Blue Lights: Hot Work in the Soudan

  CHAPTER ELEVEN.

  NEW AND SAD MINGLED WITH CURIOUS EXPERIENCES.

  At Suez Miles Milton first made acquaintance with the shady side of war.

  Before the commanding officer, after parade next morning, they receivedmarching orders, and kit-muster followed. In the afternoon the_Loch-Ard_ steamer came in from Suakim, with sick, wounded, andinvalids, and a large party was told off to assist in landing them andtheir baggage. Miles was one of the party. The dock where the vessellay was three miles off, and the greater part of this distance theinvalids were brought by train; but the latter part of the journey hadto be done on foot by those who could walk, and on stretchers by thosewho could not.

  Oh! it was pitiful to see those battered, sunburnt, bloodless young men,with deep lines of suffering on their faces, aged before their time, andthe mere wrecks of what they once were. Men who had gone to that regionstrong, active, ruddy, enthusiastic, and who, after a few months,returned thus feeble and shattered--some irreparably so; others withperhaps years of joyless life before them; a few with the unmistakablestamp of death already on their brows.

  There were about forty altogether. Some, as we have said, were carriedfrom the vessel, and not one of the forlorn band could get on withoutthe assistance of their fresh comrades from England.

  One tall, deep-chested young soldier, who must have been a splendidspecimen of manhood when he landed in Egypt, was supported on one sideby Miles, and on the other by Stevenson.

  "Halt a moment," said the invalid, in a weak voice and with anapologetic smile. "I--I can't get along quite as fast as I used to."

  His trembling legs and bowed back did not require the tongue or thelarge sunken eyes to confirm that obvious truth.

  "Poor fellow!" said Miles--with difficulty, owing to the lump in histhroat--"you ought to have had a stretcher. Here, sit down a bit onthis stone. Have you been wounded?"

  "Ay," returned the man with a look of quiet resignation that seemed tohave become habitual to him, "I have been wounded, but not by spear orbullet. It's the climate that has done for me. I used to think thatnothing under the sun could quell me, but the Lord has seen fit to bringdown my pride in that matter. At the same time, it's only fair to saythat He has also raised me up, and given me greater blessings than Hehas taken away. They told me in Portsmouth that He would, and it hascome true."

  "At the Institute?" asked Stevenson, eagerly.

  "Ay--the Soldiers' Institute," answered the invalid.

  "God bless you!" returned the marine, grasping his hand. "It was thereI was brought to God myself. Cheer up, brother! You'll soon be inhospital, where good food an' physic an' nursing will bring you round,may-hap, an' make you as ship-shape as ever."

  "It may be so, if He wills it so," returned the trooper softly; "but Ihave a little book called `Our Warfare,' and a letter from the`Soldier's Friend' in my pocket, which has done me more good than allthe hospitals and physic in Egypt can do. Come, let us go on. I'mbetter now."

  Rising and putting a long arm round the shoulders of each of his newfriends, the trooper slowly brought up the rear of the touchingprocession which had already passed them on its way to Suez.

  In the vessel which had brought those unfortunate men from Suakim, Milesand his comrades soon found themselves advancing down that region ofsweltering heat called the Red Sea. The sight of the disabled men hadnaturally, at first, a depressing effect on the men; but the influenceof robust health, youth, strong hope, and that light-hearted couragewhich makes the British soldier so formidable to his foes, soon restoredto most of them their wonted free-and-easy enjoyment of the present anddisregard for the future. Even the serving out of cholera-belts andpocket-filters failed to allay their exuberant spirits.

  The _Loch-Ard_, although doubtless a good ship for carrying coals, wasvery ill-suited to convey troops. But in times of war, and in distantlands, soldiers lay their account with roughing it.

  They soon found that a little of the physic which is supposed to be"rough on rats" would have been of advantage; for the very first nightmany of the men were awakened by those creatures nibbling at their toes!Everything on board was dirty: the tin pannikins were rusty, thebiscuit was mouldy and full of creatures that the captain called weevilsand Macleod styled wee-deevils. Some of the biscuit was so bad that ithad to be thrown away, and the remainder eaten, as Moses said, withclosed eyes!

  "It's an ill wind that blaws naebody guid," said Macleod to Moses Pyne,as he came on deck to enjoy a pipe after their first dinner on board."What d'ee think that queer cratur Flynn is doin' doon below?"

  "Nothing very useful, I daresay," said Moses.

  "Ye're wrang for ance. He's lyin' in ambush there, makin' war on therats--ay, an' he's killed twa or three a'ready!"

  "You don't say so! I'll go and see the fun."

  So saying Moses went below, but had just reached the foot of the ladderwhen a boot caught him violently on the shins.

  "Hi! hallo! ho!" shouted Moses.

  "Och! git out o' the line o' fire wid ye! There's another!" growledFlynn, as he fired a second boot, which whizzed past the intruder, and asharp squeak told that it had not been fired in vain!

  Moses beat a hasty retreat, and the Irishman continued the fight withthat indomitable perseverance for which his countrymen are famous.There is no saying how long the action would have lasted, but in hisenergy he knocked away the support of a shelf behind him and a smallcask of large nails, taking him in rear, sent him sprawling on the deckand routed him.

  This misadventure did not, however, terminate the war. On the contrary,rat-hunting became a favourite pastime during the voyage down the RedSea. Our hero, of course, took his turn at the fighting, but we believethat he never received a medal for his share in that war.

  They spent one Sunday on the deep, but the only record made of it, inthe journal of the soldier from which most of our facts are gathered, isthat they "had prayers in racing style--against time!"

  As if to cleanse themselves from the impropriety of this act thesoldiers had a grand washing of clothes on the following day, and theday after that they arrived at Suakim.

  "It is what I call a dreary, dismal-looking town," said Miles toArmstrong, as they approached.

  "Might be worse," replied his friend.

  "Ye aye tak a cheery view o' things, Airmstrong."

  "An' what for no?" asked Sutherland.

  "You may well ask why not," said Sergeant Hardy. "I think it wisest tolook always on the bright side of things."

  "Whether it's dreary or pleasant we'll have to make the best we can ofit, boys," said Stevenson; "for this is to be our home for some time tocome."

  "Horrible!" growled Simkin, whose spirit was essentially rebellious.

  "Ochone!" sighed Flynn, who, we need scarcely say, was essentiallyjolly.

  Further remark was cut short by the voice of Captain Lacey ordering themen to fall in, as the colonel in command was coming on board to inspectthem.

  The night of the arrival of the 310th was dreadfully hot, insomuch thatmany of the men found it impossible to sleep. But in the silence ofthat night food for reflection was supplied to the wakeful, in the formof sounds that were new to many, but soon became familiar to all--namely, the boom of big guns and the rattle of musketry. Osman Dignawas making one of his customary attacks on the town, and the defenderswere repelling him. Of course the sanguine among the new arrivals weremuch excited, and eager to join in the fray; but their services were notrequired that night. Osman and his dusky hordes were being repulsed asusual, and the reinforcements were obliged to content themselves withmerely listening to the sounds of war.