CHAPTER II
ATTACKED
"Have you got another uniform, Charlie?" the girl asked on thefollowing evening.
"Certainly I have," Carter answered in some surprise.
"Well, I wish you would send it over here."
"Send it over here, Miss Ackworth! What on earth do you want it for?"
"Well, it is this. It is as well to be prepared for all contingencies.I certainly do not mean to be carried away, if the fort should becaptured, and made the slave of some Afridi chief. If I find thingsgoing badly I shall run back here and put on the uniform, cut my hairoff short, and then go out and fight till the last. It would be athousand times better to be killed fighting than to be captured."
"Certainly it would," the young officer said gravely; "it would be ahard lot for a woman to be carried off a captive by these Afridis."
"Very well, then, you will lend me a uniform?"
"Yes I will, Miss Ackworth, but I should advise you to keep the lastbullet in your revolver for yourself."
"I mean to," she said, "but something might happen; I might fallseriously wounded and be unable to use it, and then, if they found melying wounded, they would fire a bullet into me and so finish me."
"God forbid that it should come to that!" he said, "though it is aswell to make provision against it. I am now quite of your opinion thatthere is a possibility of our being attacked. For the last two daysmany of the villagers have abandoned their homes and cleared off. Theremust be some reason for this, and the only one that I can see is thatthe men are aware that we are going to be attacked. They have no groundfor complaint against us, we have always paid for everything that wehave had of them. There has been no enforced labour, and we have everyreason for supposing that they are well content to have us establishedhere, as the fort would be a protection in case of an Afridi raid.This move on their part certainly is ominous. Should we be driven fromour walls, which, I hope, will not take place, I suppose that we mustrally in the mess-house and make our last stand there. The walls aresolid, and I have this morning set some of the men, who know somethingof carpentering, to work at once to make thick shutters for all thewindows and to store the house with provisions. I think we could make astout defence there."
"I think it is a very good plan, Charlie; a bugle call would bring allthe men down from the walls in no time. There are no buildings round,and the enemy would have to attack us across the open; I believe ifonly twenty men get there in safety we ought to be able to drive themoff."
"We will have a good try for it, anyhow," the young lieutenant said;"they will know that the major will not be many days before he is back,and after one or two sharp repulses they may deem it expedient to moveoff, lest they should find the tables turned upon them. You are rathera bloodthirsty little person, Miss Ackworth!"
"Do you think so? I hope not. I know very well that if we are attackedit will be a very serious matter, and I fear there will be great lossof life. But I do think that if they made a trifling attack, and drewoff, I should enjoy the excitement. I most certainly hope that therewill not be any regular attacks. Still, if there are, I fancy that Ishould, in a sort of way, enjoy them. It would be very wrong, I have nodoubt, but I don't think that I could help it."
"I think that is the way with all soldiers, Miss Ackworth. They mayfeel nervous before action, but when they are once engaged they loseall sense of fear, and their great anxiety is to get hand to hand withthe enemy. If it were not for that feeling, I fancy that very fewattacks would ever succeed. The man who deliberately said to himself,'No one could live under such a storm of bullets as this', would not belikely to march steadily through it."
"It is a funny thing, isn't it, that men should be so fond of fighting?"
"It is; I have wondered over it many a time. All savage races lovefighting, and certainly our own people do. If there were a great war,hundreds and thousands of men would volunteer at once. I am afraidthis instinct brings us very near the savage. I think no other nationpossesses it to anything like the same extent as the British race. TheGermans are fine soldiers and fight well, but they do it purely becausethey are commanded and have to obey. The Frenchmen are nearly the same,and I think it is something like this with the Russians. The Turk, now,is a thorough good fighter, and with him it is a matter of religiousfanaticism. It is curious that our Indian subjects, for the most part,go into battle with the same feelings as do our own people. There areno finer fighters in the world than the Sikhs, the Punjaubis, and theGhoorkhas. They are all magnificent, but are equalled in Africa bythe Hausas and other tribes from whom we draw our soldiers. All thesepeople go into a fray as if they were going to a feast."
"I expect," Nita said, "it is because we have that feeling that wealways win our battles."
"No doubt that is so, and I only hope that the feeling will not beknocked out of us by school-boards and other contrivances of that sort."
Nita shook her head. This was beyond her. "Why should it do so?" sheasked.
"The school-board trains up the boys to despise their fathers'callings. I am afraid they all want to go into shops, or to get somesmall clerkship, and to struggle, in fact, for anything where they canwear black clothes instead of fustian. Still, I hope they won't losethe courage that our race has always possessed. At any rate a verylarge number of young fellows who have been to board schools becomeVolunteers afterwards, and I thoroughly believe that the Volunteerswould turn out as one man if we had a very serious war, say, withFrance or Germany."
