Our assault upon Ea was sudden and unexpected. Under cover of night we
cautiously advanced on our last march, and having placed our guns in
position, halted in readiness. From the high summit of the Temple of
the Seven Lights the unquenchable Eye of Istar still streamed, white and
brilliant. The giant city was ablaze with lights, as if for another
festival, and at first sight of this colossal centre of a forgotten
civilisation the soldiers, awestricken, feared that our expedition
against such a gigantic fortress was foredoomed to failure.
Before commencing the attack, however, I urged them to valiant deeds,
repeating those words from our Koran which have given heart to Moslem
armies ever since the days of the Prophet--"If there be a hundred of you
that persevere with constancy, they shall overcome two hundred; and if
there be a thousand of you they shall overcome two thousand, by the
permission of Allah; for Allah is with those who persevere. It hath not
been granted unto any prophet that he should possess captives until he
had made a great slaughter of the infidels in the earth. Allah is
mighty and wise."
After many bows and genuflections, my companions rose, and, mounting,
spurred forth, in readiness to their posts. In silence half-an-hour
went by, when, by prearranged signal, six of the French guns loaded with
explosive shell suddenly crashed forth, at the same instant, sending
their deadly missiles right into the centre of the city, almost as far
as Istar's palace. We listened. The sound of the explosions echoed
weirdly among the misty heights above.
With such infinite care had we approached that this signal was the first
notification received by the people of Ea of the presence of enemies.
The instant the cannons had roared forth, our great storming parties
spurred across the plain to certain of the city gates, armed with
engines for battering them in, and charges of dynamite for blowing them
into air. So well guarded, however, were those gigantic walls that, ere
our squadrons could reach the gates, they were assailed by withering
showers of arrows and spears. Indeed, a moment after we had sent our
first shells into the city, the high, frowning battlements seemed alive
with defenders. Volleys of stones from ancient catapults were showered
on every hand, while bowmen, from the slits in the flanking towers,
discharged upon us a deadly arrow storm.
Our black contingent, with their long bows and poisoned arrows, quickly
turned their attention upon the archers of Ea. Expert marksmen these
pagans were, and at this moment proved themselves of the utmost value.
Each soldier who showed himself upon the high walls was picked off with
an aim unerring by our archers, behind whom were the well-drilled
soldiers of the Sultan making careful shots with their rifles, and away
upon the high ground at the rear the cannons kept up their thunder, each
shell bursting and spreading terrible devastation within the city. The
constant explosion of shells and firearms appalled the defenders beyond
measure, for this was their first knowledge of the art of modern
warfare, and, as I afterwards learned, it was believed that because
gunpowder was used by us that Anu himself, the dread god of Destruction,
was directing us, and against him they were powerless. Nevertheless,
the pugilistic spirit was still fierce within the hearts of those
descendants of the valiant hosts of Semiramis, and they fought
desperately for the defence of their capital and their goddess-queen.
In the lurid glare, shed by the fires caused by our shells, we could
discern huge, cranelike machines mounted on the walls, discharging at us
arrows and volleys of stones, while other ancient mechanical
contrivances emptied upon our scaling parties great caldrons of boiling
pitch or water.
Throughout that well-remembered night we kept up a continuous and
galling hail of lead upon the city, but with little effect save that,
time after time, we swept away hundreds of soldiers from the walls and
caused conflagrations in every quarter, the majority of our force
remaining safely beyond the narrow zone of the defender's fire. As dawn
crept on, times without number our scaling parties attempted to fix
their ladders of rope and cane, but on each occasion were hurled back,
leaving many of their number dead or dying. The sun rose. Arrows and
javelins fell thick and fast, while, from plain and hill, we poured a
continuous and deadly shower of death-dealing missiles over those
ponderous, time-worn walls. The hundred enormous brazen gates resisted
every attempt of those of our men who dashed forward to batter them in.
Their thickness and strength were colossal. Whole parties of the young
and dauntless, who rushed across the plain up to the very walls,
dark-faced and determined, were sometimes swept into eternity even to
the last man, by the frightful showers of jagged arrows and sharp flint
stones discharged from catapults.
Noon came. The breathless hours passed but slowly. Hundreds of our
soldiers and pagan followers were stretched dead, yet, with the
exception of causing a few alarming conflagrations within the city, we
seemed to achieve but little progress towards victory. Our ability to
project our missiles to far greater distance than the defenders was of
greatest advantage, and our losses in these earlier hours of the siege
were never serious.
