The Air Patrol: A Story of the North-west Frontier

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH

  RALLYING THE PATHANS

  Six or seven miles above the mine the gorge contracted, leaving a spacethat barely exceeded twice the breadth of the aeroplane. In his firstflights along the river Bob had felt rather nervous in threading thisnarrow passage. It was here that he found the two parties of miners.He reduced the speed of the aeroplane as much as he could, and at thealtitude to which he had now ascended he was able to get a pretty goodgeneral view of the position of affairs as he flew over. It wasimpossible to distinguish details. The figures of the men were like dotson a map. The track and the adjacent ground seemed absolutely flat andlevel, though Bob knew that it was really much broken, and of constantlyvarying height. But he made rapid inferences from what he saw, and bythe time he had passed over both the parties of combatants he was in nodoubt as to his course of action.

  What he saw was, up-stream, a small group, stationary, in the narrowestpart of the valley: some little distance from them, down-stream, alarger group, also stationary, and a number of scattered individuals,moving southward, looking like flies crawling slowly over a dish, butall in the same direction. The inference he drew from theseobservations was that the Pathans, having been kept on the run to thispoint, had taken advantage of the nature of the ground to turn at bay,either in desperation, or to snatch a rest before continuing theirretreat: and that the Kalmucks had separated, one party holding thetrack, the other scaling the hill-side above in order to turn thePathans' flank. At the moment of his passing over he heard a faintcrackle like the rustling of paper, and saw puffs of smoke among eachband of combatants. The men were firing briskly, no doubt from behindthe shelter of rocks.

  It was obvious that there could be but one end to this fight. TheKalmucks were much the more numerous. While the Pathans might veryprobably repulse a direct attack if their ammunition lasted, they couldhave no defence against the men creeping round upon their flank. Withina short time they would be surrounded, unless, indeed, they perceivedthe flanking movement and beat a hasty retreat. Even then they would bein danger of annihilation, for the Kalmucks could rush the position theyhad evacuated, and from behind the rocks sweep the southward track withtheir fire. Unless a diversion were almost instantly made, the Pathanswere doomed.

  By the time that Bob had realized this necessity for intervention he washalf a mile south of the position, in a wider stretch of the gorge. Hewheeled round, flew back at full speed through the bottle-neck, thenwheeled again at the northward end. It seemed to him that the cracklingof rifle fire was now more continuous: the Pathans had in fact takenheart on seeing the machine soaring high above them, and were defendingthemselves with renewed vigour. The chota sahib was with them! Theyknew not what he could do for them, but his mere presence gave them hopeand courage.

  Bob saw that in order to carry out his plan successfully he mustdescend. He had had no practice in bomb dropping. No amount oftheoretical knowledge of the velocity of falling bodies under the actionof gravity, or of the curve made by a body moving under both horizontaland vertical forces, could avail him now. There was great risk of theaeroplane or its occupants being hit if the Kalmucks fired at them, buthe felt that he must take his chance. Swooping down, and reducing speedat the same time, he steered so as to pass, at the height of a fewhundred feet, as exactly as possible over the heads of the partyskirmishing up the hill-side.

  They were in loose order. At closer quarters Bob was now able to seethat they were taking advantage of all the cover furnished by the cragsand protuberances of the rocky slope. Steering with one hand, he calledto Fazl to give him one of the tins, which he poised in his other hand.He still felt a shrinking from bloodshed, and instead of dropping thebomb in the midst of the Kalmucks, he waited until he had just passedthe man nearest to the Pathans, then let it fall. In a few seconds itstruck the ground. There was a sharp report, and Fazl, looking back,cried out that the Kalmucks were almost hidden by an immense cloud ofdust. The sound of rifle fire ceased, and a strange quiet fell upon thegorge.

  "Have they stopped?" asked Bob.

  "Yes, sahib. One has gone back: they are talking among the rocks."

  "They've got something to talk about," thought Bob.

