ABU KLEA
"Where on earth are the wells?" Skinner said to the officer who was
riding next to him; and a similar question was asked by scores of
others.
They had advanced through a narrow pass, and were now in a small flat
surrounded apparently on all sides by hills. However, as Major
Kitchener, the head of the intelligence department, and the native
guides were there, every one supposed it was all right, and set to work
to unload the camels. It was not such easy work as usual, for the ground
was strewn with large stones, upon which the camels objected strongly to
kneel. For a time there was a prodigious din--the camels grumbling and
complaining, the natives screaming, the soldiers laughing, shouting, and
using strong language. At last the loads were all off, the stores piled,
and the din quieted down.
"Where on earth is this water, Skinner?" Easton asked as the two young
officers met after the work was done.
"I cannot make out, Easton. I hope it is not far, for my water-skin has
leaked itself empty and my throat is like a furnace."
"I have some water in mine," Easton said, "but it tastes of leather so
strongly that it is next to undrinkable. Oh, here is Clinton. Where is
the water, Clinton?"
"By that rock at the end of the valley. I am just going to have a look
at it. Can you come?"
"Yes; there is nothing to do here at present."
They hurried towards the rock that Clinton pointed out, and when they
reached it they still saw no signs of water, but on going round it burst
into a shout of delight. Before them lay a pool some sixty feet wide by
a hundred long. The rocks rose precipitously on each side; it was
evident that the water was deep.
"There are two more pools further up," an officer who had got there
before them said.
"Let us climb up and have a look," Clinton said; and with some
difficulty they climbed up to the top of the rock. Going along for some
little distance they looked down. Eighty feet below them lay two
beautiful pools. They were evidently very deep, for at the edge the
water was green, but nearly black in the centre of the pools.
"This is something like," Skinner said. "There is no fear of running
short of water. Come on, let us clamber down and get a drink. Look
there, at the rows of camels coming along to the lower pool. I suppose
that will be kept for them, and that we shall get our water from these."
With a good deal of difficulty they got down, but were unable to reach
the edge. However they tied a string round one of their water-bottles,
and soon brought it up full. The water was deliciously clear and cool,
the high rock completely sheltering the pools from the heat of the sun.
They indulged in several long draughts before their thirst was
satisfied.
"I shall never say anything against water again," Skinner remarked. "I
have always allowed its utility for washing purposes, but have
considered it a distinct failure as a drink. I recant. While considering
that at home beer is good enough for me, I am prepared to maintain that,
in the middle of the Bayuda Desert, clear cold water and plenty of it is
good enough for anyone. But how in the world are we going to get at this
water? Oh, here come the Engineers; they are going to do it somehow."
[Illustration: AT THE WELLS OF GAKDUL.]
A party of Engineers arrived with some pumps and a hundred yards of
hose.
"How are you going to take it down?"
"We are going to lead the hose right through the lower pool, letting it
lie at the bottom. That is the only way we can do it. There is no way of
fixing it against that wall of rocks."
The pumps were fixed in a very short time and the hose laid, and in less
than an hour the stream of pure water was being poured into a large
trough placed near the lower pool, and from this the cooks of the
various companies filled their kettles and boilers.
Some of the men, in spite of their long and fatiguing journey, had
followed the example of the young officers and filled their
water-bottles as they had done, but the majority had thrown themselves
on the ground and were fast asleep a few minutes after the work of
unloading the camels had been completed. For hours the work of watering
the camels went on, slowly at first, as only a few could drink at a
time, but more rapidly when large troughs were erected, at which thirty
could be watered at once.
As soon as dinner was over the Guards set to work to erect two forts
that the Engineers had already marked out. One of these was at the mouth
of the pass leading into the little valley, the other was placed just
above the pools. The baggage was piled close to the wells. By evening
the work was well advanced, and at eight o'clock the Mounted Infantry
and the whole of the camels started on their return journey, leaving the
Guards, with fifteen Engineers and six Hussars, to hold the wells and
guard the great pile of stores that had been brought up. As soon as work
was over there was a general movement to the wells, and there were few
who did not indulge in the luxury of a bathe in the lower pool.
