Gradually the band approached, and at last joined forces with the
guards, and, to Grenville's horror, he now saw that the whole of his own
party were prisoners, with their hands bound behind them; and by the
clear moonlight he could see that his cousin's head was bandaged, whilst
Winfield's arm was in a sling. A second look, and he noticed that one
person was missing, and that was Myzukulwa. Grenville could have sworn
he had seen the Zulu an instant before, and glancing at his companion,
he heard his low expressive "Ow!" and in another moment Myzukulwa
presented himself before them with his hands tied. He was promptly cut
loose and armed with a spear and one of Grenville's revolvers; but at
that moment his escape was discovered, and a tremendous commotion took
place, Radford Custance commanding the guards to open the bridge again,
so that the fugitive could not cross. He then walked up to the helpless
Leigh, pointed that worthy's own rifle at his head, and threatened to
blow his brains out unless he told where the Zulu had gone. Leigh
briefly replied that he neither knew nor cared, upon which the other
brutally struck him in the face with his fist. It was the cowardly
bully's last act Grenville's rifle leaped to his shoulder, a stream of
fire divided the bushes, and the Mormon leader staggered back with the
life-blood spirting from a ragged hole in his breast.
Then ensued a scene of horror and carnage. The Zulus uttered their
terrible war-cry, and dashed into the fight, followed by Grenville,
after he had first picked off five more of the enemy. Amaxosa had
quickly freed Leigh, and put his revolver into his hands; and in less
time than it takes to tell, Winfield was at liberty and hurrying the
girls into the bushes, whilst the others were fighting desperately.
Here Grenville's old coolness stood him in good stead. He never gave a
single Mormon the chance to prime the pan of his musket; and having
emptied his own rifle, he flung it down, and betook himself to Leigh's
weapon. It was the old story--the cowardly Mormons, finding themselves
reduced to six, became demoralised, lost their heads, broke, and fled;
but the Winchester effectually put a stop to that game, and in less than
ten minutes from the commencement of the fight, the re-united friends
were in undisputed possession of the ground.
A hasty explanation ensued, from which it appeared that the Mormons had
stolen upon their position in the grey dawn, while Winfield was on
guard. The poor fellow fairly broke down when Grenville questioned him
sharply, and said they seemed to have sprung from the earth, and that he
never heard them till they actually had their hands on him. He
attempted to make a defence, and in the scuffle was shot through the
wrist, whilst Leigh was knocked senseless with the butt of a rifle, and
Myzukulwa overpowered by a dozen men, two of whom, however, he killed
with his war-club. The Mormons had kept up a forced march through the
heat of the day, and the two girls were more dead than alive.
Grenville, therefore, turned on the bridge again and got all across,
telling the Zulus to bring along such arms as they could find, as well
as the case of rockets from the bridge, as he foresaw that when the
runners who had gone on ahead found that the main body did not appear in
due time, they would return to see what had happened.
Three miles from the bridge a strong position was selected upon the
hill-side, and hardly had the party settled down than Amaxosa, who had
left them at the bridge, rejoined them with some choice cuts from a fine
young deer which he had killed; and getting well amongst the rocks, a
fire was lighted, and all thoroughly enjoyed the first meal of fresh
meat which had passed their lips for at least a month.
And now, having refreshed the inner man, the girls went off to sleep in
a little cave close by, whilst Leigh and Winfield, who were both
wounded, kept watch, and Grenville and the two Zulus made their way back
to the bridge. Here Grenville coolly took up his post as if he were the
guard, ordering the Zulus to lie down behind the timbers.
His calculations had been nicely made, for in less than a quarter of an
hour four Mormons came up at a run, and walked blindly into the trap,
and, without a shot being fired, were all disposed of--two falling into
the chasm and the two others being accounted for by the Zulus. Rapidly
rejoining his party, Grenville awakened the women and insisted upon
their proceeding, which they did cautiously and with weary feet all
night long. Just before the dawn our friends reached a position of
which Amaxosa had told Grenville, and which the latter saw with delight
was simply impregnable, and was, according to the Zulu, in the heart of
the very best centre of the game resorts of East Utah.
To reach this desired spot the party had to ascend a steep narrow path
for upwards of a hundred feet, and this brought them on to a grassy
plateau some fifty yards square, the back of it being formed by the
rocks, which towered away thousands of feet above their heads, and
seemed to soar into the very heavens. The base, however, was pierced
with several caves, in one of which was a tiny spring of water. The
place was in fact like the huge grass-laid initial step of some giant
stairway leading up the precipitous face of the mountain.