  He felt that this bolt from the blue, falling upon them at such adramatic moment, must have startled the Kalmucks, and would almostcertainly cause them to modify their plans. As miners they would realizethe nature of the bomb dropped within a few yards of them, and thedanger to which they were exposed when dynamite was rained upon themfrom the sky. The first bomb might be followed by others, and though ithad done them no hurt, its successors might not so fortunately sparethem. Bob had no doubt that he could count upon an interval of inactionwhile they were reckoning up the new situation, and determined to seizethe opportunity of communicating with the Pathans. Accordingly he flewsouthward along the gorge until he reached a spot where the trackwidened sufficiently to afford a landing-place, and then sank to earth.It was out of sight from both Pathans and Kalmucks.

  "Come along with me," he said to Fazl.

  He took his revolver and rifle, and hastened back along the track,followed by Fazl with his kukuri. There was still no resumption of thefiring. As he walked, he scanned the hill-side anxiously, but saw nosign of the Kalmucks. Slipping along close to the base of the rockycliff he presently caught sight of the turbans of two or three of thePathans, who were peering over the top of a rock two hundred yards away,evidently looking for the return of the aeroplane.

  "Can you call to them without letting the Kalmucks hear?" he asked ofFazl.

  "I can, sahib."

  "Then ask one of them to slip down and meet me."

  The Gurkha made a slight clucking in his throat, at which the Pathanslifted their heads and looked eagerly along the path. Then Fazl held upone finger, and beckoned. The heads disappeared, and in a moment two ofthe Pathans came round the corner of the rock.

  "Only one," said Bob.

  Fazl made them understand by gestures. One of the men returned, theother came on.

  "Allah is great, sahib!" he said in his own tongue as he met Bob. "Butwhy is the sahib on foot? A few more such thunderbolts would send thedogs to Jehannum: have you no more in the wonderful machine?"

  Bob wished that he had Lawrence's facility in picking up strangelanguages. Fortunately Fazl could act as interpreter. He first askedthe man if he could explain the sudden outbreak of the Kalmucks. ThePathan thought that no explanation was necessary: it was due to theirown vile passions and the presence of Nurla Bai.

  "Nurla Bai!" exclaimed Bob. "Is he among them?"

  "Of a truth he is, sahib, and his black monkey too."

  To Bob this was incomprehensible. Nurla Bai and his man, when last heheard of them, were forty miles and more down-stream. But he had noleisure for guessing: the situation demanded all his thoughts.

  "What are you going to do?" he asked.

  "We are going to our homes, sahib," replied the man. "The dogs are toomany for us. We did but stop to take a little rest, and kill a few. Wecannot go back to the mine: the talk is that the huzur is gone; who willpay us now? We go to our own country, and some day will come back anddeal with these children of Shaitan. Not a man of them shall be leftalive. But now we can do nothing; it is vain to kick against the goad.If the sahib had more little boxes we might kill them all; but he hasnone, or he would not be here."

  Bob felt himself in a difficulty. He wanted to retain the Pathans; butin their present temper they would not be likely to remain with him ifthey knew that a huge army was advancing up-stream. On the other handit would not be fair to withhold that information from them, and bringthem back to the mine under false pretences. Reflecting rapidly for afew moments he determined to make a clean breast of it, but to lead upto the important point as diplomatically as he could.

  "Have you any food?" he asked.

  "Bismillah, sahib, we are empty as bladders. The dogs fell u
pon us evenas we were filling our pots for the morning meal. We have eatennothing."

  "And what will you do for food on the way home? Is it a smilingcountry? Does millet grow on the rocks? Will you find grapes on thornbushes?"

  "True, sahib," said the man uneasily: "but there are ibex and otherclean animals for our guns."

  "You have plenty of ammunition then?"

  "Enough to shoot beasts for our food."

  "And to shoot the Kalmucks too? If I cannot stop them, and they pursueyou, you will have no time to shoot ibex, and no bullets to waste. Andyou may meet enemies in the hills. You may be caught between two fires,and, outnumbered as you are already, you will be slaughtered likesheep."

  The Pathan looked more and more troubled.

  "I will go and talk to my brothers," he said. "With many counsellorsthere is wisdom."

  "No, that won't do. You would waste a lot of time, and perhaps wrangle.You must act as head man, and what you and I decide the others will do."

  "What does the sahib order?"

  "I order nothing. I want you to make up your own mind. Now listen. Isee a way to bring you out of your present awkward position, and takeyou safely back to the mine. You do not know that Lawrence Sahib withFyz Ali and the rest is in danger."