Rupert Clinton returned with the column to Korti, as General Stewart
went back with them to bring out the main body of troops. It was
calculated that ten days must elapse before these would arrive at
Gakdul, and the Guards and Marines set to work in earnest the next
morning to get things into order. The work was very heavy, but as the
men had plenty to eat and no lack of excellent water they did not mind
it, congratulating themselves heartily upon the fact that they had not
to make the long and wearisome journey to Korti and back.
In the course of the ten days the walls of the forts rose to a height of
over five feet--a very laborious piece of work, for one fort measured
twenty yards by twenty-three; the other thirty yards by fifteen, and the
stones had all to be picked up and carried considerable distances, or
loosened out of the solid rock by aid of the six pickaxes and four
crowbars that were alone available.
In addition to this the site of a camp was marked out, roads were formed
by clearing away the stones, and paths made up to the forts and picket
stations. The outpost duty was very severe, two officers and sixty-five
men being always on duty, as it was possible that at any time, night or
day, an attack might be made.
"This is awful!" Easton said to Skinner, as, sitting down on the ground,
he mournfully contemplated his boots; "these boots that I relied upon to
last me through the campaign are hopelessly done for."
"They do look bad," Skinner agreed, "but no worse than mine, or in fact
than any one else's. These rocks are awful. If Nature had scattered ten
million knives broadcast about this valley they could not have been more
destructive to boots than these rocks. I used to think that, although
the camels were well enough for taking up the baggage or as a means of
conveyance for men, they were a mistake, and that it would be much
pleasanter to march than to sit upon these wearisome beasts; but my
opinion has been changed by our experience here. If we had to march many
miles over such a country as this the whole force would be barefooted. I
had a frightful job of it last night. I went the rounds with the
field-officer, and how it was I didn't break my neck I cannot imagine. I
had a dozen tremendous croppers down the rocks. The lantern went out the
first time, and got smashed the second. The major seemed to think that
it was my duty to have kept it alight whatever happened to myself, and
was as savage as a bear. We lost our way a dozen times, and once came up
to a picket on the wrong side, and deuced near got potted."
"I know all about it," Easton said. "I did it three nights ago, and have
no skin at present on my knees or my elbows or my hips, and mighty
little on my back. I went down one place fifty or sixty feet deep
head-foremost, bumping from rock to rock, and it flashed through my mind
as I did so what an ass I was to be going through all this when I might
be comfortably in bed at home. They don't tell one of these things," he
said plaintively, "when they talk of the advantages of the army."
"Bosh!" Skinner said wrathfully. "I don't suppose you were a bit more
hurt than you would be in a good close rally at football. It is a
thousand times better after all than mooning about Windsor, or being
mewed on board a ship at Suakim. However, I shall be precious glad when
the others arrive, and we have done with this fatigue work. The men's
hands are pretty well cut to pieces getting up and carrying those sharp
rocks, and I am heartily tired of acting as a sort of amateur mason."
On the 11th of January a convoy of a thousand camels with stores and
ammunition arrived, and the next day the troops were delighted at seeing
the main body approaching. In addition to the Mounted Infantry and Heavy
Camel Corps, 400 men of the Sussex Regiment came up on the camels. They
were intended to garrison the forts and protect the wells when the rest
of the force moved forward, but a hundred of them were to go forward
with the troops. With the new-comers were 30 sailors with a Gardner gun,
30 men of the Royal Artillery with three 7-pounder guns, 45 of the
Medical and Commissariat Staff, and 120 native drivers for the baggage
camels. As the Heavy Camel Regiment numbered 380 and the Guards 367, the
Mounted Infantry 360, and there were 90 men of the 19th Hussars and 100
of the Sussex, the total force which was to advance was about 1500 men,
90 horses, and 2200 camels.
All the men with the exception of the natives, who were on foot, were
mounted on camels, the Hussars of course excepted, as they rode sturdy
little Egyptian horses, which, although little larger than ponies, were
capable of enduring an amount of fatigue, hardship, and privation, that
would in the course of a few days have rendered English horses useless.
Those who had left Gakdul but ten days before were astonished at the
change which the labours of the Guards' Camel Corps had effected in it,
and great commendation was given them by the general for the zeal with
which they had worked.
