For Fortune and Glory: A Story of the Soudan War

by Lewis Hough

  CHAPTER TEN.

  SENT OUT SCOUTING.

  It is one of the first principles of warfare that an army should alwayskeep up communication with what is called its _base_, that is, the safeplace from which food, ammunition, stores of all kinds, and fresh men tosupply the place of those who fall, can be sent to it, and to which thesick and wounded may be returned. But as there is no universal rule inanything, and people have often to do what they can, rather than whatthey know to be best, it so happens that columns have sometimes to belaunched into an enemy's country without any communication with seaport,town, or friendly frontier, so that they are entirely self-dependent,with no resources beyond what they have at hand, and liable to beattacked on all sides.

  This is termed being "in the air," and is a very great risk, which isonly voluntarily incurred for the sake of gaining some equally greatadvantage. In civilised warfare failure under such circumstances meanssurrender; in expeditions against barbarians it involves utterdestruction.

  Hicks Pasha's little army was now thus isolated, and, after severaldays' march across the desert, matters began to wear a very seriousaspect. As has been said, ten miles a day were the utmost that could beaccomplished, and the distance between the places where water could beobtained increased as they advanced.

  Water was carried by camels in tanks with galvanised linings, which keptit fresh, and free from the nauseous taste which it gets from the skinsin which travellers generally have to keep it. It is true that there isan earthenware water-bottle, which is in much request, and theinhabitants of a town on the Nile earn their livelihood by manufacturingthem. But the porousness of the clay, which keeps the contents sodeliciously cool, makes them very brittle.

  In these tanks sufficient water could be carried for twenty-four hours,which meant at the present rate of marching but ten miles. There camean occasion when, at the end of the first day's halt from the last well,an order was given to put men and horses on a half ration of theprecious fluid. Considering that the full ration was very insufficient,this caused much suffering, especially as, there being no moon, nightmarches were out of the question, and the parched troops had to toilthrough the sand in the mornings and evenings, though they were forcedto rest and get what shelter they could in the hottest part of the day.

  That night Harry was roused from a dream of plunging in the river atHarton, which, however, refused to cool or wet him, but seemed to turnto hot sand at his touch, by a shot and then a volley, a little in theirfront. He started to his feet and found Howard standing beside him.

  "Some stupid mistake of a sentry, very likely," said he. But presentlythe outposts came running in with three of their number missing, and twoothers with slight spear wounds, and reported an attack of the enemy.The force stood to its arms at once, and as it bivouacked in square, inthe order in which it marched, every man was in his place without delayor confusion, and there was no danger of surprise, and some of the menwould keep firing uselessly into darkness, and it gave their officerssome trouble to stop them. This was done, however, and the waste ofammunition was left to the Arabs, who kept up a dropping fire till dawn,wounding a poor camel by chance, but unable to do much damage bystarlight from the distance at which they kept.

  "No gun-shot wounds for you at present," said Harry, when he rejoinedthe surgeon.

  "I don't want any," replied Howard. "I could not attend to a poorfellow after treating him, in any satisfactory way, on the march, andwithout water. Do you know, I am tempted to drink the contents of mymedicine bottles."

  "Then you _must_ be thirsty, poor fellow. But, I say, do you call thisbeing under fire? There! Something struck the ground which I fancymust have been a bullet."

  "Yes; they are making very long shots, but as some of them get into ourneighbourhood, I suppose one may be said to be so. Why?"

  "Only because I have never been under fire before, and I expected to bein a funk."

  "There is time enough; I daresay you will get a satisfactory test ofyour nerves before long. But courage is a comparative thing, dependingvery much upon circumstances. I, for example, am a non-combatant, andthough I have little dread of infectious diseases, which many heroeswould shrink from risking contact with, I hold all lethal weapons instrong dislike. And yet, if there were a barrel of beer in front,though it were guarded by the best shots in Boer land, I would have afight for it."

  "I should think you would!" cried Harry. "Beer! How can you be socruel as to mention the word?"

