between flat
stones as they sat by their fire, and so made a coarse meal which
they generally boiled into a sort of porridge, their sauce-pans being
gourds cut in the fields. Meat they had no difficulty about, as Carter
managed, when necessary, to kill a bullock and take sufficient meat for
ten days' supply.
They seldom caught sight of a villager when travelling through the
valleys, for the Afridis have a marked objection to moving about after
nightfall. Once or twice one or two of them approached them, but
Carter raised such a loud and threatening roar, that they in each case
retreated with all speed to their village, which they filled with alarm
with tales of having encountered strange and terrible creatures.
Gradually the difficulties decreased, the mountains became less
precipitous, the valleys larger and more thickly inhabited, a matter
which caused them no inconvenience as they always traversed them at
night. During their journey Carter had filled Nita's note-book with
sketches and maps, which, as the country was wholly unexplored, would
be of great advantage to an advancing army when properly copied out
on a large scale. He was clever with his pencil, and Nita used to be
greatly interested in his lively little sketches of the scenery through
which they passed.
"It will be very useful to me," he said; "and in the event of troops
having to march through this district, should go a long way towards
securing me a staff appointment, for in such a case these sketches and
maps would be invaluable, and I should get no end of credit for them."
"So you ought to," Nita said; "you have taken a lot of pains about
them, and anyone with those maps should be able to find their way back
by the route we have come."
"I have my doubts about that," he said; "that is, if I were not with
them to point out the places we have passed. I should find it difficult
myself, for we have come by a very devious road. Of course, I have had
no chance whatever of getting compass bearings, and have only been able
to put them in by the position of the sun. And besides, a great part of
our journey has been done by night. Although, of course, I can indicate
the general direction of the valleys through which we have passed, our
routes at night among the mountains are necessarily little more than
guesswork, for except when we had the moon we have practically nothing
else to tell us of our position, or the direction in which we were
going."
"We had the stars," Nita said.
"Yes, when I get back and work out the position of the stars it will,
of course, help me a great deal, and the pole-star especially has been
of immense use to us. In fact, had it not been for that star we should
not, except when there was a moon, have been able to travel."
"I am sure it will all come right when you work it out," Nita said
confidently, "and that you will get an immense deal of credit for it.
It has been a jolly time, hasn't it, in spite of the hard work and
the danger? I know that I have had a capital time of it; and as to my
health, I feel as strong as a horse, and fit to walk any distance,
especially since my feet have got so hard."
"It is a time that I shall always look back upon, Nita, as one of my
most pleasant memories. You have been such a splendid comrade, thanks
to your pluck and good spirits, and no words can express how much I
feel indebted to you."
"Oh, that is all nonsense!" she said; "of course I have done my best,
but that was very little."
"You may not think so, but in reality I owe you not only my escape, and
the various suggestions which have been of so much use to us, as, for
example, our hiding in that place close to the road instead of starting
up into the hills, where we should have certainly been overtaken; but
you have helped on many another occasion too, to say nothing of the
constant cheeriness of your companionship. It has certainly been very
strange, a young man and a girl thus wandering about together, but
somehow it has scarcely felt strange to me. The defence of the fort
brought us very close to each other, and was so far fortunate that
it prepared us for this business. However, I agree most thoroughly
with you, that in spite of the hardships and dangers we have had to go
through, our companionship has been a very pleasant one."
"Oh, dear!" Nita sighed; "how disgusting it will be to have to put on
girl's clothes again, and settle down into being stiff and proper!
Fancy having to learn school lessons again after all this."