It was on the third morning after this incident of the map that SirHenry and I started. With the exception of a small guard, all the greathost had moved on the night before, leaving the Frowning City verysilent and empty. Indeed, it was found impossible to leave any garrisonwith the exception of a personal guard for Nyleptha, and about athousand men who from sickness or one cause or another were unable toproceed with the army; but as Milosis was practically impregnable, andas our enemy was in front of and not behind us, this did not so muchmatter.
Good and Umslopogaas had gone on with the army, but Nyleptha accompaniedSir Henry and myself to the city gates, riding a magnificent white horsecalled Daylight, which was supposed to be the fleetest and most enduringanimal in Zu-Vendis. Her face bore traces of recent weeping, but therewere no tears in her eyes now, indeed she was bearing up bravely againstwhat must have been a bitter trial to her. At the gate she reined inher horse and bade us farewell. On the previous day she had reviewed andaddressed the officers of the great army, speaking to them such high,eloquent words, and expressing so complete a confidence in their valourand in their ultimate victory, that she quite carried their heartsaway, and as she rode from rank to rank they cheered her till the groundshook. And now today the same mood seemed to be on her.
'Fare thee well, Macumazahn!' she said. 'Remember, I trust to thy wits,which are as a needle to a spear-handle compared to those of my people,to save us from Sorais. I know that thou wilt do thy duty.'
I bowed and explained to her my horror of fighting, and my fear lest Ishould lose my head, at which she laughed gently and turned to Curtis.
'Fare thee well, my lord!' she said. 'Come back with victory, and as aking, or on thy soldiers' spears.' {Endnote 19}
Sir Henry said nothing, but turned his horse to go; perhaps he had a bitof a lump in his throat. One gets over it afterwards, but these sort ofpartings are trying when one has only been married a week.
'Here,' added Nyleptha, 'will I greet thee when ye return in triumph.And now, my lords, once more, farewell!'
Then we rode on, but when we had gone a hundred and fifty yards or so,we turned and perceived her still sitting on her horse at the same spot,and looking out after us beneath her hand, and that was the last we sawof her. About a mile farther on, however, we heard galloping behindus, and looking round, saw a mounted soldier coming towards us, leadingNyleptha's matchless steed--Daylight.
'The Queen sends the white stallion as a farewell gift to her LordIncubu, and bids me tell my lord that he is the fleetest and mostenduring horse in all the land,' said the soldier, bending to hissaddle-bow before us.
At first Sir Henry did not want to take the horse, saying that he wastoo good for such rough work, but I persuaded him to do so, thinkingthat Nyleptha would be hurt if he did not. Little did I guess at thetime what service that noble horse would render in our sorest need. Itis curious to look back and realize upon what trivial and apparentlycoincidental circumstances great events frequently turn as easily andnaturally as a door on its hinges.
Well, we took the horse, and a beauty he was, it was a perfect pleasureto see him move, and Curtis having sent back his greetings and thanks,we proceeded on our journey.
By midday we overtook the rear-guard of the great army of whichSir Henry then formally took over the command. It was a heavyresponsibility, and it oppressed him very much, but the Queen'sinjunctions on the point were such as did not admit of beingtrifled with. He was beginning to find out that greatness has itsresponsibilities as well as its glories.
Then we marched on without meeting with any opposition, almost indeedwithout seeing anybody, for the populations of the towns and villagesalong our route had for the most part fled, fearing lest they shouldbe caught between the two rival armies and ground to powder like grainbetween the upper and the nether stones.
On the evening of the fourth day, for the progress of so great amultitude was necessarily slow, we camped two miles this side of theneck or ridge I have spoken of, and our outposts brought us word thatSorais with all her power was rolling down upon us, and had pitched hercamp that night ten miles the farther side of the neck.
Accordingly before dawn we sent forward fifteen hundred cavalry to seizethe position. Scarcely had they occupied it, however, before they wereattacked by about as many of Sorais' horsemen, and a very smart littlecavalry fight ensued, with a loss to us of about thirty men killed. Onthe advance of our supports, however, Sorais' force drew off, carryingtheir dead and wounded with them.
The main body of the army reached the neck about dinner-time, and I mustsay that Nyleptha's judgment had not failed her, it was an admirableplace to give battle in, especially to a superior force.
The road ran down a mile or more, through ground too broken to admit ofthe handling of any considerable force, till it reached the crest of agreat green wave of land, that rolled down a gentle slope to the banksof a little stream, and then rolled away again up a still gentler slopeto the plain beyond, the distance from the crest of the land-wave downto the stream being a little over half a mile, and from the stream up tothe plain beyond a trifle less. The length of this wave of land at itshighest point, which corresponded exactly with the width of the neck ofthe land between the wooded hills, was about two miles and a quarter,and it was protected on either side by dense, rocky, bush-clad ground,that afforded a most valuable cover to the flanks of the army andrendered it almost impossible for them to be turned.
