Through Three Campaigns: A Story of Chitral, Tirah and Ashanti

"You are very good, sahib, but I think it will be of no use."

"Oh, I hope it will! So now, give me your turban. I will wrap it tightly round your leg, for the bleeding must be stopped. I see you have lost a great deal of blood, already."

He bandaged the wound as well as he could, and then he said:

"I will take your sword bayonet with me. It can be of no use to you and, if I do happen to meet a native upon the road, it may come in very handy."

"The blessing of the Great One be upon you, sahib, and take you safely to camp. As for myself, I think that my race is run."

"You must not think that," Lisle said, cheerily; "you must lie very quiet, and make up your mind that, as soon as it is possible, we shall be back here for you;" and then, without any more talk, he made his way to the edge of the path.

There he made a long gash on the bark of a tree and, fifty yards farther, he made two similar gashes. Then, certain that he could find the place on his return, he went off at a trot along the path.

It was eight o'clock in the evening before he reached camp. On the way, he had met with nothing that betokened danger; there had been no voices in the woods. When about halfway to camp, he came across a number of dead bodies on the path and, looking into the bush, found many more scattered about. It was evident that the little British force had turned upon their assailants, and had effected a crushing defeat upon them.

He was hailed by a sentry as he approached the camp but, upon his reply, was allowed to pass. As he came to the light of a fire, round which the white officers were sitting, there was a general shout of surprise and pleasure.

"Is it you or your ghost, Bullen?" the commanding officer exclaimed, as all leapt to their feet.

"I am a very solid person, Colonel; as you will see, if you offer me anything to eat or drink. I am pretty well exhausted now and, as I have got another twenty-mile tramp before I sleep, you may guess that I shall be glad of solid and liquid refreshment."

"You shall have both, my dear boy. We had all given you up for dead. When we saw you washed down, we were afraid that you were lost. The only hope was that the current might bring you over to our side again, and we went two or three miles down the stream to look for you. We hunted again still more carefully the next morning, and it was not until the afternoon that we moved.

"We encamped only three miles from the river, hoping still that you might come up before the morning. We started at daybreak this morning. We were harassed from the first, but the affair became so serious that we halted and faced about, left a handful of men to protect the coolies and carriers; and then sent two companies out into the bush on each side, and went at them. Fortunately they fought pluckily, and when at last they gave way they left, I should say, at least a third of their number behind them.

"We did not stop to count. I sent a small party at full speed along the path, so as to keep them on the run, and then marched on here without further molestation.

"And now, about yourself; how on earth have you managed to get in?"

"Well, sir, I can tell it in a few words. The current took us to the opposite shore. We lay concealed under the bushes overhanging the bank, and could hear the enemy talking behind the screen. On the following day the voices ceased, and we made our way up to the camp; and found, as we expected, that you had gone and, as we guessed, the Ashantis had set off in pursuit. We went on through the forest and, of course, heard the firing in the distance; and saw the enemy coming along the path, terror stricken. We were waiting for a bit, and felt sure that they had all passed; when a party of four men came from behind upon us. I don't think they belonged to the force you defeated. They were within twenty yards when they saw us.

"We jumped into one of the hollows at the foot of a cotton tree. The whole four fired at us and then, as they supposed that we were unarmed, made a rush. I shot two of them as they came on. One of the others aimed a blow at me, with the butt end of his gun. Fortunately the weapon caught one of the creepers, and flew out of his hand. My revolver had in some way stuck, but it all came right just at the moment, and I shot him. The fourth man bolted.

"When I looked round to see what the Sikh was doing, he was leaning against the tree, with the blood streaming from his leg; the bone having been broken by one of their balls. Well, sir, I bandaged it up as well as I could, and left him my revolver; so that he might shoot himself, if there was a likelihood of his being captured. I then set off, as hard as I could go, to fetch assistance for him."

"The troops have had a very heavy day, Bullen," the colonel said, gravely. "How far away is it that you left the man?"

"About ten miles, I should say."

