CHAPTER XIV
The Dash for the Gun
ON returning to the walls the correspondent found that Hugh andGerald, alarmed by the detonation, had risen hastily from their beds,and were awaiting him at their post. Sir Jehan, with several of hisknights, was also present, while the streets were filled withpanic-stricken women and children.
"What is amiss, sir?" exclaimed Croixilia's ruler breathlessly.
"The Arabs are paying us back in our own coin, I'm afraid," repliedReeves. "They've brought up a fieldpiece, from goodness only knowswhere!"
As he spoke there was another dull report, and a second shell whizzedover the walls, bursting in the centre of the marketplace.
"That was considerably lower than the first shot," observed Reeves."They are trying the range. It will be a bad job hen they begin topound the walls; a few I I A houses won't matter so much, if thepeople clear out of them in time. The worst of it is, we areoutranged and cannot reply."
"What are they firing with?" asked Hugh.
"I can't say for certain, until one of the shells fails to explode;then I may find a clue. But I should not be surprised if it were aKrupp gun."
"A Krupp!" exclaimed Hugh. "How could they get hold of a gun of thatsort?"
"Unfortunately there are at least half a dozen derelict guns in theSahara. When the Egyptian armies under Hicks Pasha and Baker Pasha inthe 'eighties were wiped out, several of these weapons fell into thehands of the Arabs. Many were retaken in our subsequent campaigns,after they had been against us, worked by gun crews composed ofcaptured Gippy artillerymen. No doubt this is one that was notrecaptured."
"It's a pity it couldn't be recaptured now," said Gerald, as a thirdmissile missed the parapet by less than a foot, swept an unfortunatearcher from the wall, and fell in the middle of a deserted streetwithout exploding.
"It must be, if we are to get out of this mess," replied Reevesresolutely; and, turning to some of the men who were standing by, hetold them to fetch the shell, assuring them that if it were carefullyhandled no danger need be feared.
Presently the men returned, having accomplished their task. Reevestook the cylinder and examined it carefully. "As I thought--aseven-pounder Krupp," he remarked. "I wish we had earthworks insteadof this mass of stonework. We shall find ourselves sliding down amass of rubble before long I'm afraid."
"What is to be done?" asked Sir Jehan anxiously, as another shell,striking one of the flanking towers, knocked a hole in the masonrylarge enough to drive a camel through. "The walls will not stand theshock of these hell-designed missiles."
"We must endure it," replied Reeves calmly. "Even with a triplecharge of powder our guns could not carry as far. We must endure itbravely," he repeated, "until the night."
"And then?"
"I hope to lead a body of men to capture the gun."
Having found the range, the Arab gunners proceeded to pound away atthe same spot, their undoubted intention being to make a breach inthe walls and gain an entrance into the city by means of the mass ofrubble that threatened to bridge the wide moat completely. Seeingthis, Reeves suggested to Sir Jehan that the soldiers should beremoved from the immediate vicinity of the threatened wall, but atthe same time be kept ready to defend the breach should the enemyattempt to carry it by assault.
The overlord of Croixilia, instantly acted upon this idea, and inutter helplessness the defenders heard and saw their vaunted wallsbeing demolished by a persistent and well-directed shell fire.
Meanwhile Reeves set about finding volunteers for his hazardousenterprise, and when he had explained his plans there were plenty ofbrave men ready to bear their share in the sortie. Both Hugh andGerald asked to be allowed to accompany him, but Reeves gave a bluntrefusal. Finally he selected Garth and four others, all of whom hadalready proved themselves men of courage and resource during thefirst assault upon the walls.
The members of the forlorn hope were to ride as close to the Arabencampment as they could without much risk of discovery. Then theywere to dismount, one man being left in charge of the horses, andmake their way on foot up to the gun. Reeves explained carefully themechanism of the breech block, in case he should be disabled. Ifpossible, this all-important object was to be stealthily removed; ifnot, it was to be disabled by means of heavy blows with hammers.
The men were then to make their way back to the city as well as theywere able, covered by a fire from the walls.
"I've spoken to Sir Jehan, lads," said Reeves, addressing his twocharges. "If anything happens to me, he has promised by a solemn oathto do his best to send you into the protectorate of Nigeria, which,as far as I can make out, lies some seven hundred miles south-west ofCroixilia. The river we crossed flows into that territory I feelcertain."
"We hope nothing will happen to you," exclaimed both lads.
"So do I. If it does, it can't be helped. That gun must be silenced,or it will be all up with us within the next few days."
At sunset--the time of the Mohammedans' evening prayer--the firingceased. The damage done was tremendous. Sixteen hours' incessantcannonading had made a breach thirty feet in width in the walls. YetReeves felt certain that the Arabs would not attempt an assaultduring the hours of darkness.
The Englishman had taken leave of his friends, and was about to joinhis comrades on their desperate errand, when one of the knights, SirOliver Fayne, stood in his path.