It was on the hither slope of this neck of land that Curtis encampedhis army in the same formation that he had, after consultation with thevarious generals, Good, and myself, determined that they should occupyin the great pitched battle which now appeared to be imminent.
Our force of sixty thousand men was, roughly speaking, dividedas follows. In the centre was a dense body of twenty thousandfoot-soldiers, armed with spears, swords, and hippopotamus-hide shields,breast and back plates. {Endnote 20} These formed the chest of the army,and were supported by five thousand foot, and three thousand horse inreserve. On either side of this chest were stationed seven thousandhorse arranged in deep, majestic squadrons; and beyond and on eitherside but slightly in front of them again were two bodies, each numberingabout seven thousand five hundred spearmen, forming the right and leftwings of the army, and each supported by a contingent of some fifteenhundred cavalry. This makes in all sixty thousand men.
Curtis commanded in chief, I was in command of the seven thousand horsebetween the chest and right wing, which was commanded by Good, and theother battalions and squadrons were entrusted to Zu-Vendis generals.
Scarcely had we taken up our positions before Sorais' vast army began toswarm on the opposite slope about a mile in front of us, till the wholeplace seemed alive with the multitude of her spearpoints, and the groundshook with the tramp of her battalions. It was evident that the spieshad not exaggerated; we were outnumbered by at least a third. At firstwe expected that Sorais was going to attack us at once, as the cloudsof cavalry which hung upon her flanks executed some threateningdemonstrations, but she thought better of it, and there was no fightthat day. As for the formation of her great forces I cannot now describeit with accuracy, and it would only serve to bewilder if I did, but Imay say, generally, that in its leading features it resembled our own,only her reserve was much greater.
Opposite our right wing, and forming Sorais' left wing, was a great armyof dark, wild-looking men, armed with sword and shield only, which,I was informed, was composed of Nasta's twenty-five thousand savagehillsmen.
'My word, Good,' said I, when I saw them, 'you will catch it tomorrowwhen those gentlemen charge!' whereat Good not unnaturally looked ratheranxious.
All day we watched and waited, but nothing happened, and at last nightfell, and a thousand watch-fires twinkled brightly on the slopes, towane and die one by one like the stars they resembled. As the hours woreon, the silence gradually gathered more deeply over the opposing hosts.
It was a very wearying night, for in addition to the endless things tha
thad to be attended to, there was our gnawing suspense to reckonwith. The fray which tomorrow would witness would be so vast, and theslaughter so awful, that stout indeed must the heart have been that wasnot overwhelmed at the prospect. And when I thought of all that hungupon it, I own I felt ill, and it made me very sad to reflect thatthese mighty forces were gathered for destruction, simply to gratify thejealous anger of a woman. This was the hidden power which was to sendthose dense masses of cavalry, flashing like human thunderbolts acrossthe plain, and to roll together the fierce battalions as clouds whenhurricane meets hurricane. It was a dreadful thought, and set onewondering about the responsibilities of the great ones of the earth.Deep into the night we sat, with pale faces and heavy hearts, and tookcounsel, whilst the sentries tramped up and down, down and up, and thearmed and plumed generals came and went, grim and shadow-like.
And so the time wore away, till everything was ready for the comingslaughter; and I lay down and thought, and tried to get a little rest,but could not sleep for fear of the morrow--for who could say what themorrow would bring forth? Misery and death, this was certain; beyondthat we knew not, and I confess I was very much afraid. But as Irealized then, it is useless to question that eternal Sphinx, thefuture. From day to day she reads aloud the riddles of the yesterday, ofwhich the puzzled wordlings of all ages have not answered one, nor everwill, guess they never so wildly or cry they never so loud.
And so at length I gave up wondering, being forced humbly to leave theissue in the balancing hands of Providence and the morrow.
And at last up came the red sun, and the huge camps awoke with a clash,and a roar, and gathered themselves together for battle. It was abeautiful and awe-inspiring scene, and old Umslopogaas, leaning on hisaxe, contemplated it with grim delight.
'Never have I seen the like, Macumazahn, never,' he said. 'The battlesof my people are as the play of children to what this will be. Thinkestthou that they will fight it out?'
'Ay,' I answered sadly, 'to the death. Content thyself, "Woodpecker",for once shalt thou peck thy fill.'