"Well, they are all willing fellows, but it is a serious thing to ask them to start on another twenty miles' journey, within an hour or two of getting into camp."

"I think, sir, if you will allow me to go down to where the Sikhs are bivouacked, and I ask for volunteers to bring in their comrade, they will stand up, to a man."

Lisle's confidence in the Sikhs was not misplaced. As soon as they heard that a comrade, who they believed had been drowned while trying to get the wire across the river, was lying alone and wounded in the forest, all declared their willingness to start, at once.

"I will take twenty," Lisle said; "that will be ample. I have just come down the path myself, and I saw no signs, whatever, of the enemy; still, some of them may be making their way down, to carry off their dead. If they are, however, their astonishment at seeing us will be so great that they will bolt at the first volley."

"Are you going back with us, sahib?"

"Yes, I must do so, or you would never find the place where he is lying."

"We will take two stretchers," the sergeant–a splendid man; standing, like most of his companions, well over six feet–said, "and you shall walk as far as you are able, and then we will carry you. When will you march, sahib?"

"I am going to get something to eat and drink first and, if you will fall in, in half an hour I will be with you again."

"Where is Pertab wounded, sahib?"

"He is shot through the leg, three or four inches above the knee, and the bone is broken."

"Did the man get off, sahib?"

"I can't say for certain," Lisle said, with a smile. "Four men attacked us. They all four fired. I shot three of them with my revolver, and the fourth bolted. Whether he was the man who really shot your comrade, or not, I cannot say; but you see, the chances are that he was not."

The grim faces of the Sikhs lit up with a smile.

"You paid them out, anyhow," the sergeant said. "I don't think we are very deeply in their debt."

Lisle went back to the campfire. The best that could be found in camp was given to him, and the colonel handed him his own whisky flask. While he ate, he related the story in full.

"Well, it is a fine thing for you to have done," said the colonel; "a most creditable affair. I know that you are a pretty good marcher; but I hardly think that, after a long day's work, you can set out for a march of nearly double the length."

"I have no fear of the march, Colonel. The Sikhs have volunteered to carry a stretcher for me. I shall, of course, not get into it, unless I feel that I cannot go another foot farther; but the mere fact that it is there, and in readiness for me, will help me to keep on. The Sikhs have done just as long a march as I have, and I hope that I shall be able to hold on as long as they can. I should hate to be beaten by a native."

"Ah! But these Sikhs are wonderful fellows; they seem to be made of iron, and march along as erect and freely as they start, when even the Hausas and Yorubas are showing signs that they are almost at the end of their powers. I must say that I consider the Sikhs to be, all round, the best soldiers in the world. They cannot beat Tommy Atkins, when it comes to a charge; but in the matter of marching, and endurance, Tommy has to take a back seat. He will hold on till he fairly breaks down, rather than give in; but he himself, if he has ever campaigned with the Sikhs, would be the first to allow that they can march him off his feet.

"Have you got a spare pair of shoes in your kit, Bullen?"

"Yes."

"Then I should advise you to take those you have on, off; and put on a fresh pair."

"I will take your advice, sir; but I really think that it would be best to follow the custom of the native troops, and march barefooted."

"It would not do," the colonel said, decidedly. "The soles of their feet are like leather. You would get half a dozen thorns in your foot, before you had gone half a mile; and would stub your toes against every root that projected across the path. No, no; stick to your shoes."

Lisle changed his boots, and then went across to the Sikhs; who fell in as they saw him coming.

"You have got everything, sergeant?" he asked.

"Yes; a hundred and thirty rounds of ball cartridge, the two stretchers, and some food and drink for our comrade."

"You have got a good supply of torches, I hope. There may be some small risk in carrying them, but I am convinced that the Ashantis will not venture to return, tonight, whatever they may do tomorrow. With three torches–one at the head, one in the middle of the line, and one in the rear–we should be able to travel through the paths better than if we had to grope our way in the dark."

The little party at once moved off, many of the officers and men gathering round, to wish them good luck and a safe return. Four hours took them to the spot where Lisle had turned into the path. For the last mile he had had three torches burning in front, so that he should not overlook the signs he had made on the trees.

