Breaking the Blockade
Throughout that day Jack was on the alert in anticipation of another
move on the part of the enemy. But Elbel's men, except the pickets,
did not come within sight of the fort, and nothing was heard of them.
Samba wished to go out again on a scouting mission, but Jack refused to
allow him to leave the fort in daylight; perhaps in the darkness he
might risk a journey once more.
Although the attempt to fire the blockhouses had been foiled, Jack,
thinking over the matter, saw that the feat would not have been
impossible with the exercise of a little common sense coupled with
dash. A second attempt, better organized, might be successful.
"I wish we could guard against the risk," he said to Barney. "We don't
want to be continuously on the fidget in case the blockhouses are
fired. Yet we can't make 'em fireproof."
"That's true, sorr; still, something might be done to rejuce the
inflammation."
"What's that?" said Jack without a smile. To call in question Barney's
English was to wound him in the tenderest part.
"Why, sorr, why not drop down some uv them boulders we keep for
repairing the wall? If we let them down wid care to the foot uv the
blockhouses, close up against the woodwork, 'twould prevent any wan
from setting a match to 'm."
"A good idea! we'll try it. Get the men to carry the stones up to the
wall. We won't do anything more till it is dark."
When the sun had set, Jack had the stones hauled up to the roof of the
blockhouse at the north-west corner, and then dropped down outside, as
close to the woodwork as possible. The task was carried on in almost
total darkness, only a few rushlights inside the camp preventing the
workers from colliding with one another. But it was impossible to
contrive that the heavy stones should fall silently, and a shot from up
the slope soon told that the enemy had discovered what was going on.
Active sniping for a time gave Jack a good deal of annoyance, and one
or two of his men were hit; but he persevered in his work, and had
partially accomplished it, when another danger suddenly threatened.
Up the slope, near the position occupied by the enemy in the morning,
there appeared small points of light, which moved apparently at random
for a few moments, and then came all in one direction, down the hill.
They all started fairly close together, and Jack counted twelve in a
line; but soon some diverged from the rest and went off at an angle.
The others came on more and more rapidly towards the fort, jumping
occasionally, but keeping on the whole a surprisingly straight course.
"Barrels again!" said Jack to Barney.
Only a few seconds after he had first observed them, they came with a
quick succession of thuds against the wall and the half-finished
rampart at the foot of the blockhouse, and the points of light spread
out into fierce tongues of flame. Lighted matches had been attached to
the barrels, and with the bursting of these by the stonework the resin
they contained had taken fire. Of the dozen barrels that started, only
four had reached their goal, the rest having rolled over the gully on
the western slope as had happened during the day.
Jack hoped that his new stonework was sufficient to protect the logs at
the base of the blockhouse. But one of the barrels, under the impetus
gained in its passage down the hill, had jumped the boulders, and
breaking as it crashed over, burst into flame within an inch or two of
the woodwork. Another line of barrels was starting down the slope.
Jack had called up his best marksmen at the first alarm, and ordered
them to take pot-shots at the twinkling points of light, or the figures
above, dimly lit up by the matches attached to the barrels. Whether
any of the shots got home he could not tell; another set of barrels was
trundling down towards the fort.
It appeared to Jack that nothing could save the blockhouse. Burning
resin could only be extinguished by a deluge of water, and he had no
means of bringing water from the tank in sufficient quantities. The
logs were dry, and, when once fairly alight, would burn furiously.
Barney suggested dropping a heavy boulder on the barrel most
dangerously near, but Jack saw that the effect of this would be merely
to spread the flames without necessarily extinguishing them. The fire
would continue beneath the stone; it would lick the lowest logs, and in
a few minutes the whole base of the blockhouse would be ablaze. The
imminence of the danger acted as a spur to Jack's resourcefulness. It
flashed upon him that there was one chance of saving the fort. Calling
to Samba to follow him, he rushed from the roof of the blockhouse down
the ladders connecting it with the second floor and this with the
ground, and ran at full speed to his hut, where he seized an empty
tobacco-tin and searched for a piece of wire. For a few moments he
could not lay hands on any, but he then bethought himself of the wired
cork of a Stephens' ink-bottle. Wrenching this out, he hastened to the
underground magazine where the ammunition was, stored. Samba had
preceded him thither with a lighted candle in a little lantern of
bamboo.