Amaxosa led away the quagga and hid it in a safe locality, where he
thought it improbable the beast would be found, where it had food and
water, and was walled in with a zareba of thorn-bushes--anyway, it must
take its chance with the rest of them.
When the Zulu reappeared he brought a small deer on his shoulders, and
indifferent now whether they were seen or not, the party cooked an
excellent breakfast, which was duly appreciated, and then all, with the
exception of Grenville, lay down to sleep. Upon his iron constitution
the effect of the night's work was simply nil, and as he had slept the
previous afternoon he was fortunately still comparatively fresh.
Grenville now examined the new position of his party with increased
care, and found that he could wholly approve of it. The place was
admirably adapted for a sustained defence, so long as they had food; and
as the game runs were, according to Amaxosa, less than three hundred
yards away direct to a small stream, and as there was no scrub that
would afford the enemy any cover against their rifles operating from
such a height, he could only repeat to himself that the plateau was
impregnable. Here neither fire, water, nor gunpowder could touch them,
and the Mormon Three would have to devise some further hellish and
wonderful scheme before they got the little band into their power again.
On inquiry it had turned out that someone at the cave near the stairway
had incautiously knocked the tobacco ash out of his pipe into the little
stream, and that the fragrant weed, absolutely still smoking, had been
carried down the hill-side out on to the veldt, under the very noses of
the astonished Mormon band, who, unknown to Leigh and his party, were
camping out below to watch the neighbourhood. The rest, of course, had
been a mere matter of careful advance and complete surprise.
In this quiet spot the party remained unmolested and apparently
undiscovered for a full week, in which they not only recruited their
health, but amply replenished their store of meat. On the eighth day,
however, a change took place, for a small band of Mormons, evidently on
a hunting expedition, espied our friends, gazed wildly at them for some
little time, and then took to their heels in the direction of East Utah,
whilst the party on the plateau prepared their arms.
In about three hours' time the Mormon host appeared, sure enough, and
drew a semicircle round the position, keeping about six hundred yards
off; then coolly set to to pitch a large tent, upon which their standard
was erected, and instantly replied to by the Saint George's ensign of
the beleaguered party.
Leigh was anxious to try his hand at the Mormon flag again, but
Grenville would not permit it. "No, Alf," he said; "I've an idea that
that tent is meant for the infernal Mormon Trinity; and if it is, we'll
make them wish they'd planted it elsewhere; the impudent beggars
evidently fancy they are clean out of range."
Soon, however, a little diversion occurred; there happened to be only
one spring available in this neighbourhood, and towards this water,
which lay a shade over three hundred yards from the plateau, a Mormon
now took his way, carrying a large water-ewer. When he neared the
spring Grenville fired a couple of shots across him and shouted to him
to keep away; the man, however, was obstinate, and this resulted in his
getting himself shot. Then another pluckily tried the game, running as
fast as he could, but was also knocked over. Lastly, the cowardly
Mormons, relying on the gallantry of their foes, chased a wretched woman
out to obtain the precious fluid. She filled the vessel, then, looking
at the rock and seeing Grenville's rifle raised, set down the water and
fell on her knees, lifting her hands to the plateau in an agony of
entreaty. This was just what Grenville wanted, and the next instant his
bullet struck the water-vessel, which it shattered into fragments, and
the woman hastily rushed back to her people, who vented their anger in
shouts, curses, and gesticulations.
"They'll get water at night," said Leigh; "is it worth wasting powder on
them, Dick?"
"I think so, Alf; for if we can only anger them into making an attack
and coming into easy range, we'll treat them to another dose such as we
gave them at the Table Rock."
The Mormons, however, were not to be drawn, and when darkness came down,
they had made no further hostile movement. The Zulus now begged leave
to slip down to the spring with their spears, and before they had been
gone many minutes a fearful shriek was heard, announcing the death of
another Mormon. A discharge of fire-arms followed, and by the flashes
of the guns those on the plateau could see that a number of Mormons were
quickly falling back to their own encampment, and upon these Grenville
and Leigh opened fire with their Winchesters, doing considerable
execution.
The Zulus were soon back again, bringing three more rifles and
ammunition, of which they had forcibly despoiled the late owners.
Soon after this the moon rose, and the little party on the plateau found
that the war was only about to begin according to the Mormon
calculations.
The great tent was fully lighted up, and near to it the defenders of the
rock could see what looked like a stand of arms. On this head they were
quickly undeceived, for all at once a rocket rose from its rest and came
directly at their position, striking the wall above their heads and
falling upon the plateau, where it hissed about quite harmlessly, but
alarmed the girls very much indeed.