Time went on, and still there was no sign of an attack. A force ofcavalry crossed the brook, indeed, and rode slowly along our front,evidently taking stock of our position and numbers. With this we didnot attempt to interfere, as our decision was to stand strictly on thedefensive, and not to waste a single man. The men breakfasted and stoodto their arms, and the hours wore on. About midday, when the men wereeating their dinner, for we thought they would fight better on fullstomachs, a shout of '_Sorais, Sorais_' arose like thunder from theenemy's extreme right, and taking the glass, I was able to clearlydistinguish the 'Lady of the Night' herself, surrounded by a glitteringstaff, and riding slowly down the lines of her battalions. And as shewent, that mighty, thundering shout rolled along before her like therolling of ten thousand chariots, or the roaring of the ocean when thegale turns suddenly and carries the noise of it to the listener's ears,till the earth shook, and the air was full of the majesty of sound.
Guessing that this was a prelude to the beginning of the battle, weremained still and made ready.
We had not long to wait. Suddenly, like flame from a cannon's mouth, outshot two great tongue-like forces of cavalry, and came charging down theslope towards the little stream, slowly at first, but gathering speedas they came. Before they got to the stream, orders reached me from SirHenry, who evidently feared that the shock of such a charge, if allowedto fall unbroken upon our infantry, would be too much for them, to sendfive thousand sabres to meet the force opposite to me, at the momentwhen it began to mount the stiffest of the rise about four hundred yardsfrom our lines. This I did, remaining behind myself with the rest of mymen.
Off went the five thousand horsemen, drawn up in a wedge-like form, andI must say that the general in command handled them very ably. Startingat a hand gallop, for the first three hundred yards he rode straight atthe tip of the tongue-shaped mass of cavalry which, numbering, so far asI could judge, about eight thousand sabres, was advancing to charge us.Then he suddenly swerved to the right and put on the pace, and I saw thegreat wedge curl round, and before the foe could check himself and turnto meet it, strike him about halfway down his length, with a crashingrending sound, like that of the breaking-up of vast sheets of ice. Insank the great wedge, into his heart, and as it cut its way hundredsof horsemen were thrown up on either side of it, just as the earth isthrown up by a ploughshare, or more like still, as the foaming watercurls over beneath the bows of a rushing ship. In, yet in, vainly doesthe tongue twist its ends round in agony, like an injured snake,and strive to protect its centre; still farther in, by Heaven! rightthrough, and so, amid cheer after cheer from our watching thousands,back again upon the severed ends, beating them down, driving them asa gale drives spray, till at last, amidst the rushing of hundreds ofriderless horses, the flashing of swords, and the victorious clamour oftheir pursuers, the great force crumples up like an empty glove, thenturns and gallops pell-mell for safety back to its own lines.
I do not think it reached them more than two-thirds as strong as itwent out ten minutes before. The lines which were now advancing to theattack, opened and swallowed them up, and my force returned, havingonly suffered a loss of about five hundred men--not much, I thought,considering the fierceness of the struggle. I could also see that theopposing bodies of cavalry on our left wing were drawing back, but howthe fight went with them I do not quite know. It is as much as I can doto describe what took place immediately around me.
By this time the dense masses of the enemy's left, composed almostentirely of Nasta's swordsmen, were across the little stream, andwith alternate yells of 'Nasta' and 'Sorais', with dancing banners andgleaming swords, were swarming up towards us like ants.
Again I received orders to try and check this movement, and also themain advance against the chest of our army, by means of cavalry charges,and this I did to the best of my ability, by continually sendingsquadrons of about a thousand sabres out against them. These squadronsdid the enemy much damage, and it was a glorious sight to see them flashdown the hillside, and bury themselves like a living knife in the heartof the foe. But, also, we lost many men, for after the experience of acouple of these charges, which had drawn a sort of bloody St Andrew'scross of dead and dying through the centre of Nasta's host, our foesno longer attempted to offer an unyielding front to their irresistibleweight, but opened out to let the rush go through, throwing themselveson the ground and hamstringing hundreds of horses as they passed.
And so, notwithstanding all that we could do, the enemy drew nearer,till at last he hurled himself upon Good's force of seven thousand fivehundred regulars, who were drawn up to receive them in three strongsquares. About the same time, too, an awful and heartshaking roar toldme that the main battle had closed in on the centre and extreme left. Iraised myself in my stirrups and looked down to my left; so far as theeye could see there was a long dazzling shimmer of steel as the sunglanced upon falling sword and thrusting spear.
To and fro swung the contending lines in that dread struggle, now givingway, now gaining a little in the mad yet ordered confusion of attackand defence. But it was as much as I could do to keep count of what washappening to our own wing; and, as for the moment the cavalry had fallenback under cover of Good's three squares, I had a fair view of this.