Large as was the number of animals to be watered, the work was conducted
with far greater speed and ease than had been the case on their former
arrival. The arrangements were all excellent, and in a comparatively
short time the whole were watered and fed. The troops, however, were
dismayed at the change which had come over the camels. These animals are
capable of enduring great fatigue and scarcity of water and food, but
the authorities had acted as if there were no limits whatever to those
powers, and for a fortnight the camels had been kept at work with only
three or four hours' rest out of each twenty-four, with a very scanty
supply of food, and a sufficient allowance of water but twice, namely,
at Gakdul and Korti. The natural result had followed: the animals were
weak and exhausted, the majority were suffering from sore backs, some
had already succumbed, others were absolutely incapable of further work
until they had had a rest. In this respect none of the three corps had
any advantage over the other, as the camels had all performed the three
journeys.
"If we are only going to Metemmeh, and are to halt there until the
boats come round, the poor beasts will have time to recover before we
want them again," Easton said to Skinner as they were looking ruefully
at the condition of the camels who had carried them so well ten days
before; "but they certainly won't be fit to advance for some time. I am
afraid, Skinner, that they must have very bad news from Khartoum, and
that every day is of extreme importance. If the matter hadn't been most
urgent they would never have ruined the whole of our transport as they
have done in this way. If the camels had had a couple of days' rest here
before starting to go back again, and four or five days' good feeding at
Korti before they started up again, it would have made all the
difference in the world to them. A camel is not a steam-engine, that can
take in fuel and water and be off again an hour after it comes in from a
journey."
"I don't like these night marches," Skinner said. "I consider them to be
a mistake altogether."
"So do I, Skinner. It was bad enough when we had the moon, but it will
be ten times worse now. As to the heat, that is all rot. We travelled in
the daytime coming up by the banks of the Nile, and it is cooler now
than it was then. It is all very well for men to march at night if they
have no animals or baggage-train with them, but it is a different thing
altogether on such an expedition as this. To begin with, the delays from
falling behind and readjusting baggage are far greater at night than at
day; there is much greater difficulty in keeping the column together;
the men are in a state of drowsiness the whole time, if they were
marching they would keep awake, but sitting on the camels there is
nothing to rouse them. Then when they get in camp the heat of the day
has just begun, and what with that and the flies it is next to
impossible to sleep. What sleep they get does not refresh them. I quite
dread this march on to Metemmeh. However, it has got to be done; but
certainly I should not mind it half so much if we were going to travel
by daylight."
It was soon known that there was to be no delay at Gakdul, and orders
were issued that the start was to be made on the 13th; the intervening
day being devoted to seeing to the arms and ammunition, issuing stores,
and replenishing the water supply. The water-skins were extremely
defective, leaking freely, the only exception being the india-rubber
bags with which the sailors had been supplied. Every effort was made
during the halt to sew up holes and stop leaks, but with poor success.
Each man carried on his camel one of these skins in addition to his
water-bottle. Strict orders were given that upon the march he was to
rely upon the latter alone; the supply in the skins being for general
purposes, such as cooking and making tea.
During the halt Edgar applied himself steadily to the work of repairing
the water-skins. The camp of the Heavies joined that of the Guards, and
he felt that his danger of being recognized by Easton or Skinner was
great; but sitting with a group of others sewing, with his face shaded
by his helmet, the risk was very much less than if standing up or moving
about the camp. At two o'clock in the afternoon the force paraded and
moved off in columns of companies. The Heavy Camel Corps led, the Guards
followed, the baggage and stores were in the centre, and the Mounted
Infantry in the rear.
Many of the camels had to be left behind, and those that remained were
only sufficient to carry the absolutely necessary stores, the rations
for the men, and a quantity of corn that would suffice but to give two
feeds of eight pounds each to the animals, who were, therefore, obliged
to depend almost entirely on such sustenance as they could pluck from
the mimosa shrubs and the dry yellow grass. The men carried a hundred
and seventy rounds each. There were a hundred rounds per gun for the
artillery, but only a thousand rounds were brought for the Gardner gun,
a quantity sufficient but for five minutes' work when in action.
The journey was over a gravelly plain, and the halt was made at six
o'clock in the evening. Fires were lit of the shrubs and dry grass; the
camels were unloaded and fed, and were ranged in such order that in case
of attack the troops could form square at the angles of the mass, and
thus support each other and protect the convoy.