"I have a request to make, sir," he said. "Five hundred well-armedand mounted men are drawn up without. May we not bear you company andthrow ourselves upon the infidels? In the melee that accursed gunmight be carried off into the city."
Reeves did not reply. Here was a new plan, which promised well.
"What if five hundred men are slain, so the city be saved?" continuedSir Oliver anxiously. "The honour of the State and the welfare of ourCreed demand the sacrifice. Deny me not, sir!"
"All right," replied Reeves. "But you've upset all my plans. I mustmake sure that everyone knows exactly what to do."
"Your plans need not be altered over-much," said the knight. "Weshall ride on ahead and charge into the Moslem camp. You will then befree to harness horses to the gun and bring it back."
Hastily conferring with Garth, Reeves soon amended his original plan,and a team of eight powerful horses was requisitioned to accompanythe original members of the desperate undertaking.
Shortly after midnight the drawbridge on the western side of the citywas slowly and cautiously lowered, the chains having been wrapped inoiled rags to prevent them creaking. Across this Sir Oliver Fayne'sfive hundred horsemen passed, then at a walking pace made towards thedistant camp, where the gleam of innumerable lights showed that manyof the Arabs were feasting in their tents.
Without so much as a horse neighing, the Croixilian cavalryapproached within two hundred yards of the Moslem camp, while Reevesand his comrades kept a short distance in the rear of the almostinvisible mass of horsemen. The night was dark, and only the outlinesof the tents served as a guide.
Suddenly a shot rang out from the enemy's lines, quickly followed byseveral more; but ere the echoes died away the ground shook under thehoofs of the charging cavalry, while the sound of the Arab volleyswas drowned by the fierce Shouts of the Croixilian horsemen.
Like a whirlwind they sped over the intervening plain. Cold steelclashed upon gun barrel, and pointed lance met scimitar and ox-hideshield. Slashing and hewing right and left, the dauntless fivehundred cut their way right through the centre of the Moslem camp,leaving the Krupp gun unattended save by the dead or sorely-woundedEgyptian gunners, who, under the fierce threats of their Arabmasters, had been urged forward to man the formidable weapon.
Quickly Reeves and his men were upon the gun. The limber was foundbarely twenty yards to the rear, and the horses were harnessed to itand brought up to the captured fieldpiece. After fumbling a little,the correspondent succeeded in connecting the trail to the guncarriage, and in less than five minutes the little band was on itsway back to the city.
No ne
ed for silence now. Amid the exultant cries of the garrison,who, armed with torches and lanterns, had flocked to the gate and tothe summit of the battlements, the captured trophy rumbled over thedrawbridge, and was unlimbered and trained through the still opengateway. To his intense satisfaction, Reeves found that there were atleast fifty rounds in the caissons. A shell was inserted in thebreech and the block cleared, and the weapon was ready to fire uponits late owners.
But what of the gallant five hundred? Away in the distance the roarof battle still continued, waxing louder every moment. Long andanxiously the watchers on the walls gazed towards the Moslem camp.Darkness now brooded over the town of tents, save for the quickflashes of musketry. The lamps had been extinguished, either by theArabs as they rushed to defend themselves, or else by the overturningof the tents.
"Here they come! Here they come!" shouted a hundred voices. "Keepopen the gates."
Into the glare of the torches rode a Croixilian horseman, leaningover the neck of his foam-flecked steed. Even as a dozen handsgripped at the bridle of the exhausted animal, its rider fell fromthe saddle, half-dead from the effects of five deep wounds. Then cameanother, and two more, all grievously hurt.
Nearer and nearer came the sound of conflict, till Croixilianhorsemen began to stream in through the gateway. Others, stillfighting, followed slowly, being hindered by the press at the gate.Several, gripping at the throats of their foes, tumbled over thedrawbridge. At length all those of the devoted five hundred who yetremained alive--barely one hundred and twenty all told--gained thecity, with a horde of fierce Moslems at their heels.
It was now too late to close the massive gates. Reeves sprang to theKrupp gun, but ere he could loose its contents into the press theponderous portcullis was lowered with a run, pinning half a score offanatical warriors beneath its formidable prongs.
Some thirty or forty Baggaras, armed with spears or double-handedswords, remained within the city. With shouts of "Allah it Allah!"they dashed upon the defenders--to slay or to be slain.
Short and fierce was the conflict inside the gate. Many ahauberk-clad man bit the dust under the almost irresistible sweep ofthose desert-forged weapons; but numbers prevailed, and ere long notone living Arab remained within the city.
Now the archers were free to pour their volleys of deadly arrowsthrough the bars of the portcullis into the surging throng without.Few of the Arabs had brought their cumbersome flintlocks with them,and even these could not be reloaded and fired in the press. Exceptfor a few spears, thrown with terrific force, the Mohammedan fanaticswere unable to reply. Galled from the walls, scourged by the arrowsfrom the gateway, they broke and fled.
A hoarse cheer broke from the Croixilian ranks; but the shout oftriumph was suddenly stilled by a voice shouting: "To the breach--the Moslems are upon us!"