Towards sundown, after a long and toilsome day, we decided to make a
sudden and vigorous assault, with our advance covered by artillery in
our rear. The military tactics of the soldiers of Sokoto were perhaps
primitive as compared with European standards; nevertheless, our men, at
the roll of the war drums, dashed forward in force to make a strenuous
and frantic endeavour to enter the ancient, mysterious capital. Yet we
met again an opposition so terrific that some of our squadrons fell back
appalled, while others were literally riddled by arrows from the
battlements. Long and valiantly we fought to batter down the gates or
scale the walls, but without avail. Stones, bullets, spears and boiling
liquids fell in showers upon us from every point. Many fell dead or
mortally wounded upon the sand, and it appeared as though the remainder
would be wiped out, until, with one accord, they beat a hasty retreat,
followed by the cheers and yells of the defenders.
This reverse almost disheartened us.
Each moment the conflict increased in vigour. Although the soldiers of
Ea possessed no firearms, the defence they made was of a character
desperate and remarkable. From every point our guns blazed away with
monotonous regularity, and our rifles flashed everywhere, yet we seemed
not to effect the slightest impression upon that city of colossal
strength. Every turret, every battlement, shed showers of arrows and
sharp stones which inflicted terribly painful wounds, while, in reply,
our pagan allies let loose their flights of poisoned darts with unerring
and deliberate aim.
Once an arrow struck me in the forearm, but, fortunately, inflicted only
a slight wound; yet almost at the same moment Tiamo, who was standing
beside me, unfortunately received another dart, which caught him full in
the throat and stuck quivering there. Instantly I recognised the
terrible nature of the wound, and knew it must prove fatal, as, alas! it
did ere our savage assault terminated. Now that we had advanced within
the range of the defender's fire, our loss of life was becoming serious.
By the tragic end of the dwarf I had lost a sincere and genuine friend,
and Azala a devoted slave. I had, however, but short space to keep
beside him, as my presence was urgently required elsewhere. Therefore,
with a few words of comfort, I was compelled to leave him and ascend to
where the guns were thundering.
The afterglow was burning in the sky, when, looking forward, I
discerned, standing upon the wall, Istar herself, white-robed, with
streaming, unbound hair. Her arms were upraised as if in the act of
encouraging her men, and directing the defence.
I chanced to be standing beside one of those deadly, rapid-firing guns
captured from the French, and, as I looked, our gunners sighted their
weapon.
"See!" cried one. "That woman there! A little lower. Now!"
Instantly the gun crashed forth. Next second there was a flash of fire
upon the battlement where Istar had stood, and when the dust and smoke
cleared a few moments later a breach in the wall showed that the shell
had blown to atoms everything within its reach.
It seemed absolutely certain that the woman who had held me captive must
have been killed instantaneously. If she had escaped, it was little
short of marvellous.
Daylight faded, evening crept on, still our bombardment continued with
unceasing vigour. None of us had appeased our hunger since long before
dawn, and few had been able to snatch a draught from their waterskins.
Darkness fell, and the stars appeared through the choking smoke clouds,
clear cut as gems, when suddenly, to the astonishment of all, the long
shaft of white light, kept burning night and day at the summit of the
Temple of Love, increased in brilliancy, streaming over the city and
plain. Our enemies now used it as a search-light, such as I had seen on
the battleships in the bay of Algiers, and thus were they enabled to
narrowly watch our movements.
Nevertheless, we were able after considerable effort to outwit them,
for, the fire from the walls having slackened as darkness prevailed, we
sent a large body again forward, our reinforcements standing formed up
in a huge square in readiness. The squadron sent as pioneers were all
picked men, who, like myself, had seen battle in many parts of Africa,
and were determined to bring matters to a crisis. Quickly and
noiselessly they sped forth, and were lost in the darkness. While our
main body harassed the defenders and kept them fully engaged, these men
worked their way silently towards the great gate through which my
captors had led me when I had been taken prisoner. Fully half-an-hour
elapsed without a sign. Standing, with eyes strained in the direction
they had taken, I began to fear they had met with disaster. Indeed, I
had already given orders to two scouts to ride forward and bring back
report, when suddenly there was a bright, blinding flash. The very
earth was shaken by a terrific, deafening explosion, followed instantly
by a second report which awakened the echoes of the mountains far and
wide.