At three in the morning the trumpets and bugles sounded. The fires were
soon blazing again, and at half-past four breakfast had been eaten, the
camels loaded, and the column on its march again. At ten o'clock there
was a halt for two hours for dinner and a short rest; and it was not
until just as they were going to start that the rear-guard arrived,
having been delayed by the breaking down of numbers of the camels, many
of which had fallen dead as they walked, while others incapable of
movement had to be left behind to take their chance of recovering
sufficiently to browse upon the bushes and make their way back to the
wells. As the loads of those that fell had to be distributed among their
already exhausted companions the prospect was far from cheerful.
Starting at twelve, the column passed a conical hill known as Gebel El
Nur an hour later, and entered a broad valley covered with grass and
trees twenty feet high, and where, doubtless, water could be obtained
had the force been provided with little Abyssinian pumps. At five
o'clock the column halted, and as the ground was sandy passed a more
comfortable night than the one before. Every one was in good spirits.
The men found the journeys by day far less fatiguing than those at
night, and were able to obtain refreshing sleep in the cool night air.
Before daybreak they again started over a gravelly plain, hoping to
reach the wells of Abu Klea that evening. They halted at eleven in a
valley flanked by hills. The track, according to the maps, lay over a
steep hill in front and then along a pass between two hills, the wells
lying some three miles beyond the pass. Dinner was cooked, and as soon
as they had finished their meal the Hussars started for the wells, as
their horses had had no water since leaving Gakdul. The rest of the
force were stretched upon the ground taking it quietly when two of the
Hussars returned at full gallop with a message to the general, and the
order was immediately issued for the men to fall in and for the officers
to examine their arms and ammunition. Then the news spread through the
force that the enemy had been discovered in large numbers upon the hill,
and were evidently prepared to bar the way to the wells.
The change effected by the news was wonderful. It had been generally
supposed that Metemmeh would be reached without fighting, all the spies
agreeing in saying that there was no force of the enemy near the line of
march. In a moment fatigue and thirst were forgotten, and the quiet was
exchanged for bustle and animation. Men laughed and joked with each
other in the highest spirits, and all prepared for the fray with the
most absolute confidence as to the result. As the troops fell in the
general with his staff galloped ahead to some rising ground, and with
their field-glasses reconnoitred the hills surrounding the pass, upon
which numbers of white-robed Arabs could be made out.
The Hussars speedily reported that there was a considerable force in the
pass below. With the fighting men in front and the baggage behind, the
troops moved slowly forward up the hill in front, and finally took up
their position on a piece of flat ground whence they could see down the
pass by which the Arabs expected the advance would be made. On the side
of the hills commanding it they had thrown up small stone walls from
which to fire. On the hilltops out of range large numbers of Arabs could
be seen in constant motion, gesticulating and waving their arms. It was
now four o'clock in the afternoon, and the general decided that as the
real force of the enemy was unknown it would be imprudent to attempt to
force the passage with only an hour and a half of daylight before him,
consequently a halt for the night was ordered.
A strong detachment of Mounted Infantry and sailors with their Gardner
ascended a hill on the other side of the pass and set to work to build
a small fort and mount the gun there. A company from each of the camel
regiments extended to cover the front. The camels were all made to
kneel, their legs being lashed at the knee so that they could not rise.
This done, the whole of the troops were set to work to build a wall.
There were, however, but few loose stones lying about, and though
officers and men alike worked hard the wall in front was but two feet
high when the sun went down. A hedge of thorny bushes and wire was
raised to protect the flanks as much as possible.
As twilight fell a number of the enemy took possession of the top of a
hill some twelve hundred yards away on the right and opened fire, to
which the three guns of the artillery replied with shrapnel-shell. The
guns ceased firing when darkness came on, but the enemy kept up an
occasional fire all night. A drink of lime-juice and water was served
out to all the men, who then lay down, with their arms in readiness to
repel an attack, by the little wall. All night the enemy kept on beating
tom-toms and occasionally yelling, approaching at times comparatively
close to the position. Knowing, however, that the sentries were out in
front, the men for the most part slept quietly in spite of the noise and
firing. As the Arabs could fire only at random but two men were hit
during the night.
