men. "The sahib went in that direction."
"Wah! a dak runner would run, not crawl," said another. "Let us look
through the long glass, dafadar."
The telescope was passed round. No one could as yet identify the
figure. They were all keenly interested. For several days they had not
seen a solitary man outside the walls, though they had kept unremitting
watch, having been instructed to be on the alert to discover any
movements of men in that region. The figure approached slowly--too
slowly for their impatience. All eyes were riveted upon it, and when
Selim with the telescope reported that it was completely clad in khaki
uniform and not in shepherd's choga, or the scanty tatters of a
mendicant, the troopers' excitement grew.
"Hai! he stops!" cried Selim presently. "He waves a white cloth. It is
a signal, dafadar."
Narrain Khan took the telescope and gazed at the figure. He felt a
little perplexed as to what he ought to do. In time of peace he would
not have hesitated to send out a couple of men to discover who the
stranger was; but there were rumours of war, and the Captain Sahib had
given orders that no man should be allowed to leave the post except
under the gravest circumstances. He wondered whether the present case
came within his licence. The man was clad in khaki: that was something
in his favour. He was waving a white flag: that was reassuring. He had
seated himself on a knoll beside the track: perhaps he wanted help.
The dafadar lowered the telescope and turned to his men.
"Go, you two," he said, "ride out on your ponies and see who the
stranger is, and what his business. Have a care, lest there are
badmashes lurking near. The stranger may be a decoy. Have a care, I
say, for when you have ridden down the slope we cannot protect you."
The men descended through the tower, and were presently seen trotting
down the track. Every yard of their progress was followed intently by
the garrison. Their diminishing forms were lost to the watchers at
intervals through the windings of the track and the inequalities of the
ground. Presently they were seen, little more than dots, moving side by
side along the straight stretch at the farther end of which the solitary
stranger could still be discerned.
They approached him, came to a halt, and dismounted. After a minute or
two the party separated. Two men proceeded northward along the track,
one on horseback, the other on foot. The third man rode in the opposite
direction towards the house.
The whole garrison of eighteen men were now mustered, some on the roof,
some on the wall, silent, their eyes fixed on the slowly approaching
horseman. By and by it was seen that he was not either of the two who
had lately ridden down. Then the dafadar, who had the telescope at his
eyes, suddenly exclaimed:
"Mashallah! It is Ennicott Sahib!"
Amid a chorus of ejaculations he hurried down to the courtyard, mounted
his horse, and galloped down the track to meet the officer. The
strangeness of that meeting formed the theme of a discourse to the men
of the garrison later in the day.
"When I came near enough to see the face of the huzur," said Narrain
Khan, "I beheld that it was the face of a sick man. His left arm hung
straight at his side like the broken leg of a sheep. I was on the point
of invoking the mercy of Allah upon the huzur--is he not the light of
our eyes?--when his great voice sounded in my ears like the voice of a
trumpet, and before even I could make my salaam he cried--what think you
were the words of the great one?"
"'Water, for I am athirst,'" suggested one man.
"Wah! does the huzur think of himself? You speak as a witless babe."
"'Is all well?'" said another.
"Wah!" cried the dafadar with scorn and indignation. "Could the
heaven-born ask so foolish a question knowing that I, Narrain Khan, am
in charge of this house? No: the words of the huzur--and they were very
strange--were these: 'Hai, dafadar! have you got any paraffin?'"
"Inshallah! what is paraffin to the heaven-born? And what said you,
dafadar?"
"I was so astonished that I could but speak out the simple truth.
'Truly, sahib!' said I, 'we have some few tins with which to replenish
our lamps.' And then the huzur commanded me to send six men with one
large tin, that one man might easily carry, along the track to the foot
of the hills yonder, and give it to a sahib they would find reclining
there."
"Another sahib! Who is he?"
"And for what purpose the paraffin, dafadar?"
"That I know not. The huzur did not tell me that, but told me that he
had already sent to the sahib those two young men I had ordered to meet
him. And you saw how, when the huzur dismounted at the gate, he
staggered, and caught me to prop him: and when I asked him to lie down
and let us see to his hurt, he made that sound with the lips that the
sahibs make when they are impatient, as if I had said some foolish
thing, and bade me lead him straightway to the clicking-room, and there
he is now: you can hear the clicking-devil, like little hammers tapping.