"That would be a serious war," Nita said. "Those nations havetremendous armies, so I have heard my father say."
"They have; but they are, in my opinion, _too_ tremendous. If they wereto fight in solid masses they would be literally swept away. If theyfought in the open order, which is now the rule with us, the battlewould extend over such an area that no general in the world couldhandle an army covering such an enormous space. I should say that froma hundred to a hundred and fifty thousand is the greatest body thatcould be efficiently worked under one command. I don't think the Frenchare ever likely to fight us. The way the Fashoda affair was settledseems to show that their rulers are very adverse to plunging into warwith us. When we fought them at the beginning of the century we had apopulation of five or six million, while the French had six times thatnumber. Now our British Islands have something like forty million, andare every day increasing, while the French are stationary, if not goingback. Besides, if there were a big war, I believe that the colonistswould, if we were hardly pushed, send us half a million fighting-men.Between us and Germany the matter is different. They are enteringthe field as our commercial rivals, and they fret that we shouldhold almost all the land in the world where a white man can work. Iexcept, of course, North America. The Germans are uneasy in themselves.Democracy is making great strides, and the time may well come when aGerman Emperor may be driven to quarrel with us in order to preventcivil war at home. At present, however, the power of the emperor issupreme. Germany is adding to her navy, for without a powerful navythey could not hope to get into contact with us; but while they buildone war-ship we can build three, so that we need not fear our supremacyat sea being threatened save by an alliance between France and Germanyand Russia, an alliance which there is little fear of coming about, forthe Germans hate the Russians and the Russians hate the Germans. Youmight as well think of an alliance between a dog, a cat, and a rat, asthat those three Powers should pull together. No, the next war, whenit comes, may be between us and Russia; and as it is certain that thelittle Japs would join us, I think that between us we should makethings pretty hot for her. There, Miss Ackworth, I have been giving youa sort of lecture on the politics of the world. I hope that you did notfind it dull."
"Certainly not," Nita said. "I am very much obliged to you. Of course,I have heard these things talked over before, but never in such a waythat I could exactly understand them. It seems funny to be discussingsuch matters up here on the frontier with
the chance of being attackedevery hour."
"Well, I must go my rounds. Good-night, Miss Ackworth! I hope yoursleep will not be disturbed."
"I hope not, indeed," the girl said; "I have slept soundly every nightso far. There has been so much to arrange and work out that I go off assoon as I lay my head upon the pillow."
Four hours later she sat suddenly up in bed. It was certainly arifle-shot that she heard. This was followed almost instantaneously bya heavy roar of musketry. "It has come!" she exclaimed as she leaptout of bed and hurriedly dressed herself. She paused a moment as shelooked at the suit of uniform, and then muttering "There will be timeenough for that later on", she proceeded to put on her own clothes. Sheslipped a handful of cartridges into her pocket, and with her revolverin her hand sallied out. It seemed to her that the place was attackedon all sides at once, for flashes of fire spat out round the wholecircle of the walls; but this was as nothing to the roar outside. Bythe sound, she assured herself that the main attack was directed on thegate, and here the fire of the defenders was also exceptionally heavy.She made her way up to the top of the wall. Here she found the greaterpart of the men who had been in reserve, although some of them had, asarranged, hurried to other threatened points.
"Take steady aim, men, take steady aim!" Lieutenant Carter shouted.This told her where he was stationed, and she made her way to him. Whenhis eye fell on her he said, "You ought not to be here, Miss Ackworth.If things were going badly with us I should say nothing against it;but at present, at any rate, you have no business here, and I must askyou to retire at once. What do you suppose the major would say if, onhis return, he found that you had been killed by a chance shot on thewalls? I must really beg of you to descend at once."
Never before had Nita heard the young lieutenant speak in such a toneof command and determination. "All right!" she said meekly; "just letme have one peep over the wall and then I will go down."
"You may take just one peep, but there is nothing to see. They havefailed in the expectation that they would take us by surprise. Atpresent they are lying down and using up their ammunition."
Nita took a hasty glance over the parapet, and then, descending thesteps, made her way to the bungalow, which it had been decided hadbetter be used for the wounded, as it was a bullet-proof building,although less well ventilated and comfortable than the hospital wouldhave been. She set to work to light the lanterns ranged along the wall,to get out bandages, and to prepare for the reception of the wounded.Two of the men had been told off to assist her, and these were alreadythere when she arrived. It was not long before the first patient wasbrought in. He had been severely wounded in the head while firing overthe parapet. Nita shuddered, but, putting on a thick white canvas apronwhich she had made on the previous day, began her work. The surgeonhad unfortunately gone with the expedition, and she felt that theresponsibility was a heavy one. She knew a little of bandaging, havingbeen present when the doctor had given some lectures to the officers onthe subject, but this was a case altogether beyond her. She could onlybathe the man's head and then put a loose bandage round it. She gavehim a drink of water and then sat suddenly down on the next bed, faintand sick. She held out her hand to one of the men for a glass of water,drank it up, and then with a great effort got on to her feet again, andwaited for the next patient.