In the morning it was found that the number of the enemy on the hilltops
had largely increased during the night, and the bullets now flew
incessantly round and over the inclosure. Lying under such shelter as
the wall afforded, the men ate their breakfast of the tinned meat and
biscuits they carried in their haversacks.
"I must admit, Skinner," Easton said to his comrade, who had come across
from his own company to have a chat with him, "that this is more
unpleasant than I had expected. This lying here listening to the angry
hiss of the bullets is certainly trying; at least I own that I feel it
so."
"It is nasty," Skinner agreed. "I sha'n't mind it as soon as we go at
the beggars, but this doing nothing is, as you say, trying. I wish they
would make up their minds and come out to us, or if they cannot get up
their pluck enough to do it, that we should sally out and attack them."
"You may be sure we shall before long, Skinner. They know well enough
that we cannot stop here, but must move on to the water sooner or later;
and knowing that, they would be fools if they were to give up their
strong position to attack us here. At any rate I would rather be lying
behind this wall than moving about as the general and his staff are
doing. Major Dickson has just been shot through the knee, I hear. There!
Look! there is another officer down. I wonder who he is. I do hope they
won't pot Clinton."
A few minutes later an officer passing by told them that Major Gough of
the Mounted Infantry had been knocked senseless by a bullet which had
grazed his forehead, and that an officer of the artillery had been hit
in the back.
"What do you think of it, sergeant?" Edgar asked, as he and Sergeant
Bowen were eating their breakfast together under shelter of the wall.
"I think that it is going to be a hot job, lad. If they had attacked us
out in the plain we should have made short work of them, but it is a
different thing altogether among these hills. The beggars can run three
feet to our one, and if we were to climb one of these hills to attack
them, they would be on the top of the next before we got there. I see
nothing for it but to move straight for the wells, and let them do their
worst as we go. It would be all right if we hadn't this tremendous train
of camels; but if they come pouring down while we are on the march we
shall have difficulty in protecting them all."
"I wish Rupert were lying here with us," Edgar said, looking anxiously
at his brother, whose figure he could perceive among those near the
general. "It is horrid lying here in safety while he is exposed to their
bullets."
"We must all take our chances," the sergeant said. "Maybe presently you
will be in more danger than he is."
Half an hour later orders were issued that the men were to prepare for
action, and it became known among the officers that the general had
determined to leave a small garrison to protect the baggage and camels
in the zareba, and to push forward with the rest of the force and
capture the wells, and then send back and fetch in the camels and
baggage. But the movement was delayed until ten o'clock in hopes that
the enemy would attack. As they did not do so, orders were given, and
the square formed up. The Guards' Camel Corps formed half the front of
the square, and the right flank. The Mounted Infantry filled up the
other half of the front, and half the left flank. The rest of the left
flank and the rear were formed by the Heavy Camel Corps and the Naval
Brigade; the hundred men of the Sussex taking the right rear corner
between them and the Guards, while the Naval Brigade with their Gardner
gun were in the centre of the rear line, between the troop of the 4th
and 5th Dragoon Guards and that of the 1st and 2d Life Guards and Blues.
In the centre behind the fighting line were two guns of the Royal
Artillery, the other having been left in the zareba, while the centre of
the square was filled with camels carrying water, ammunition, and
cacolets or swinging beds for the carriage of the wounded.
The instant the square was formed and moved out the fire of the enemy
redoubled. Swarms of natives appeared on the top of the hills, moving
parallel with the advance of the square. The march was taken in slow
time to allow the guns and camels to keep up. The ground was extremely
difficult and broken, deep water-ruts and rocky hillocks having to be
crossed, and the whole very undulating and broken.
Men fell fast, and frequent halts had to be made to enable the doctors
to attend to the wounded, and place them in the cacolets. The front face
and sides of the square advanced in fair order, but there was much
confusion in the rear face, caused by the lagging camels. Skirmishers
were thrown out on either side, and these did their best to keep down
the fire of the enemy. For an hour the square proceeded, and had nearly
emerged from the pass on to the plain beyond, when a number of green and
white flags were seen at some distance on the left front. As the firing
had principally come from the right, and as it was from that side that
an attack was expected, there was considerable curiosity as to the
meaning of these seemingly deserted flags; and a small party were about
to go out to investigate them, when a great number of other flags
suddenly appeared at the same spot, and a moment later a vast mass of
Arabs who had been concealed in a gulley sprang to their feet. (See plan
on page 138.)