Truly I begin to think there are many strange things to tell the Sirkar
far away."
"Hai! I did see a speck in the sky," said Coja solemnly.
Major Endicott, though half fainting with pain and exhaustion, had gone
straight to the room in which the telegraph instruments were kept, and
shut himself in. For nearly an hour he worked at the keys with a
rapidity acquired by much practice. Before he had finished, the second
instrument at his side was mechanically recording the answers to his
message. Having read these off, he staggered to the door and summoned
the dafadar.
"Fenton Sahib will be here in three hours," he said. "There will be
also the sahib from the hills. Get some food and a bath ready for him,
and tell Hosein to come and see to my arm."
Some two hours later the Major was awakened from a profound sleep by a
hubbub among the men on the wall. Going out to them, he found them
excitedly watching an aeroplane soaring rapidly towards them from the
hills. Coja was loudly proclaiming that the flying object proved his
truthfulness: no one could any longer deny that he had seen a speck in
the sky.
A few minutes after it had been sighted the aeroplane sank to rest on
the open space in front of the tower. Loud cries of wonder broke from
the men when there stepped out of it a young sahib, limping slightly,
followed by one of the two sowars who had gone out to meet the major.
The trooper greeted his comrades with an air of triumph, and swaggered
up to them with an ineffable look of importance. They surrounded him,
and listened with admiring envy while he detailed his first impressions
of flight through the air.
Meanwhile the Major took Lawrence into the officers' room, where he
bathed, and ate the lunch Narrain Khan had provided. He had just
finished when there was the clatter of hoofs outside, and in a few
minutes entered Captain Fenton, who had ridden up with half a dozen
sowars from the fort fifteen miles to the south.
"Hullo, major, you look pretty dicky!" said the newcomer, glancing
curiously from the major's bandaged arm to Lawrence.
"Yes, I've had a knock. Let me introduce you. Lawrence
Appleton--you've heard of Harry Appleton--Captain Fenton."
"I see they've sent us an aeroplane, Endicott," said the captain,
shaking hands with Lawrence. "An unexpected gift! I thought all the
aeroplanes were scouting Kabul way--all there are; they've got a dozen
or so, on paper, and a regiment of airmen, also on paper: most of us
believed they weren't born yet! Which way did you come, Mr. Appleton?"
"You'd better sit down and listen, Fenton," the major interposed.
"There's a lot to say, and not much time to say it in. We're in for the
hottest time since the Mutiny--and if I'm not mistaken, hotter than the
Mutiny at its worst: I mean generally, for there won't be any Cawnpores
or Lucknows, I hope. You know that the Afghans are up?"
"Yes: we've mobilized along the frontier: they won't get across."
The Major smiled grimly.
"After I'd wired you to come in," he said, "I got into communication
with the Chief at Peshawar and the Viceroy at Delhi. The Amir has just
fled to Peshawar: Kabul's in the hands of the Mongols."
"By Jove!"
"The cat's out of the bag at last. That huge concentration about
Bokhara was not to be launched at Russia after all. I suppose we were
too self-assured to twig it--just as in the Mutiny time. Plenty of
information, little imagination. But we have it now. There are pretty
nearly half a million of the fiercest ruffians in Central Asia marching
down on us--almost all mounted, and they're fellows who live on
horseback, and are moving with amazing speed. They've cajoled or bought
over the best part of the Afghans--silly fools, for if the Mongols beat
us they'd swallow Afghanistan for dessert. There are a hundred thousand
in and about Kabul."
"It's astonishing that they managed to keep things so quiet. They must
have been intriguing and negotiating for months."
"Again, just as in the Mutiny. I've not heard of chapattis passing
round, but they've had their secret signs, without doubt. The one good
thing about the present circumstances is that the Afghans are not
actually on the march yet. They're probably waiting to see how the cat
jumps. Of course we've always relied on them more or less as a buffer
against Russia, calculating that they'd hold up the invaders at Herat
until we'd had time to line the frontier. Anyway, we can't expect any
help from them now, for if they're not actually hand in glove with the
Mongols they're neutral, for a time. You said we'd mobilized, didn't
you? I've been away a fortnight."