  But though the Arab fusillade was almost innocuous, it harassed thetroops, keeping them on the alert all night. And when, with the firststreaks of dawn, the dreary march began, all traces of the foe haddisappeared. All the morning dragged along, till fatigue and the heatof the sun compelled the mid-day halt. Then forward again till dark;and no wells reached! Hardly a drop of water left for each man!Several had dropped and died in the course of that day's march, andseveral horses. The bugle bands, which had been so cheery in the start,were silent now; the poor fellows were too parched to blow theirinstruments. Even the tam-tams were silent. Not that either would havebeen prudent, for though, doubtless, they were never lost sight of bythe enemy's scouts, there was no advantage in publishing theirwhereabouts.

  Harry was on outpost duty that night, and when the firing was renewed,which happened soon after dark (though no enemy had been sighted allday), he, not being hard pressed, would not withdraw his men. The starswere very bright, and objects were distinguishable at about thirty yardsdistance; perhaps further by Harry, who was particularly clear ofvision, that being the reason, possibly, of his fine shooting. TheArabs got closer to the rocks, amongst which the outpost was situated,with sentries at intervals connecting it with the square. Harry feltsavage with thirst, fatigue, and this aggravating annoyance, and wasstrongly tempted to try and make an example. He took a rifle from oneof his men, and began stalking carefully in the direction of theflashes; not directly towards them, of course, which would have beentrying to meet the bullets, but on the flank.

  Crouching down under a sand ridge, he got pretty close, crawled a littlenearer on his hands and knees, and peered forwards. There was a flashand a report quite near to him, and then Harry could plainly distinguishthe man kneeling up, withdrawing the old cartridge from his Remington.He levelled his rifle, but could not see the fore-sight, so as to alignit with the object. For a moment he was nonplussed, but suddenlyremembered having read of a dodge for night shooting, and resolved totry it.

  He had in his pocket a small box of matches, and, taking one of these,he broke the end off and rubbed in on the fore-sight very gently,careful not to let it explode, and succeeded in making the littleprojection so luminous that he could align it with the back-sight andthe Arab's body. Then he pulled the trigger, and saw the dark figureleap forward and fall prone. Saw it, indeed, but only in a fraction ofa second, for he stole back to the sand ridge, slipping in anothercartridge as he went.

  There he lay still a minute, listening and peering. Presently a tallfigure, which looked gigantic in the dim light, bounded close to him,with a gun in his left hand, and a spear in his right. He had evidentlymade a rush in the direction of the flash, and now stood, looking rightand left for the man who had fired. Harry almost touched him as hepressed the trigger, and the savage lay at his very feet. "I'll havehis spoils any way," thought he; so he picked up the spear andRemington, and got back to his men as fast as he could. The Arabscouts, bothered by these two shots, were probably uncertain about themovements of the troops, and thought they had shifted their ground sincethey had marked them down, and possibly had flanking parties who mightsurround them. For they withdrew to a distance, fired a few shots inthe direction where Harry _had been_, which was quite away from the mainbody, and the outpost too, and then gave no more trouble for that night.

  In the course of the next day the water gave out entirely, and there wasnot a drop in the army beyond what some few far-seeing, self-denyingmen, had hoarded in their gourds.

&
nbsp; Harry had not been one of these, and when the mid-day halt came hethought he was dying, and fell down in the glare of the sun, senseless.When he returned to life he found himself under the scanty shade of amimosa tree, supported by the strong arm of a man whose sun-burned faceand flowing beard, the loose robe which he wore, and the silk scarfwhich surrounded his tarboosh, with the pistol and dagger thrust into ashawl round his waist, seemed to betoken a native of the country; butthe kindly eyes were those of an Englishman, as were the murmured words,"Poor lad! Poor lad!" which fell on his ear. His brow was deliciouslycool, and his throat less parched; and he recognised that it was the manwhose wonderful journey to Merv had so enthralled him when he read of itwho had now spared the water, which was life, to damp his brow and givehim respite; and he was certain that it was Mr O'Donovan, the newspapercorrespondent, now accompanying the army of Hicks Pasha, who had savedhis life.