They were about five hundred yards distant from the square, which was at
the moment halted at the foot of a stony knoll. It was moved at once on
to the rising ground, and the skirmishers were called in. The Arabs with
wild yells moved across the left front, disappeared for a minute behind
some rocks and high grass, and then reappeared close to the left rear,
when they wheeled into line, and with wild yells charged down upon the
square. So quick were their movements that the skirmishers had hardly
time to reach the square, and one man was overtaken and speared before
he reached it.
Several of the exhausted camels with their loads of wounded had been
left outside, lying down at the foot of the slope when the square moved
up it. Their native drivers rushed into shelter, and the wounded would
have fallen into the hands of the enemy had not an officer of the
Guards' Camel Corps and several privates of the Heavies rushed out,
seized the camels, and by main force dragged them into the square. In
the square itself there was a din of voices, the officers shouting to
the men to stand steady and reserve their fire until the skirmishers,
who were between them and the enemy, had run in. The instant they had
done this a roar of musketry broke out from the left and rear faces
of the square, at first in volleys, then in independent fire as fast as
the men could load; but though scores of the enemy fell, their rush was
not checked for a moment, and with wild yells they fell upon the left
corner of the square.
[Illustration: "THE ARABS WITH WILD YELLS CHARGED UPON THE SQUARE."]
The men were but two deep, and were unable to stand the pressure of the
mass of the enemy, and in a moment the rear face of the square was
driven in, and a hand-to-hand fight was going on between the soldiers,
mixed up with the struggling camels and the Arabs. All order was for a
time lost; the voices of the officers were drowned by the din of
musketry, the yells of the Arabs, and the shouts of the men. Each man
fought for himself; but their bayonets were no match for the long spears
of the Arabs, and they were pressed back until the throng of camels
pushed hard against the Guards in front of the square.
The rear ranks of the Mounted Infantry on the left and the Marines on
the right were faced round, and opened a terrible fire into the crowded
mass of natives, while the Heavies with bayonets and clubbed muskets
fought singly, man to man, with their foes. The combat did not last
long. Mowed down by the fire on both flanks the assailants withered
away, and it was not long before silence succeeded the terrible din of
battle. In the interior of the square the last Arab of those who had
pierced the square had fallen, and the fire of the outside faces of the
square had prevented them from receiving any reinforcement from their
friends, and these now fell back sullenly before the leaden hail. As
soon as they had done so there was time to investigate what had taken
place in the centre of the square.
A terrible sight presented itself. The ground was strewn with bodies of
the natives, mingled with those of men of the corps that had formed the
rear face of the square, the 4th and 5th Dragoon Guards, Naval Brigade,
1st and 2d Life Guards, and the Sussex. Among them lay camels which had
been hamstrung or speared by the natives, broken cacolets, and water
tanks and skins, medical stores, and a confusion of articles of all
kinds.
Although forced back by the sheer weight of the native attack, the
Heavies had never been completely broken up. They maintained their
resistance to the end, jammed up as they were against and among the
camels, and thus enabled the men on the two sides of the square to
concentrate their fire on the Arabs.
A loud cheer had broken from the square as the enemy retreated, and they
were prepared to resist another onslaught; for only a portion of their
foes had yet been engaged with them. However, the enemy contented
themselves with keeping up a distant fire from the hills, and then,
doubtless as the news spread how terrible had been the loss of those who
had charged the square, they gradually drew off and all became quiet.
The square now moved off from the rocky knoll upon which they were
crowded, and the work of seeing who had fallen and of assisting the
wounded began. No less than nine officers had been killed and nine
wounded, the greater portion of them belonging to the Heavy Camel
Regiment. Two officers of the Naval Brigade were also among the killed.
Eighty of the rank and file were killed, and upwards of a hundred
wounded. Among the whites lay hundreds of dead Arabs, while arms of all
sorts--spears, javelins, muskets, clubs, hatchets, swords, and knives,
banners and banner-staffs--were everywhere scattered thickly.