"Yes. With the most tremendous exertions we've got 100,000 men across
the frontier, and they're holding the passes. Only just in time,
evidently. It ought to have been an easy job: and so it was--on paper.
But it's years since the paper scheme was drawn up, and they've been
paring down in the usual British way--economizing, they call it. The
result is that arrangements for transport and supplies are all at sixes
and sevens. They've had to reduce the frontier garrisons to mere
skeletons in order to make up the strength of the field army."
"The Chief wired me just now that troops are being pushed up from all
parts, but the railways are so horribly congested that it'll be weeks
before they're on the spot. I fancy I made him jump with my news."
"You've got something fresh then?"
"There are twenty thousand Kalmucks marching up the Nogi valley."
"The Nogi valley! But I've always understood it's impassable. Isn't
that where poor old Harry Appleton has his mine? ... Beg pardon, I'm
sure," he added, turning to Lawrence. "I forgot he's a relative of
yours."
"My uncle," said Lawrence.
"I'm glad to think it is for the moment impassable," said the major,
"owing to the pluck and readiness of Appleton here and his brother. But
the Kalmucks traded on our self-confidence. No one would have dreamed
that any considerable force would try to push its way up that difficult
track; they _are_ trying it, and their object, without a doubt, is to
cut the communications of the army operating in Afghanistan. If they
penetrate to fifty miles this side of the Appleton mine nothing but a
whole division can check them. The Chief wired that he can't spare a
man at the moment, and said the valley must be held at all costs for a
week."
"But man alive, that's impossible! We haven't three hundred men all
told within a hundred miles of it. If we rushed them down for all we
were worth three hundred couldn't hold off twenty thousand."
"Well no, and you'd never get there. But as it happens the Chief was
only acting on something I had told him. It's a long story, and must
keep. But the short of it is that Harry Appleton's two nephews--poor
chap! he's gone himself--brought out an aeroplane--the one you saw
outside: you might be sure it wasn't a service machine! By the merest
accident they happened to see this Kalmuck force encamped, and after
some pretty stirring passages which I'll tell you some other time, they
blocked up the track just below the mine; it will keep the enemy busy
for a while."
"Congratulate you," said the captain to Lawrence. "Not in the service,
are you?"
"No."
"He is in training, Fenton," said the major with a smile. "By the help
of his aeroplane he got me out of a very tight place, and I went down to
the mine to see for myself how the land lay. An accident to the
aeroplane kept me there for a day. When it was repaired we made a
reconnaissance down the river. Near the mine there was a striking force
of about a thousand men--as many as could operate with any effect on so
narrow a track. Some thirty miles farther down we saw a couple of field
guns being dragged up; and the main body of the enemy was still encamped
at the mouth of the valley, waiting for the way to be cleared. It was a
masterly notion to dynamite the rock; indeed, as far as I could see, Bob
Appleton had left nothing undone to secure his position. Of course it's
an uncommonly tight place; very likely nine fellows out of ten--or we'll
say eight!--wouldn't have attempted to hold it: but you know the
Appleton breed, Fenton: and if they can only stick it out for a week, as
the Chief wishes, by George! the Government of India will have reason to
say thank you."
"Your arm's paining you, I see," said Captain Fenton, as the major
winced.
"Nothing to speak of. It was a bit of rank bad luck. Of course, seeing
what the game was, I felt I must wire the Chief at once, and Lawrence
offered to bring me here in his aeroplane. We came along swimmingly
until we had got about half way: saw nothing of the enemy: and then
rather suddenly struck a rabble of about two thousand men marching
southward. We came down rather too low, to get a good look at them.
They opened fire, and one of their shots tore my arm from shoulder to
elbow. If we had made a straight course we shouldn't have met trouble:
but naturally I wanted to pick up any information I could. Unluckily in
going criss-cross we consumed a good deal of petrol, and when it became
necessary to replenish the tank from the reserve cans, we found that
they'd been bored with holes during our peppering; one was empty, in the
other there were a few spoonfuls at the bottom below the level of the
hole. This only lasted a few miles, and then we had to come down, in
the hills yonder."
"Rough luck!" said Captain Fenton, turning sympathetically to Lawrence.