Grenville ordered them into the cave, and had all the ammunition
carefully stored away, and before half-a-dozen of these fiery messengers
had reached them, sent two or three of the Mormons' own bridge signal
rockets into the very midst of the mob, the last one setting fire to the
tent and causing several people--presumably the wondrous Holy Three and
their iniquitous satellites--to scuttle about in a most undignified
fashion.
The little band then sent a few shell-bullets into the enemy's camp,
where it was evident they caused fearful damage and confusion, the whole
crowd promptly rushing off until they were nearly a mile distant from
the Rock.
Our friends now lay down to rest again, as if nothing had happened,
Grenville still keeping guard. The night passed away, however, without
further disturbance, and when morning came, there was not a single enemy
in sight.
After breakfast Winfield elected to go hunting with Amaxosa; his wrist
was now practically well, he said, and he felt as if a little exercise
would do him good. Grenville, whilst lazily smoking his pipe, was
watching the motions of the pair, who were endeavouring, a quarter of a
mile away, to stalk several head of game, when he sprang to his feet
with a hurried exclamation of fear, and seizing his rifle, pitched it
forward, and apparently taking aim at Winfield, fired quickly. Even as
he did so a puff of white smoke shot up, apparently from the ground,
within forty yards of Winfield's position, and throwing up his hands he
fell prone upon his face. The Zulu promptly sprang forward, and lifting
the body in his arms commenced to carry it away, whilst two more shots
spirted out from the ground, both fortunately being wide of the mark.
In another instant Leigh was down the rugged path and helping Amaxosa to
carry Winfield up to the plateau. Grenville anxiously came forward as
they reached their destination and laid down their ghastly burden. "Is
he dead?" he asked in broken tones.
"Not quite, my father," replied the Zulu, "but he cannot live, the evil
men have shot him through the chest." Winfield, as Amaxosa said this,
opened his eyes, coughed up some blood, then faintly asked for water;
and after receiving this, spoke very feebly to Grenville.
"Thank you for trying to save me, but you were a second too late this
time--you have saved my life so often, and I hoped to live to save
yours; and now let me say good-bye to Dora, for I am going, going fast;"
and again he coughed up great streams of blood.
Leigh broke the awful calamity as gently as possible to the poor girl,
and a moment later she sat with her father's head upon her knee, with
the scalding tears running pitifully down her cheeks, and in her heart
the awful knowledge that in a few short minutes she would lose the only
parent she had, and who was dear to her beyond anything else upon earth.
The end was coming fast; poor Winfield could only whisper, "If you ever
get away from here, go home to England, my darling. Oh! how shall I
leave you in the hands of strangers. Gentlemen, God be with you as you
are kind to my friendless little girl."
"Not friendless, old fellow," said Leigh, kneeling beside him.
"Winfield, will you give Dora to me? I love her very dearly."
The poor fellow gazed fixedly at Leigh, then at his daughter, who smiled
through her tears at him who had so boldly claimed her without even
having asked her consent to the bargain. Leigh held out his hand.
"Won't you say yes, darling?"
"Oh! yes, yes," she sobbed, taking his hand for one brief instant.
Winfield smiled feebly.
"God bless you both, my children;" then with a wild choking cry, "Dora,
my child, where are you? All grows dark with me, and I go--I go to her
I love. Yes, my own sweet wife, I come--at last;" and choked by another
awful rush of blood, poor Jack Winfield fell dead.
Who can describe the anguish of the poor orphan girl? Her father had
for years been all in all to her, and the love which had lately sprung
up in her heart towards Alf Leigh was still too young to act as a
consolation to her; in this dread moment she felt as if the world for
her was at an end.
Gently and tenderly her lover led her away, whispering words of comfort,
and handed her over to Rose, who was weeping mournfully in concert; then
leaving the girls sobbing in each other's arms, he returned to the
others, to find the body covered with the British ensign, and Grenville
sternly examining the locality from which the death-shot had been fired.
"Alf," he said, "they have burrowed a hole in the ground, put up an
earthwork overhead, and thrown three rifles into it. One is dead, and
now you shall see Jack Winfield avenged." As he spoke a rocket directed
by Amaxosa was fired straight into the cover chosen by the enemy, which
in one second more was enveloped in a sheet of flame, the foolish
Mormons having built it amongst the dried grass. Unable to stand the
heat and smoke, both marksmen made a dash for life, but were tumbled
over by the cousins before they had run a dozen yards.