Among the killed were Colonel Burnaby, Majors Gough, Carmichael, and
Atherton, Captain Darley, and Lieutenants Law and Wolfe--all belonging
to the Heavies.
To the survivors of those corps who had formed the rear face of the
square, the scene they had gone through seemed a wild and confused
dream. Sergeant Bowen and Edgar had been among those who rushed out and
hauled in the camels with the wounded just before the Arabs came up. As
they got them inside the ranks the roar of fire broke out and they fell
into their places. "Independent firing!" the officer shouted as the
first volley had been discharged, but scarcely had the roll of musketry
begun than through the smoke a dense mass of black figures appeared. A
storm of spears and javelins were poured in upon them, and in an instant
there was a crash as club, spear, and sword struck the muskets, and then
the Heavies were hurled back.
Edgar scarce knew what had happened, but the instant the square was
broken Sergeant Bowen threw himself beside him.
"Steady, lad, steady," he said, "don't throw away a shot; load and stand
ready to shoot the first man who falls on you. That is good!" he said as
Edgar shot a tall Arab who was rushing at him with uplifted spear; "load
again. Now it is my turn," and he brought down a man; and so firing
alternately, sometimes defending themselves with their bayonets, but
always keeping together, they fell back. Once Edgar stumbled and fell
over the body of one of his comrades, but the sergeant seized him by the
shoulder and jerked him on to his feet again, and the next moment ran an
Arab through who was rushing at them with uplifted hatchet. When they
were back among the crowd of camels the fighting became more even.
Stubbornly the men made a stand here, for the natives could no longer
attack them except in front, while the roar of fire from the troops on
the flanks told with terrible effect upon the Arabs.
"Thank God that is over!" the sergeant said as the fight ended. "Are you
badly hurt, lad?"
"I am not hurt at all," Edgar said.
The sergeant pointed to Edgar's left arm. The latter uttered an
exclamation of surprise. He had bayoneted an Arab in the act of striking
at him, and in the wild excitement had for the moment been unconscious
that the blow of the native had taken effect. It had missed his
shoulder, but had cut a deep gash in the arm, almost severing a strip of
flesh down to the elbow.
"I had not the least idea I had been touched," he said. "I don't think
there is any great harm done; the principal arteries are on the other
side of the arm."
"We must stop the bleeding, anyhow," the sergeant said. "I will soon
find a bandage. There are sure to be plenty about, for the surgeons were
at work when they broke in."
He was not long in finding one, and then assisting Edgar off with his
coat he bandaged up his arm.
"You have got a wound on the side, sergeant!" Edgar exclaimed suddenly.
"It is of no consequence, lad. A fellow threw a spear at me. I tried to
dodge it, but was not quite quick enough, and it has grazed my side."
"It is more than a graze--it looks like a deep cut. Just undo your
belt."
"Well, give me your handkerchief. I will roll that and mine into a pad
and shove it in, and put a bandage tightly round my waist to keep it
there. That will do for the present.
"That will do nicely," he said as Edgar fastened the bandage round him.
"Now we shall both do very well until the surgeons have time to tie us
up properly. I am afraid they will have serious cases enough to last
them all night. Now, what is the next move, I wonder? I am horribly
thirsty."
"So am I," Edgar agreed.
"Are you both wounded?" an officer asked, coming up with two men
carrying a water-skin.
"Yes, sir, but not seriously; but we are awfully thirsty."
"Then you can have a drink of water," the officer said. "There is little
enough of it, and it is kept strictly for the wounded."
Many of the men standing near looked on with envious eyes, for all were
suffering horribly from thirst. Several fainted, and the men's lips were
black and swollen, and in some cases the tongue swelled so that the
mouth could not be closed. The 19th were out searching for the wells,
but for a long while their search was in vain. The general was about to
give the word to retire to the zareba where there was a little water
still left, when the Hussars fortunately hit upon the wells. The wounded
who were unable to walk were at once carried there, and the troops
followed and halted near them, and in a short time the thirst of all was
satisfied. Although the water was not to be compared with that at
Gakdul, being found in shallow pools one or two feet deep, and stirred
up by the Arabs till it was almost of the consistency of thin cream,
nevertheless it was water, and was enjoyable indeed.