"You must have felt pretty mad. How did you bring the machine in?"
"I happened to mention when we were talking things over that paraffin
would do at a pinch, and the major said he was pretty sure they would
have some here, and insisted on tramping over to get some sent up."
"Well, you see, he's got a game foot," said the major. "Sprained his
ankle two days ago. My legs are sound, at any rate. But I was pretty
dead beat before I got here, and was glad enough to borrow the mount of
one of the men Narrain sent to meet me. He and the other fellow went on
to keep Appleton company, and as soon as the paraffin was sent up, the
aeroplane came flying in with the sowar on board as a passenger. He was
bubbling with delight, and no doubt will be a hero among the men for the
rest of his days."
"Mr. Appleton wants to get back to the mine, of course," said the
captain.
"Yes: there's enough paraffin for that. How are matters round the fort,
Fenton?"
"The tribes are pretty quiet at present. They've held several jirgahs to
discuss what line they shall take. That depends on who scores the first
point. If we can only convince them that we're not going to knuckle
under, I daresay they'll stick to us. But it wouldn't take much to turn
the scale on the other side. The crowd that fired at you are marching
this way, you said?"
"They'll be hereabouts some time to-morrow, and probably a lot more, for
we caught sight of other parties, not so large, threading the valleys to
the west. The whole country north-west of us is rising."
"That's bad. I can't hope to keep the tribes about the fort quiet after
these thousands come on the scene."
"I must see what I can do."
"You ought to be in hospital. If you had let me know you'd been hit I'd
have brought the medico with me."
"Good thing you didn't. He'd have been so disappointed!"
"No operation required, you mean," said Captain Fenton laughing. "He
does love his knife."
"And fork!" added the major drily. "He shall have a look at my arm
to-morrow. I propose to return with you to the fort. We must blow this
place up. You can hold your own there for some time against a good
number, and reinforcements will be hurried up as rapidly as possible.
Then I must try the velvet glove with the tribesmen. There won't be
much time to do anything with them before those men we saw get south;
but if you discourage them with hot lead at the fort it will help....
This is all very hard on you, Appleton."
"That's all right," said Lawrence. "I was only wishing I had brought
more of our bombs with me. I might have checked those hillmen and given
you more time."
"But that would have involved your remaining in this neighbourhood, and
you are wanted at the mine. A bomb or two dropped in flying over would
have scattered them for the moment, but they'd have collected again as
soon as you were past. I don't know how much paraffin we've got to give
you. No: there's better work for you. You'll convey the Chief's
message to your brother: hold the gorge for a week at all costs. I'll do
my best to get reinforcements through. It's vitally important to keep
those Kalmucks in check. The fate of India hangs in the balance."
Preparations were made for the evacuation of the house on the following
morning. Having taken on board more than enough paraffin to carry him
back to the mine, together with a dozen rifles and several thousand
rounds of ammunition, Lawrence bade the officers good-bye, and started
immediately after breakfast. A few minutes after his departure a dull
boom proclaimed that the tower had been blown up and the garrison was on
the march for the south.
Major Endicott had advised him to fly high so as to avoid the risk of
further accident if he should encounter the enemy. Some ten miles from
the tower he caught sight of them: they appeared like an army of ants
crawling on the ground. A few shots were fired at him, but he was far
out of effective range, and in a few minutes disappeared from their
view.
A little uneasy at first as to the staying power of the paraffin, he was
soon reassured. In less than an hour he struck the western extremity of
the valley, and he flew down it at full speed, maintaining a great
altitude in case Nurla Bai and his party should be still on the track or
in the hills above.
He had almost reached the mine when he heard sounds of rapid firing.
The attack, then, had begun in earnest.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND
DITTA LAL INTERPRETS
During his brother's absence Bob had been energetic in organizing the
defence. He threw an entrenchment across the track beneath the shoulder
of the cliff, a short distance from the mass of broken rock thrown down
by the explosion of dynamite. By this means he hoped to interpose an
effective obstacle to the enemy if they, without waiting for the track
to be cleared, should attempt to climb round and slip by up the valley.