"There it is, sergeant," he said, at last, "two slashes; the other one is on the left, fifty yards on."

They turned off when they came to this.

"Here we are, all right, Pertab!" Lisle said, as they came to the tree.

"Allah be praised!" the man said, faintly. "I seem to have been hearing noises in the wood, for a long time; and when I heard you coming, I was by no means sure that it was not an illusion, like the others."

"Here are twenty of your comrades with me, Pertab, and we shall soon get you into camp."

"I didn't expect you till morning," the wounded man said. "I thought that you would be far too tired to come out and, without you, they could not have found me."

"They would have carried me, had it been necessary; but I managed to hold on pretty well.

"Now, my men, get him upon the stretcher, and let us be off. Pour the contents of that bottle down his throat; that will keep him up, till we get back."

For another four or five miles, Lisle kept along but, to his mortification, he was obliged at last to take to the stretcher. The four Sikhs who carried it made light of his weight. Once or twice, on the way, some dropping shots were fired at the party; but these were speedily silenced by a volley or two from the rifles.

It was four o'clock in the morning when they re-entered camp. The fires were already lighted and, as the party entered, the troops received them with loud cheering; which called all the white officers out from their shelters.

"You have done well, my fine fellows," the colonel said to the Sikhs. "Now, get some food at once, and then lie down for three or four hours' sleep. I shall leave two companies with you; I don't think that, after the thrashing we gave them yesterday, the enemy are likely to trouble us–at any rate, not before the afternoon, and by that time you will have rejoined us."

"We can march on now, sahib."

"No, no," the colonel said; "a thirty-six-mile march, through this bush, is a great deal more than a fair day's march for anyone; and I am not going to see such good men knocked up, by asking too much of them. So just go, and do as I order you. You may be sure that I shall put the deed you have accomplished in my orders of today.

"Well, Mr. Bullen," he said, as he came to the spot where Lisle was sitting, with his shoes and stockings off, rubbing his aching feet, "so you could not outmarch the Sikhs?"

"No, sir, and I did not expect to do so. I went at their head all the way there, and four or five miles back; but should have had to give up, even if I had been told that a big fortune awaited me, if I got in on foot. I should have had to say:

"'Well, then, somebody else may have it; I can go no farther.'"

"Well, you have done uncommonly well, anyhow; uncommonly well. I don't suppose there are five white men in camp who could have done so much. After this you may be sure that, if you have need of an expedition, the Sikhs would follow you through fire and water, if they were allowed to volunteer for the service.

"I should have been glad to recommend you for the Victoria Cross, for your conduct right through the affair; but you have got it. But I fear that, although you would get every credit for your doings, the authorities would consider that it did not come under the head of deeds for which the Victoria Cross is given."

"I am sure I have no desire for another V.C., even if two could be given."

No attack was made on the following day, and it was evident that the Ashantis had taken to heart the lesson that had been given them. Two days later the column marched into the fort, and Colonel Willcocks went out to meet it.

The colonel's reports had been sent in by a runner. As the Sikhs came along, the colonel ordered them to halt and, as Lisle marched up at the head of his company, he made a sign to him to come up.

"Captain Bullen," he said, "I have much pleasure in congratulating you on the manner in which you saved the life of the Sikh soldier, who volunteered to swim that river in flood in order to carry a wire across; and still more for the manner in which you made what I should say was a record march, in this country, to bring in a man who had been wounded, in a fight with a small party of the enemy."

Then he turned to the Sikhs.

"Soldiers," he said, "I cannot praise you too heartily for having volunteered, at the end of a long and exhausting march, to undertake another still longer and more fatiguing, in order to bring in a wounded comrade. It is an act of which you may be proud; but not altogether a surprising one, for we know well that we can depend upon the Sikhs, on all and every occasion."

Lisle had been carried into the fort. His feet were so tender and swollen that he could not possibly walk farther, and he was consequently taken down by the carriers, during the last two days' march. Hallett sauntered up, as soon as he was put into a hospital hut.