  "Mashallah, sahib, what is this you tell?"

  "We were attacked yesterday at the bridge down-stream, and beat off theenemy. Lawrence Sahib had to keep guard all night: he may have beenattacked again, but he is now marching back."

  "And who was the enemy, sahib? Only Nurla Bai and his monkey left themine, and they are now among the dogs that have been barking at usbeyond."

  "The enemy are a large force of Kalmucks, a great army, who are comingup the valley, for what purpose I know not."

  "Hai, sahib, but then there is the more need for us to go!"

  "Yes, if you are willing to be cowards and faithless. Must I believethat you will sneak off and leave your comrades to face danger alone?"

  The man was silent, plucking his beard. Bob offered him a cigarette,which the man accepted mechanically, lighting it at the match with whichBob lit his own.

  "Is it a great army, sahib?" he said at length.

  "A very great one. Very likely we shall find it impossible to save themine. It is true that the huzur is gone: Nurla Bai shot him; he fellfrom the machine into the river, and I have no hope that he is yetalive. But his loss only leaves the more for us to do. We must firstsave Lawrence Sahib and your friends. When we are all met again, we candecide what is best. Perhaps we shall have to abandon the mine; butthen, you see, we shall form one large party, with plenty of provisionsand cartridges; and you will have a much better chance of reaching yourhomes than if you go as you are, hungry, with no food, and little hopeof defending yourselves if attacked by enemies in the hills."

  The Pathan puffed away gravely.

  "There is truth in what the sahib says. He has a very big mind, andsees very far. We Pathans are not cowards, as the sahib knows; Fyz Aliis a good man, and the chota sahib will be a great man when his beard isgrown. But how can we go back? As the sahib says, we are but a handfulagainst the pack of dogs yonder, and the sahib has no more littleboxes."

  "I didn't say so. As a matter of fact, I have several."

  "Inshallah!" cried the man joyfully. "Why did not the sahib say sobefore? If the sahib will go up in his machine, and drop the littleboxes upon the heads of the Kalmucks, we will charge home upon them withgreat fury, and there shall not be left one man alive to tell the tale."

  Bob knew that it would be useless to attempt to make the man understandwhy he could not consent to this wholesale butchery. He merely pointedout that, flying swiftly overhead, he could only drop one or perhaps twobombs that would certainly hit the enemy. The survivors would be goadedto desperation, and before the aeroplane could return and the manoeuvrebe repeated, there would be a terrible fight, in which the Pathans, evenif successful, would lose heavily.

  "What I want to do is to gather all the loyal men safely at the mine,"he said. "I do not want to lose one of you. I can do this, I believe,if you obey my orders: otherwise who knows how many of you will be leftalive?"

  "As the sahib commands," said the Pathan.

  "This is what I command. You will remain here with your men while Idrive the Kalmucks away. You will not fire upon them unless you areyourselves attacked. Impress that upon the men. When the Kalmucks areout of sight, you may march up towards the mine, but halt if you come insight of them again."

  "I will give the sahib's orders to the men," said the Pathan. "I hopethe sahib will drive the dogs away quickly, for we are very hungry."

  He salaamed and returned to his companions, who had been keeping one eyeon the enemy, the other on the curious scene two hundred yardsup-stream. It was indeed a strange position: the two men calmly smokingand discussing their plans, while at no great distance lurked aferocious band ready to leap to the attack at any moment. They too hadbeen consulting together, but their imagination was not active enough tolead them to any satisfactory conclusion. The dynamite bomb had beenintended to check them: that was evident; and they decided that it wouldbe wise to wait patiently for developments. Nurla Bai was very muchannoyed. He had undergone great exertions and endured much fatigue toachieve his object--the slaughter or dispersal of the Pathans; and itwas exasperating to find himself at a check just when he had them at hismercy, through the ingenuity of an Englishman and the astoundingswiftness of his flying machine. He began to wish that, instead ofpicking up bits of rock in the gallery on that dark night, he had madehis way to the platform and done some vital damage to the aeroplane.Perhaps a lucky shot would bring it down when it again passed over theposition. But he hoped there would be no more dynamite bombs.