Nurla Bai's swimming feat showed him that the river could be crossed
otherwise than by the drawbridge, and the assemblage of any considerable
number of men on the southward side might be a serious menace. True,
the enemy could hardly cross in daylight in face of opposition from the
wall of the compound; but remembering how Nurla Bai had got over and
made his way by the cantilever pathway to the mine, Bob saw that a
similar movement might be attempted when the attention of the garrison
was held by an attack from down-stream. In that case he would have to
dispatch men whom he could ill spare to guard the aeroplane platform and
perhaps to destroy the pathway constructed with such toil. As a
precautionary measure he stationed three men on the aeroplane platform
day and night.
Further, in order not to be at too great a disadvantage in case of a
sudden rush in the darkness, he contrived a makeshift searchlight out of
a large photographic camera of his uncle's and a reflector of polished
tin. He hoped that it would not be necessary to use it often, for the
stock of calcium carbide was running low, and he had no other illuminant
than acetylene gas and paraffin candles.
When Lawrence alighted on the aeroplane platform, Fazl, one of the three
men on guard there, informed him that the enemy had opened a brisk fire
at daybreak.
"The sahib cannot get to the house to-day," said the man.
"Why not?"
"Because, sahib, when you once get round the shoulder, the path is in
sight of the enemy. They will shoot you. It is necessary to wait for
night."
"Nonsense! I can't stay here all day. Let me see for myself."
He went across the platform and along a few yards of the path until he
reached the bend. There he peeped cautiously round. He forgot his prime
object in the anxiety and concern to which the state of affairs down the
river gave rise. Being slightly above the level of the track he was
able to take a good view of the position. The enemy had cut a new path
along the fallen cliff, and had thrown across it a breastwork about
thirty feet long, from loopholes in which they were maintaining a hot
fire on the northernmost boundary of the compound. The reply of the
garrison was astonishingly feeble; the characteristic rattle of the
machine gun was not to be heard, and Lawrence saw the havildar standing
inactive by the weapon. Bob was near the wall, smoking a cigarette, and
it was apparently only when he gave a distinct order that the men fired.
Lawrence guessed that he was husbanding his ammunition, and blessed
Major Endicott's forethought in sending a supply which would be so
welcome.
Recollecting his purpose, Lawrence scanned the wooden pathway narrowly,
to see how far Fazl's advice was justified. For forty or fifty yards it
was fully exposed to the enemy's marksmen, but beyond that distance it
gained some shelter from the buildings in the compound. If the enemy
had not already had their attention drawn to it, there was a chance
that, in spite of his weak ankle, he might dash across the exposed
portion before they noticed him. But after a few seconds he saw with
great relief that it was possible to lessen still further the risk of
being hit. The pathway being a little higher than the track on the
opposite side of the river, he might perhaps crawl along it without
being discovered. By lying at full length, and hugging the face of the
rock, he would get a certain protection from the outside edge of the
pathway.
He returned to the platform.
"Has any one crossed from or to the mine since the enemy began firing?"
he asked Fazl.
"No, sahib: it was still dark when we came to relieve the night watch,
and none has come or gone since."
"Very well: I am going to crawl. Take care you don't show yourselves."
He was rather astonished at his lack of nervousness; but the events of
the last few days had in fact exercised a bracing influence upon him.
He crawled on all fours as rapidly as possible along the exposed section
of the path, rose to his feet on reaching the spot where the buildings
gave him cover, and in another few minutes greeted his brother.
"Well done, old chap!" said Bob heartily. "I hardly expected you to get
back yesterday, but it's a great relief to see you. You had no
trouble?"
"Not with the machine, but we came across a lot of hillmen marching
south, and they potted the major in the arm, and riddled the petrol
cans, so that I ran short. But they gave me some paraffin at the tower,
and it serves surprisingly well. It's lucky we had a second
carburetter."
Just then a bullet sang overhead.
"Can you come to the house for a minute or two?" said Lawrence. "I've
got a good deal to tell you, and you can't attend to me and the enemy at
the same time."
"All right. I'll leave Gur Buksh in charge. They've done us no harm
yet--inside at any rate; but I'll give you all the news. Come on!"
Seated in the house, Lawrence repeated the substance of the conversation
between Major Endicott and Captain Fenton. Bob listened in amazement.
"By George! it's a big thing," he exclaimed. "No wonder we were puzzled.
It's desperately serious, then."