Among the ammunition was a keg of loose powder sent up by Mr.
Martindale for refilling cartridge cases. While Samba very cautiously
held the lantern out of harm's way, Jack, with the brad of a penknife,
bored two thin holes in the tin and two corresponding holes in the lid.
Then he inserted the wire and filled the tin with powder. Clapping on
the lid and firmly securing it by twisting up the wire, he rushed back
to the blockhouse, up to the roof, and cleared out all the men
helter-skelter, bidding them go with Samba and bring baskets full of
earth to the base of the wall.
The place was now reeking with acrid smoke from the burning resin,
great black eddies of it whirling over the roof, stinging Jack's eyes
and making him cough and choke. When none but himself was left--for
there was some danger in what he purposed--he went to the edge of the
roof, and bending over, almost blinded by the fumes, he marked the spot
where the flame seemed the fiercest, and dropped the tin into the midst
of it. Though he sprang back at once, he had not reached the inmost
edge of the roof when there was a loud explosion. The blockhouse
rocked; clouds of sparks flew up; and feeling the tremor beneath him,
Jack feared he had destroyed rather than saved. But the trembling
ceased. He rushed back to the fore edge of the roof and peered over.
As the smoke cleared away he saw no longer a blazing mass below him;
nothing of the barrel was left; but all the ground for many yards
around was dotted with little tongues of flame. The force of the
explosion had broken up the huge devouring fire into a thousand
harmless ones.
But the woodwork near which the barrel had rested was smouldering.
There was still a danger that the blockhouse would burn. While that
danger remained Jack felt that his task was not yet done, and he
instantly prepared to meet it. Flames from the other barrels that had
struck the wall were lighting up the scene. To carry out his purpose
involved a great risk, but it was a risk that must be run. Calling to
Samba, who had remained nearest at hand, he bade him bring a rope and
send Barney and Makoko to him. When they arrived he got them to knot
the rope about him, and let him down over the wall on the gully side,
which was in deep shadow. Creeping round the blockhouse on the narrow
ledge between it and the gully, he called to the men above to lower
some of the baskets of earth which had been placed in readiness. As
they reached him he emptied them upon the smouldering logs. It was
impossible now to keep in the shadow; his every movement was betrayed
by the still flaming barrels; and his work was not completed when
bullets began to patter about him. His only protection was the rough
rampart of boulders which had been thrown over from the roof. But he
bent low; it is difficult even for expert marksmen to aim without the
guidance of the riflesights, and Elbel's men were far from being
experts; Jack finished his job as rapidly as might be, and escaped
without a scratch. Then creeping round once more to the gully, he laid
hold of the rope and was drawn up into safety.
The other blockhouses meanwhile had been in no danger. That at the
north-east corner was defended by the nature of the ground, which
sloped so rapidly that a barrel rolled from above could never hit the
mark. That at the southeast corner, being at the edge of the
precipice, could only be fired by the hand of man, and no man could
approach it safely. By averting the danger at the north-west Jack had
saved the camp.
But the attempt had been so nearly successful that he resolved to lose
no time in completing the work of protection already begun. The moment
was come, too, for showing Elbel that he could only maintain a thorough
investment of the fort with the acquiescence of the besieged. At any
time a sally must break the chain of pickets, for Elbel's force was not
large enough to support them adequately all round. Averse as Jack was
from shedding blood, he felt that it was necessary to teach the enemy a
wholesome lesson.