"Hillo, Bullen, so you have broken down! A nice example to set to your Hausas, isn't it?"

"I suppose it is," Lisle laughed; "but the Hausas did not march as far as I did."

"No? What were you doing? Scouting half a mile ahead of them, on your own account?"

"Not exactly; I only went the width of a river, and yet, the result of that was that I had to do an extra march of some twenty miles."

"Now you are speaking in riddles, Lisle; and if there is one thing I hate, it is riddles. When a fellow begins to talk in that way, I always change the subject. Why a man should try to puzzle his brain, with such rigmarole things, is more than I can imagine."

"Well, Hallett, I really feel too tired to tell you about the matter. I can assure you that it is no joke, being carried down fifteen miles on a stretcher; so please go and ask somebody else, that's a good fellow."

In a quarter of an hour Hallett returned again, put his eyeglass in his eye, and stood for a couple of minutes without speaking, regarding Lisle furtively.

"Oh, don't be a duffer," the latter said, "and drop that eyeglass. You know perfectly well that you see better, without it, than with it."

"Well, you are a rum chap, Bullen. You are always doing something unexpected. I have been hearing how you and a Sikh started to swim the Ordah, when it was in flood, with a wire; how you were washed away; how you were given up for lost; how, two days later, you returned to camp and went straight out again, with a party of twenty Sikhs, took a little stroll for ten miles into the bush–and of course, as much back–to carry in the Sikh soldier you had had with you, but who had been wounded, and was unable to come with you. I don't know why such luck as this is always falling to your lot, while not a bit of it comes to me."

"It is pure accident, Hallett. You will get a chance, some day. I don't know that you would be good for a thirty-mile tramp, but it must be a consolation to you that, for the last five miles, I had to be carried."

"It is a mercy it is so," Hallett said, in an expression of deep thankfulness, "for there would have been no holding you, if you had come in on your feet."

Chapter 16: The Relief Of Coomassie

"I certainly should not have volunteered for this work, Bullen, if I had known what it was like. I was mad at not being able to go out to the Cape, and as my regiment was, like yours, stationed in India, there was no chance of getting away from there, if I had once returned. Of course, I knew all about the expeditions of Wolseley and Scott; but I forgot that these were carried on in the dry season, and that we should have to campaign in the wet season, which makes all the difference in the world. We are wet through, from morning till night–and all night, too–and at our camping places there is no shelter. The low-lying land is turned into deep swamps, the little streams become great unfordable torrents, and the ground under our feet turns into liquid mud. It is really horrible work, especially as we get very little food and less drink. It is not work for dogs."

"It is all very well for you to grumble, Hallett, but you know just as well as I do that, if the offer were made to you to go home, at once, you would treat it with scorn."

"Oh, of course I should! Still, one may be allowed to have one's grumble and, after all, I think we are pretty sure of some stiff fighting, which makes up for everything. I am not afraid of the enemy a bit, but I do funk fever."

"I don't think we are likely to get fever, so long as we are on the move; though I dare say a good many of us will go down with it, after the work is done. We have only to think of the starving soldiers and people, in Coomassie, to make us feel that, whatever the difficulties and dangers may be, we must get there in time. The great nuisance is, that we can get no news of what is doing there. We constantly hear that the governor, with a portion if not all of the force, has broken out, some days since; and we begin to look out for them; and then, after a time, comes the news that there has been no sortie whatever. It is really most annoying, and I am often kept awake at night, even after a day's fight, thinking of the position of the garrison."

"I don't think, if there were a hundred garrisons in danger," Hallett laughed, "it would affect my sleep in the slightest. I lie down as soon as I have eaten what there is to eat, which certainly is not likely to affect my digestion; and however rough the ground, I am dead asleep as soon as my head touches it, and I do not open an eye until the bugle sounds in the morning. Even then I have not had enough sleep, and I always indulge in bad language as I put on my belts, at the unearthly hour at which we are always called. I don't begin to feel half awake till we have gone some miles."

"You would wake up sharp enough, Hallett, at the sound of the first gun."