  Howard, who came up at the moment, was almost awe-struck at thesacrifice.

  "I have known one man allow his veins to be drained to supply the life-blood which might be infused into the veins of his friend; but what wasthat to sparing water _now_!" he said.

  The patience and discipline of the men during this trying time wereadmirable; there was no grumbling, no repining against their leaders;and just fancy how the sturdy Briton would have growled!

  The officers did their best to cheer them up, assuring them that theywere certain to reach the wells that afternoon, and always bearing anair of confidence in the future before them. But when they were alonetogether, and looked into each other's eyes, it was evident that theythought they were in a very desperate position.

  However, let them reach and carry El Obeid without too great delay, andall would yet be right. Their assurance to the men concerning the wellswas verified; and when they approached the mud-holes which bore thatname, discipline for once broke down. First the Bashi-Bazooks urgedtheir fainting steeds to a gallop; then the infantry broke from theirranks and hurried forward; and had the enemy come down in force at thatmoment, they would have had an easy prey. But, oh horror! The puddleswere choked with the putrefying bodies of men, horses, and camels, who,wounded in a recent fight near the spot, had crawled hither to drink,and die.

  Thirst, however, overcame disgust; the contaminating carcases weredragged away, and many plunged their faces in the filthy pools. Othershad the self-control to dig or scrape holes for themselves, and waittill a purer water had percolated into them, when they slowly satisfiedthemselves and their faithful horses, and then managed to collect asupply for the next march.

  Wonderful was the effect of the water, when at last a sufficiency forall had trickled out. The musicians found their instruments, and playedonce more; the outposts stepped off to their stations with alacrity; andall felt as if El Obeid had already fallen.

  But several days' more terrible marching, with insufficient water, andmany a death from sheer hardships, fatigue, or sunstroke, were to elapsebefore they neared the fortress. At last, however, the time came when,on starting at dawn, the guide assured the General that he should seethe sun set behind its walls. After four hours' march one of the seniorofficers called Harry.

  "You and your nag look pretty fit," he said; "that comes of being alight weight. Is your water-bottle full?"

  "Yes," replied Harry; "I have not touched it since we left the lastwells."

  "That is right; I want you to take six men out scouting. You see thatrocky hill, with trees, out to the north?"

  "Yes."

  "The General wants to know if the enemy are behind there in any force.Go cautiously; and if you see no one, pass through the wood, and have alook on the other side of the hill; you can see from here that it cannotbe very extensive on the top. But if you find Arabs in the cover, tryto draw them; and if you succeed, and they are in force, come back atonce. But should they keep in cover, so that you cannot tell whetherthere are half a dozen or a considerable body, skirt round the hill, andsee if there is any sign of a camp, or a large body of the enemyconcealed by it. Be cautious, so as not to get cut off. I haveselected six of the best mounted Bashi-Bazooks, in case you have to makea bolt for it. Of course, you see the importance of knowing what wehave in our rear before attacking the place."

  "All right, sir," said Harry; and in another minute he was trottingacross the plain, followed by his six picturesque, irregular horsemen.

  Of course he did not go fast, as it was most important to reserve thepowers of the animal that carried him for the emergency of having togallop for his life, which it was not at all improbable that he would becalled upon to do; but half an hour's steady trot, the ground beingfairly free from obstacles, and not so yielding as usual, brought theparty to the foot of the hill.

  Harry ordered his men to extend, and they threaded their way among therocks in a line, working cautiously up towards the belt of trees. Whenthey were within a hundred yards, however, a couple of shots were firedfrom the cover, and the bullets came pattering against the rocks.

  Harry had impressed upon the men beforehand what to do in such a case:to retire slowly, halting to return the fire at intervals; and they didit pretty fairly, though not quite so steadily as could be wished. Andwhen they were down on the level plain, a couple of them showed adecided inclination to try the mettle of their steeds in a race in thedirection of the column, but Harry managed to stop them; and,withdrawing a little, the party dismounted, and fired a few ineffectiveshots at the Arabs, who were mounted, and came down towards them.