Nasta's wild swordsmen were now breaking in red waves against the sullenrock-like squares. Time after time did they yell out their war-cries,and hurl themselves furiously against the long triple ridges of spearpoints, only to be rolled back as billows are when they meet the cliff.
And so for four long hours the battle raged almost without a pause, andat the end of that time, if we had gained nothing we had lost nothing.Two attempts to turn our left flank by forcing a way through the wood bywhich it was protected had been defeated; and as yet Nasta's swordsmenhad, notwithstanding their desperate efforts, entirely failed to breakGood's three squares, though they had thinned their numbers by quite athird.
As for the chest of the arm
y where Sir Henry was with his staff andUmslopogaas, it had suffered dreadfully, but it had held its own withhonour, and the same may be said of our left battle.
At last the attacks slackened, and Sorais' army drew back, having, Ibegan to think, had enough of it. On this point, however, I was soonundeceived, for splitting up her cavalry into comparatively smallsquadrons, she charged us furiously with them, all along the line,and then once more sullenly rolled her tens of thousands of sword andspearmen down upon our weakened squares and squadrons; Sorais herselfdirecting the movement, as fearless as a lioness heading the mainattack. On they came like an avalanche--I saw her golden helm gleamingin the van--our counter charges of cavalry entirely failing to checktheir forward sweep. Now they had struck us, and our centre bent in likea bow beneath the weight of their rush--it parted, and had not the tenthousand men in reserve charged down to its support it must havebeen utterly destroyed. As for Good's three squares, they were sweptbackwards like boats upon an incoming tide, and the foremost one wasburst into and lost half its remaining men. But the effort was toofierce and terrible to last. Suddenly the battle came, as it were, to aturning-point, and for a minute or two stood still.
Then it began to move towards Sorais' camp. Just then, too, Nasta'sfierce and almost invincible highlanders, either because they weredisheartened by their losses or by way of a ruse, fell back, and theremains of Good's gallant squares, leaving the positions they had heldfor so many hours, cheered wildly, and rashly followed them down theslope, whereon the swarms of swordsmen turned to envelop them, and oncemore flung themselves upon them with a yell. Taken thus on every side,what remained of the first square was quickly destroyed, and I perceivedthat the second, in which I could see Good himself mounted on a largehorse, was on the point of annihilation. A few more minutes and it wasbroken, its streaming colours sank, and I lost sight of Good in theconfused and hideous slaughter that ensued.
Presently, however, a cream-coloured horse with a snow-white maneand tail burst from the ruins of the square and came rushing past meriderless and with wide streaming reins, and in it I recognized thecharger that Good had been riding. Then I hesitated no longer, buttaking with me half my effective cavalry force, which now amounted tobetween four and five thousand men, I commended myself to God, and,without waiting for orders, I charged straight down upon Nasta'sswordsmen. Seeing me coming, and being warned by the thunder of myhorses' hoofs, the majority of them faced round, and gave us a rightwarm welcome. Not an inch would they yield; in vain did we hack andtrample them down as we ploughed a broad red furrow through theirthousands; they seemed to re-arise by hundreds, driving their terriblesharp swords into our horses, or severing their hamstrings, and thenhacking the troopers who came to the ground with them almost intopieces. My horse was speedily killed under me, but luckily I had a freshone, my own favourite, a coal-black mare Nyleptha had given me, beingheld in reserve behind, and on this I afterwards mounted. Meanwhile Ihad to get along as best I could, for I was pretty well lost sight ofby my men in the mad confusion of the moment. My voice, of course, couldnot be heard in the midst of the clanging of steel and the shrieks ofrage and agony. Presently I found myself mixed up with the remnants ofthe square, which had formed round its leader Good, and was fightingdesperately for existence. I stumbled against somebody, and glancingdown, caught sight of Good's eyeglass. He had been beaten to his knee.Over him was a great fellow swinging a heavy sword. Somehow I managed torun the man through with the sime I had taken from the Masai whose handI had cut off; but as I did so, he dealt me a frightful blow on the leftside and breast with the sword, and though my chain shirt saved my life,I felt that I was badly hurt. For a minute I fell on to my hands andknees among the dead and dying, and turned sick and faint. When Icame to again I saw that Nasta's spearmen, or rather those of them whoremained, were retreating back across the stream, and that Good wasthere by me smiling sweetly.
'Near go that,' he shouted; 'but all's well that ends well.'
I assented, but I could not help feeling that it had not ended well forme. I was sorely hurt.