Before he could do anything, however, he must know how the force was
distributed, and how the pickets were placed. He remembered his half
promise that Samba should be allowed to go scouting that night. No
other could be trusted to move so warily or act so intelligently.
Samba was accordingly let down into the gully. While he was gone Jack
explained to Barney the plan he proposed to try should the boy's
information favour it.
"I shall lead some of the men out, I don't know yet in what direction.
At least it will surprise Elbel. I hope it will alarm his men and
throw them into confusion. You must take advantage of it to go on with
our defences. Let down more boulders from the roof, and build them up
as fast as you can to form a facing three or four feet high to the two
northern blockhouses. You'll only have about half an hour for the job,
for Elbel will have got his whole force together by then, and I shan't
be able to fight them all. But we've plenty of men to turn on to it,
and when I give the signal they must tumble over the wall and get to
work."
Within an hour Samba returned. He reported that the enemy had all
retired to their camp except the pickets. About forty men were posted
about a camp fire up stream near the place where the barrels had been
rolled down. Another picket of the same strength was lying at the edge
of the copse about a quarter of a mile to the east, and a third picket
lay across the gully to the west. Samba had had great difficulty in
eluding this western picket, and would have returned sooner but for the
detour he had been obliged to make.
All favoured Jack's enterprise. The pickets were so far from the camp
below the southern face of the fort that some time must elapse before
help could reach them. They could only support one another, and the
idea of a ruse to prevent that had already flashed through Jack's mind.
Selecting fifteen of his steadiest riflemen, including Makoko and
Lepoko, Jack had them lowered one by one into the gully, and then
himself followed. The night was fortunately very dark; all the flames
from the barrels had gone out, and he trusted that the enemy would be
quite unprepared for any movement from the fort. When all were
assembled, they crept up the gully in dead silence, walking as far from
the water as the steep sides allowed, so as to avoid kicking stones
into it and making a splash. At first the gully was at least twelve
feet deep, but it became more shallow as they proceeded, until by and
by its top barely rose above their heads.
They had not gone far when they heard laughing and talking beyond them.
However Elbel might regard his defeat, it had evidently not affected
the spirits of his men; the negro's cheerfulness is hard to quench. At
a bend in the stream, out of sight from the fort, shone the faint glow
of the camp fire; and Jack, peeping cautiously round, saw a sentry on
each bank, moving backwards and forwards, but stopping now and again to
exchange pleasantries, or more often fatuous remarks about food, with
the rest of the picket at the fire. It was nothing new to Jack that
the Congo soldier's idea of sentry-go is somewhat loose.
Again Jack was favoured by circumstances. The glow of the fire did not
extend far into the darkness of the gully; the noise of the laughing
and talking was loud enough to drown all slight sounds for some
distance around. Thus the sixteen men in the gully could approach very
near the camp fire without being seen or heard. Jack's plan, already
half formed before he started, was quickly adapted to the conditions.
Silently gathering his men together, he ordered them in a whisper to
follow him in a charge with the bayonet; not to fire except at the word
of command; not in their pursuit of the enemy to go beyond the camp
fire. It would have been easy to dispose of at least a third of the
picket by firing upon them from the darkness; the distance was only
about a hundred yards, and every shot would tell, for they were huddled
together. Such an act would be justified by all the rules of warfare.
Jack knew that in a like case he would receive no mercy from the enemy;
but he was too young a campaigner to deal with them as they would deal
with him; he could not give the order to shoot them down unawares.
When his men clearly understood what was required of them he led the
way, and they all crept forward again. The glow of the fire now made
them dimly visible to one another, but not to the picket, who were in
the full light, nor to the sentries, whose attention was largely taken
up by the proceedings of their comrades. When the sound of talking
lulled for a few moments, Jack halted; when it grew in force, and he
heard the sentries join in the chatter, he seized the opportunity to
steal forward a few yards more. So by slow degrees they approached
within forty paces.