  There were but eight in the party, and Harry could see no more behindthem, so he concluded that it was clearly his duty to skirt the hill andsee what was on the other side. Besides, seven to eight was not suchprodigious odds as to justify bolting without a bit of a fight, hethought.

  So he got his men together, and, drawing his sword, told them he meantto charge the moment the Arabs were at the bottom of the hill, so as tooverthrow them by the impetus before they could get any pace on, andtrotting quietly on with this object, he got within thirty paces, andthen, cramming his spurs in, went at them as they got clear of thedeclivity. And he showed good judgment, in spite of his inexperience;for he bowled one enemy over with the force of the shock, and a Bashi-Bazook on his right served another the same, and got a slice at him ashe rolled over, which made the number of combatants level.

  But, unfortunately, the other Bashi-Bazooks did not charge home, butswerved, wheeled, withdrew a little, and began firing wildly. Harry wasengaged in single combat with another Arab, who could have given him anynumber of points in sword-play, and presently made a drawing cut at himwhich would infallibly have taken off his head, had not his horse atthat very quarter of a second suddenly fallen, shot dead by one of hisown men.

  Seeing their officer down, the Bashi-Bazooks fairly turned and gallopedas hard as they could go, the Arabs who were otherwise disengaged racingafter them--five pursuing six; for the man who had been ridden down hadgot a broken thigh, the second was killed, and the third was nowdismounting in order to polish off Harry comfortably as he lay on theground.

  But our friend, though he was pinned down by the body of his horse,which lay on his left leg, was not hurt, and his right arm was free. Hedrew his revolver, and when the Arab stood over him he shot him in thebreast. The man fell--but not dead--across Harry, with whom hegrappled, seeking to clutch him with the left hand by the throat andsabre him with the right. But Harry caught his right wrist, and astruggle took place, in which each strained every muscle.

  In his efforts, Harry got his leg from under the dead horse, the sandbeing loose; but as he did so his enemy got his sword-arm free and cuthim over the head--not with much force, for he was weak and in a crampedposition, but sufficiently to inflict a nasty wound. It was an expiringeffort; he fell over helpless, the blood gushing from his mouth, andHarry had no need to give him another barrel, which he was prepared todo, but rose to his feet to survey the scene of conflict. The Bashi-Bazooks and their pursuers could be seen in the distance, stil
l going ata great pace. The horses of the broken-legged and the two dead Arabswere careering about; his own head-dress had fallen off, which was aserious affair, though the afternoon was waning.

  But before putting it on he bound his head with a strip of cotton tornoff the garment of the Arab at his feet, for the cut on the scalp wasbleeding freely. Then, feeling very thirsty, he took the man's water-bottle, but it was empty. So, picking up his sword, he moved over tothe other dead Arab and tried his, and with better success; there was arefreshing draught in it, which Harry was thus able to benefit bywithout infringing on his own supply. Then he considered that he mustget out of sight somewhere before the Arabs returned, which they weresure to do, to look after their missing friends. He had now no horse,and to make his way on foot across the open plain by daylight was toensure being seen by the returning horsemen and cut off.

  The best place to hide in would surely be the wood, where he feltcertain that there were no more Arabs, or they would have come out tojoin in the chevy. He would lie there till nightfall, and thenendeavour to make his way to the column, though he did not feel liketaking a long walk just at present.

  As he was going up the hill, however, he saw the Arab with the brokenleg lying helpless. The string which held his water-bottle had broken,and the gourd lay beyond his reach. The man glared like a wild beastwhen Harry picked it up, and clutched at his waist-band, but there wasno weapon in it.

  "Don't fear me," said Harry in Arabic, holding out the gourd, which theother snatched viciously; "I am an Englishman, and the English never hita foe when he is down, unless he is very obstinate and unreasonable, andinsists on biting or kicking."