"Yes, that is all right enough; but unless that comes, there is nothing to wake one. The close air of the forest takes out what little starch you have in you, and I verily believe that I am very often asleep, as we march."

"It is monotonous, Hallett, but there is always something to see to; to keep the men from straggling, to give a little help, sometimes, to the wretched carriers."

"You are such a desperate enthusiast, Bullen. I cannot make out how you keep it up so well. I really envy you your good spirits."

"They are indeed a great blessing; I had plenty of occasion to make the most of them, when I was marching in the ranks of the 32nd Pioneers, on the way up to Chitral. Still, they came naturally enough, there; and I am bound to acknowledge that it is hard work, sometimes, to keep them up here."

"I think that it would really be a mercy, Bullen, if you were to pour a bucket of water over my head, when the bugle sounds. I have no doubt I should be furious with you, and should use the strongest of strong language; but still, that would not hurt you."

"Except when the carriers bring up our bundles of dry clothes, we lie down so soaked that you would scarcely feel the water poured over you. At any rate, if you really think that it would do you good, you had better order your servant to do it; that is to say, if you don't think you would slay him, the first morning."

"No, I suppose I must put up with it, as best I can; but really, sometimes I do envy the colonel's little terrier, which frisks along all day, making excursions occasionally into the bush, to look for rats or mongooses. He seems to be absolutely tireless, and always ready for anything.

"Well, I shall turn in, now, and try to dream that I am on a feather bed, and have had supper of all sorts of dainties."

"I would not do that, if I were you. It would be such a disappointment, when you woke up."

"Well, perhaps it might be," Hallett said, despondently. "I will try to dream that I am with you on that Chitral expedition, and am nearly frozen to death; then possibly, on waking, I might feel grateful that things are not so bad as I thought they were."

They spent a few pleasant days at Prahsu and, while there, received the news that a column had started, from Tientsin, for the relief of the Europeans collected in the various legations at Pekin, news which created general satisfaction.

"I have no doubt they will have some stiff fighting," Hallett said, as he and Lisle sat down to breakfast, after hearing the news. "One thing, however, is in their favour. As they will keep by the river all the way, they will never be short of water. The last news was that they were collecting a large flotilla of junks, for carrying up their provisions. Lucky beggars! Wouldn't I like to change places with one of them! I hope all the different troops will pull well together for, with a force of half a dozen nationalities, it is almost certain that there will be some squabbling."

"I should hardly think that there would be any trouble, Hallett. Of course, it was reported in the last mail that the Russians, French, and Germans were all behaving somewhat nastily; but as the Japs have the strongest force of all, and the Americans stick to us, I should think that things will go on well. It would be a disgraceful thing, indeed, if troops marching to the relief of their countrymen could not keep the peace among themselves. Of course, there may be fighting; but it is morally certain that the Chinese cannot stand against us, and I imagine that, in proportion to the numbers, their casualties will enormously exceed ours.

"Britain has her hands pretty full, at present, what with the big war in the Transvaal, and the little one here, and another in China. It is a good thing we thrashed the Afridis, two years ago. If we had not, you may be sure that there would be an even more formidable rising on our northern frontier than that we quelled. News travels marvellously fast, in India; the Afridis always seem to know what is going on elsewhere, and I am pretty sure that they would be up, all over the country, if they had not had to give up the greater portion of their rifles, and had not more than enough to do to rebuild their houses. So we have something to be thankful for."

"I am glad that Marchand business did not come off just at the present time," Hallett said. "You may be sure that we should have had a war with France; it was a mighty near thing, as it was."

"Yes; I think they would not have backed down, if we had been busy with Boers, Chinese, and black men. They were at fever heat as it was; and we could have done nothing, if we had had two hundred and fifty thousand men engaged at the Cape."

"It would have made no difference," Lisle said, scornfully, "we have plenty of soldiers at home. Every barrack was crowded with men, as we came away; and there were a great number of the militia and volunteers, to back them up. Above all there was our fleet which, however much the Frenchmen value their warships, would have knocked them into a cocked hat in no time.