Five or six more men were brought in during the night. All had been hiteither in the head or shoulder; some of them, however, were only gashedin the cheek, and these, as soon as their wounds were bandaged, took uptheir rifles and went off again to the wall. So the night passed; thefire had slackened a good deal, and it was evident that the Afridis hadabandoned the idea of taking the fort by assault. Although it was twoo'clock when the attack had begun, the night seemed endless to Nita,and she was grateful indeed when the first tinge of daylight appearedin the east. Presently Carter arrived. "You have done well indeed, MissAckworth," he said, "and have been far more useful than you could havebeen on the wall. It required a deal of nerve to carry out your work,and your looks show what a strain it has been. I beg that you will goand lie down for a time. Half the men have come down from the wall, anda good many of them are adepts in the art of bandaging wounds, havingbeen enlisted among fighting tribes. Your bandaging has been reallyeffective, but these men will make a neater job of it."
"SHE SUDDENLY SAT DOWN ON THE NEXT BED, FAINT AND SICK"]
"How are things going on?" she asked.
"Very well. They have fallen back now to the mosque and village, and nodoubt will spend the morning in consultation."
"You have not fired off the barrels, then?"
"Oh no! I shall keep that as a pill for them when matters become moreserious. Now please go and lie down. Of course if there is a freshattack you will get up and come out again."
Nita walked slowly across the yard to her room. "Why are my legs soridiculously weak?" she said to herself; "I am sure that I have notbeen afraid, and as to the work of bandaging those poor fellows, itwas nothing. I suppose it was the sight of blood, and having to waitso long for something to do. I am sure that I should have borne itten times better if Mr. Carter had allowed me to remain on the wall.I should not have thought that I could have been overruled by what hesaid, but he spoke so sternly and sharply that I felt that I must obeyhim. I would not have believed that Charlie could have spoken so. Ishall not be so quick in forming my opinion about people again. I thinkI spoke of him as 'stupid' when father said he was to take me downcountry, but I see that there is nothing stupid about him. He is veryquiet, certainly, but he takes the command as if he had been accustomedto it all his life. I am quite certain that if anyone can defendthis place he can. How silly of me! I forgot to ask him what was thestrength of the force attacking us. However, that will keep till I getup."
So saying, she lay down on the bed, dressed as she was, and in twominutes was fast asleep. It was eleven o'clock when she woke. "I didnot think that I should have slept five minutes," she said indignantlyto herself; "here I have had nearly six hours." She dipped her face inwater, brushed her hair, and made herself as tidy as possible. When shewent out Lieutenant Carter was talking to the two native officers; shewaited till they both saluted and retired, then she went up to him."Please tell me a little more about it, Mr. Carter. How many are thereof the attackers? What do you think they are going to do? Did you killmany of them?"
"Three questions at once," he said with a smile, "and to none of themcan I give you a satisfactory answer. In the first place, they arevery strong; we have put them down as having fifteen hundred men. Asto their intention, I can tell you nothing yet, for there has been nodevelopment. Thirdly, I think that we must have killed fifty at theirfirst rush at the gate; but that is pure surmise, for they carried offthe bodies as fast as they fell. I am waiting somewhat eagerly to seewhat their next move will be. We have heard outbursts of yells twicein the last hour, and I expect that we shall soon see the result."
"It is long odds," the girl said.
"Very long," answered the lieutenant; "for there is no doubt thatit is a preconcerted thing. An attack was made on that outlyingpost, a considerable distance from the fort, and probably only withthe intention of getting our garrison to march away, while all theassembled tribes came down upon us, feeling, no doubt, that with thebenefit of a surprise, and knowing how small our garrison must be, itwould be carried at the first rush. Now that that has failed they will,no doubt, adopt some quite different tactics. I have had the men atwork ever since daybreak, piling up sacks full of earth against thegate to within two or three feet of the top, where I have made someloopholes, so that our men can lie down on the sacks and keep up aheavy fire. That is all that I can do at present, until we see whatgame they mean to play."
"That is capital," the girl said; "if they make a real attack, that isthe position where I shall place myself. There will be no chance of mybeing hit there, and at that distance I could calculate on bringingdown an enemy at every shot."
"I am afraid that you are a very wilful young per
son," he said with asmile; "but as I know how good a shot you are, I shall not refuse youraid in case of extremity."