  But the wounded man made no reply. It is to be feared that he onlythought either that the speaker was a great liar, or else that hiscountrymen were great fools. It was evident that, so far from beingtouched, he would be the first to betray the secret of Harry's hiding-place to his returning friends if he knew it. So as Harry did not liketo shoot him through the head, or draw his sword across his throat, hemade a detour as if going across the desert, and did not commence theascent until he was out of the other's sight. It was not very steep orvery high, but Harry had some difficulty in getting up it. He felt veryweak, giddy, and queer, and had hardly got to the wood, and sunk downunder the shade of trees behind a big black boulder, than he lostconsciousness, for he had bled more than he knew for, and it was thatwhich turned him faint.

  How long he lay without consciousness he did not know; and I daresaythat you have noticed in story-books that people never _do_ know.Indeed, it would take a very methodical person to look at his watch justas he was going off in a swoon, and refer to it again as he came to.Harry Forsyth certainly never looked at his watch, but he snatched hiswater-bottle, for one effect of loss of blood is to cause intensethirst. A quantity of liquid being taken out of the body. Nature seemsto point out in this way that the loss should be supplied; you know sheis said to abhor a vacuum. If he had had all his senses about him, hewould merely have taken a sup and held it in his mouth some time beforeswallowing it; but he was half dazed, and did not know where he was, andhe yielded to the instinct of thirst and took a long, deep draught. Forthe present it was the best thing he could have done, for the effect wasthat he sank into a sound restoring sleep, which must have lasted manyhours, for when he woke again the night was far advanced, and there werestreaks of dawn in the east, and it was quite two hours to sunset whenhe had begun his nap. The wound in his head smarted, but otherwise hefelt stronger and more refreshed, only hungry. He had crammed somebiscuits into his kharkee jacket the day before, and these he ate,washing them down with what remained in the water-bottle, which heemptied without much compunction, as he reckoned that he would easilystrike the trail of the column and come up with it in a short time.

  They had reckoned before he left that it was three hours' march at thelongest to the wells within sight of El Obeid, where they were to haltfor the night, and he thought that he surely ought to be able to walk,alone and unencumbered, at least as fast again as the square moved, andhe had little fear of not being in time for the attack. The place couldhardly be carried by a _coup de main_; they would have to breach thewalls with artillery first. Of course he might be cut off on his road;that was a risk which could not be helped or avoided.

  Directly he could see his way, he retraced his steps down the hill, andwent round the base to the side where he had had the skirmish; but hedid not look to see whether the dead Arabs had been buried by theircomrades, or to inquire after the welfare of his friend, the enemy withthe broken leg. No, he stole along that part as quietly as he could.

  The orange, purple, violet, old gold flashes shone wider and higher, butthe only way in which Harry heeded them was by keeping the point, atwhich it was evident from the intensity of glory that the sun wouldrise, at his back, for he knew that El Obeid lay due west of his presentposition. It was true that he had a compass attached to his watchchain, but for some unknown cause the thing had struck work a fortnightback, and now the black half, which ought always to have turned to thenorth, perversely remained where you choose to place it. But, afterall, the sun in the morning and evening, and the polar star at night,will put you somewhere in the right direction, _when you can see them_.

  As for hitting off the exact track by which he had come on leaving thecolumn, he could no more do that than on the sea, for there were nomarks to guide the eye, and the surface of the plain was the same aswater. One dead camel's skeleton is uncommonly like another, and theylay about in various directions, showing that caravans converged to ordiverged from El Obeid by different routes. When the sun burst forthwith all that inconceivable grandeur which drives artists who visit thecountry to despair, and causes untravelled gazers on their pictures toaccuse them of exaggeration, when their efforts have as a fact fallenfar short of the reality, Harry's eyes scanned the horizon in everydirection for an enemy, but he was alone on the sandy expanse.

  No! What were those black figures moving along the side of yonder dune?His hand went to the butt of his revolver as he saw them. But he waspresently reassured; they were only vultures and eagles over-gorged bythe fruits of war; the only beings besides wolves and hyaenas, who pluckthem.