Just then we saw the smaller bodies of cavalry stationed on our extremeright and left, and which were now reinforced by the three thousandsabres which we had held in reserve, flash out like arrows from theirposts and fall upon the disordered flanks of Sorais' forces, and thatcharge decided the issue of the battle. In another minute or two theenemy was in slow and sullen retreat across the little stream, wherethey once more re-formed. Then came another lull, during which I managedto get a second horse, and received my orders to advance from Sir Henry,and then with one fierce deep-throated roar, with a waving of bannersand a wide flashing of steel, the remains of our army took the offensiveand began to sweep down, slowly indeed, but irresistibly from thepositions they had so gallantly held all day.
At last it was our turn to attack.
On we moved, over the piled-up masses of dead and dying, and wereapproaching the stream, when suddenly I perceived an extraordinarysight. Galloping wildly towards us, his arms tightly clasped around hishorse's neck, against which his blanched cheek was tightly pressed, wasa man arrayed in the full costume of a Zu-Vendi general, but in whom, ashe came nearer, I recognized none other than our lost Alphonse. It wasimpossible even then to mistake those curling mustachios. In a minute hewas tearing through our ranks and narrowly escaped being cut down, tillat last somebody caught his horse's bridle, and he was brought to mejust as a momentary halt occurred in our advance to allow what remainedof our shattered squares to form into line.
'Ah, monsieur,' he gasped out in a voice that was nearly inarticulatewith fright, 'grace to the sky, it is you! Ah, what I have endured!But you win, monsieur, you win; they fly, the laches. But listen,monsieur--I forget, it is no good; the Queen is to be murdered tomorrowat the first light in the palace of Milosis; her guards will leavetheir posts, and the priests are going to kill her. Ah yes! they littlethought it, but I was ensconced beneath a banner, and I heard it all.'
'What?' I said, horror-struck; 'what do you mean?'
'What I say, monsieur; that devil of a Nasta he went last night tosettle the affair with the Archbishop [Agon]. The guard will leave openthe little gate leading from the great stair and go away, and Nasta andAgon's priests will come in and kill her. Themselves they would not killher.'
'Come with me,' I said, and, shouting to the staff-officer next to me totake over the command, I snatched his bridle and galloped as hard as Icould for the spot, between a quarter and half a mile off, where I sawthe royal pennon flying, and where I knew that I should find Curtis ifhe were still alive. On we tore, our horses clearing heaps of dead anddying men, and splashing through pools of blood, on past the long brokenlines of spearmen to where, mounted on the white stallion Nyleptha hadsent to him as a parting gift, I saw Sir Henry's form towering above thegenerals who surrounded him.
Just as we reached him the advance began again. A bloody cloth was boundaround his head, but I saw that his eye was as bright and keen as ever.Beside him was old Umslopogaas, his axe red with blood, but lookingquite fresh and uninjured.
'What's wrong, Quatermain?' he shouted.
'Everything. There is a plot to murder the Queen tomorrow at dawn.Alphonse here, who has just escaped from Sorais, has overheard it all,'and I rapidly repeated to him what the Frenchman had told me.
Curtis' face turned deadly pale and his jaw dropped.
'At dawn,' he gasped, 'and it is now sunset; it dawns before four and weare nearly a hundred miles off--nine hours at the outside. What is to bedone?'
An idea entered into my head. 'Is that horse of yours fresh?' I said.
'Yes, I have only just got on to him--when my last was killed, and hehas been fed.'
'So is mine. Get off him, and let Umslopogaas mount; he can ride well.We will be at Milosis before dawn, or if we are not--well, we cannothelp it. No, no; it is impossible for you to leave now. You would beseen, and it would turn the fate of the battle. It is not half won yet.The soldiers would think you were maki
ng a bolt of it. Quick now.'
In a moment he was down, and at my bidding Umslopogaas sprang into theempty saddle.
'Now farewell,' I said. 'Send a thousand horsemen with remounts afterus in an hour if possible. Stay, despatch a general to the left wing totake over the command and explain my absence.'
'You will do your best to save her, Quatermain?' he said in a brokenvoice.
'Ay, that I will. Go on; you are being left behind.'
He cast one glance at us, and accompanied by his staff galloped off tojoin the advance, which by this time was fording the little brook thatnow ran red with the blood of the fallen.
As for Umslopogaas and myself, we left that dreadful field as arrowsleave a bow, and in a few minutes had passed right out of the sight ofslaughter, the smell of blood, and the turmoil and shouting, which onlycame to our ears as a faint, far-off roaring like the sound of distantbreakers.
CHAPTER XXI AWAY! AWAY!