Almost the next moment a great tongue of flame shot up behind the city
wall, revealing the reassuring fact that the gate, with its huge
flanking towers manned by hundreds of the defenders, had been entirely
demolished, and that a great fire had been started. Loud, exultant
shouts rose from every throat when this truth became realised. Our
war-drums rolled loudly, our heavy guns were silenced, and instantly,
ten thousand well-armed and valiant men dashed forward to spring through
the breach and enter the gigantic city. I headed them, but at the ruins
of the gate we found that half the number of the brave ones who had so
effectively used the dynamite had been slaughtered, and that a huge,
compact body of troops had massed within, determined to resist our
advance. Hence we were compelled to fight hand-to-hand, while engines
of war, like the ancient mangonels and ballistae, worked over our heads,
laying us low by dozens. A hundred stratagems we had already practised,
but to no avail, therefore, we determined upon taking the city by sheer
force. In numbers, we were vastly inferior to the defenders, but sight
of our firearms held them terrified.
The _melee_ among the heaped ruins of that ponderous gate was frightful.
Bigotry, revenge, love of loot, and all the voices that unite to hurry
men to evil, pressed us forward at this crisis time. Veterans, who had
fought in all the desperate battles with the French towards the Niger
bank, and away beyond Lake Tsad, were not to be disheartened. They were
desperate and furious.
Still the defenders held out. Their ranks presented the appearance of a
wall of lowered spears.
While we strove on, fearing that this last bold venture might fail, a
loud rattling like musketry sounded in front of us. Instantly I knew
the truth. One of our Maxim guns had at last been brought into play.
The effect of that most deadly of modern weapons was appalling. Thrice
it spat out its leaden hail, sweeping along the lines of spearmen from
end to end. Then, with loud, fierce yells of triumph, we poured into
the city over the heaps of bullet-riddled bodies, fighting amid a chaos
of writhing limbs, gashed faces and bleeding, trampled humanity.
Thus, we at last passed the high masses of Babylonian masonry, which had
once seemed so dark, sheer and impregnable, and dashed forward into the
mystic capital of Ea, engaging the defenders hand-to-hand in every hole
and corner, while our comrades, having witnessed our success, sped on
after us great bodies of reinforcements, against whom it was impossible
for either citizens or soldiers to struggle. The darkness of night was
dispelled by the red glare of the fires, as the incendiary's brand was
applied to wooden structures, while the curses of the vanquished mingled
with wails of the dying and shouts of the victors.
The carnage was frightful.
After an hour's desperate street fighting, during which time my garments
were torn from off my back in shreds, the defenders began to cry for
quarter, but, although we granted it, our black allies, drunk with the
frenzy of battle, refused to show mercy, and hundreds of those who had
defended their homes so bravely were impaled by spears, or laid low by
poisoned darts. Many were the ghastly scenes I witnessed, as, amid that
terrible massacre of the vanquished, we pressed on in force towards the
dazzling House of the Raising of the Head. Again we met with a
determined opposition, which cost us considerable loss ere we could
break it down and ascend the long flight of steps to the palace itself.
On gaining the top, I rushed forward, at the head of the storming party,
into the great pavilion, with its sculptured walls, and was amazed to
find it deserted.
Alone, I dashed away across court after court, until I reached the
entrance of the great hall, wherein stood the crystal throne. Without
ceremony I tore aside the heavy curtain and entered.
Istar, who had, by some almost miraculous circumstance, escaped
destruction on the city-wall, was lounging upon her seat of royalty, her
beautiful face pale as death, her teeth firm set, and in her eyes a look
of unutterable dread. All her brilliant court had deserted her and
fled, leaving her alone to face her enemies.
As I entered, her gaze met mine, and she rose to her feet with slow
hauteur. I advanced to seize her, but, raising her shapely, trembling
hand, she screamed, "Stand back, thou son of Anu! Stand back!"
"Thou art now my captive!" I shouted, halting an instant before
ascending the steps of polished silver.
She clenched her teeth, held her breath, and trembled. With a quick
movement, she raised her left hand and placed it against her velvet
cheek. Next instant, I saw a tiny streak of blood trickle down upon the
strings of jewels which adorned her neck.
Then, horrified, I noticed that in her hand there writhed a small black
asp of the most venomous species. She had placed its flat head against
her cheek and deliberately allowed it to bite her.
"What hast thou done?" I cried, aghast.
"I, Istar, will never be taken captive!" she answered, with imperious
gesture. "Thou hast brought thine accursed hosts within my kingdom,
broken down my walls, burnt the Temple of Baal, and entered this my
palace to sack it and break down the foundation-stones of my fathers.
Therefore thou shalt, at least, have no satisfaction in securing me."
She swayed slightly, and from her grasp the small reptile wriggled and
fell upon the polished pavement, hissing viciously.