To go further without discovery seemed to Jack impossible. Pausing for
a moment to whisper once more to his men, he suddenly shouted the order
to charge, and, springing up the bank, dashed forward with a cheer that
was reinforced by the yells from fifteen lusty throats. The sounds of
joviality about the camp fire died on the instant; the cheer from the
river, echoed by the rocky walls of the gully, seemed to come from a
host of men. Yells of alarm broke from the dusky figures by the fire.
Some of the men seemed for the moment spellbound; others leapt to their
feet and made a dash for the rifles stacked close by, tumbling over one
another in their agitation; the majority simply scurried away like
hares into the darkness, only anxious to get as far away as possible
from this shouting host that had sprung as it were out of nothingness.
As Jack's men rushed up there were a few reports of rifles hastily shot
off, and eight or nine men made as if to stand firm near the camp fire;
but they could not face the steel gleaming red in the glow. One or two
hapless wretches were bayonetted before they had time to run; the rest,
with a wild howl, flung down their weapons and bolted.
The sound of the conflict, Jack knew, would be taken by Barney as the
signal to begin work outside the blockhouses. What would be its effect
on the enemy? Would it draw their pickets on the right and left to the
support of their comrades? Or would they be so much alarmed that
nothing but flight would occur to them? He thought the probabilities
favoured the former, for the firing having ceased, the immediate cause
of alarm would seem to have been removed. Without staying to consider
that the chain of investment would be broken by their action, the outer
pickets would in all likelihood move towards each other for mutual
support.
Here was an opportunity which Jack was quick to seize. Without a
moment's loss of time, he called his men together and hurried back down
the gully, where he ordered them to line the banks on both sides,
keeping well in shadow from the light of the fire. The position they
took up was about forty yards below the bivouac, almost the same spot
from which the charge had been made. The men had only just established
themselves when the picket from the eastern quarter came running up.
Jack's situation was now so serious that he had no longer any
compunction. As the negroes emerged from the gloom into the light of
the camp fire, he ordered his men on the opposite bank to shoot.
Several of the enemy fell; the rest turned tail, finding their comrades
falling about them without being able to see their assailants. But
they did not run far; when they had passed beyond the circle of light
they halted.
Meanwhile all was quiet from the direction of the other picket beyond
the gully. If this was advancing, it was with more caution. For some
minutes no sound was heard; then on his left hand Lepoko detected a
slight rustle in the brushwood, and he whispered to Jack that the enemy
were creeping forward, feeling their way. At the same time there were
sounds of movement on the right.
Now was the chance to attempt a ruse. Withdrawing his men stealthily
down the stream for a hundred yards, Jack halted. The camp fire was
dying down for want of fresh fuel; he hoped that the two parties would
mistake each other in the gloom. A quarter of an hour passed. Then
the air rang with shots and shouts; the two pickets had met and come
into conflict. The error was soon discovered, and then there arose a
terrific clamour as each party accused the other.
Jack considered that the work of the fort should have been completed by
this time, all danger of interruption by the pickets having been
removed by his sortie. He therefore led his men back along the gully,
and arrived to find Barney putting the finishing touches to the work by
the light of his bamboo lantern.
"All well?" said Jack.
"All well, sorr. You're not hurt at all?"
"Not a bit. None of us scratched. Now we'll get back. I don't think
they'll try that particular dodge again."
They had hardly returned within the stockade when they heard the sound
of a considerable body of men moving up the opposite bank of the stream
towards the pickets above.
"Too late!" said Jack with a chuckle.
"Truth, sorr. That Elbel was niver intended for a sojer, 'tis plain.
But who are the two white men wid him, thin? Sure, I thought he'd
brought 'em wid him to tache him what to do, but they would all seem to
be birds uv wan feather, sorr."
"We may find out by and by, perhaps to our cost. Meanwhile we had
better man the walls and blockhouses in case he's going to favour us
with a night attack."
But the sounds of movement among the enemy ceased, and the remainder of
the night passed in unbroken quietness.