Chapter 14. How I Used My Cartridges

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_ CHAPTER FOURTEEN. HOW I USED MY CARTRIDGES

It was a strange experience for one who had come fresh from a home life; and in the intervals of tiring I could not help wondering whether it was not all a dream. The reality, however, forced itself on me too strongly as the light went on, the spaces about the stones being literally littered with battered bullets which had assumed all kinds of strange shapes after coming in contact with the stones--flat, mushroom-shaped, twisted, the conical points struck off diagonally, and the like; but we were so sheltered that if the Boers fired low we were unhurt, and if they fired high their shots went over among comrades. Signals were now made from above and below, with the result that the attacking party coming down the pass divided, to line the sides of the place as far as they could, so that their shots crossed our defences, and the attacking party from below followed their old tactics; thus our defences were swept by a cross-fire, and fewer Boers fell by the bullets of their friends. But these movements on the part of the Boers had brought them better within range of our pieces, for they were more exposed upon climbing up the slopes; and I had plain evidence of the loss they sustained.

At last night began to fall, and the firing of the attacking force, dropped off. It was plain that the Boers were retiring, possibly disheartened by their heavy losses. Then, soon after dark, lights began to appear, just out of range, both up and down the pass; but it was probable that the fight would be resumed as soon as it was daylight again.

Two-thirds of the men were now set at liberty to take what rest and refreshment they could, the remaining third being upon sentry-duty, ready to give the alarm should a night attack be attempted; but of this there was little probability.

Taking advantage of not being on sentry-duty, I made my way to the niche in the mountain-side which had been taken for hospital purposes, and here found Denham rolled up in a horseman's cloak and sleeping peacefully. I felt his forehead gently, and then his wrists and hands, to find all cool and comfortable; but I knew I must not wake him. Just then a figure close by stirred, and I started, for a voice said, "He's asleep."

"Yes, I know," I replied; "but has he been awake?"

"Yes; an hour ago."

"How did he seem?" I asked.

"Said it hurt him a deal, just as if his ribs were broken. Ah! he doesn't know what pain is."

"Do you?" I said.

"Rather!" said the man. "One of their bullets went right through my thigh just about six inches below my hip. That is pain. It's just as if a red-hot iron was being pushed through."

"Can I get anything for you?" I said.

"No," was the gruff reply; "unless you can get me a heap of patience to bear all this pain."

I tried to say a few comforting words to him, but they only seemed to irritate.

"Don't," he said peevishly. "I know you want to be kind, my lad; but I'm not myself now, and it only makes me feel mad. There, thank ye for it all; but please go before I say something ungrateful."

I crept away and tried to find the doctor who was with the corps; but he was busy with his wounded men, of whom he had about twenty. Giving up the satisfaction of getting his report about the young Lieutenant, I went to where Sandho was picketed with the rest, and stood by his head for about half-an-hour, petting and caressing him, before going back towards the rough breastwork--partly natural, partly artificial--which served as a shelter from the bullets.

I soon came upon one of the sentries, who challenged me; but he made room for me beside him after a few words had passed.

"Oh yes," he said, "you can stay here if you like; but why don't you go and lie down till you have to relieve guard?"

"Because I feel too excited to sleep," I replied.

"Humph! Yes, it has been warm work," said the sentry; "but I suppose we shall get used to it. I'm excited; but I feel as if I'd give anything to lie down for an hour."

"Well, lie down," I said. "I'll keep watch for you."

"You will?" he said joyfully. "No, no; I'm not going to break down like that. Don't say any more about it. It's like tempting a man. Here, I say," he whispered eagerly, "how quiet they are! You don't think they're going to make a night attack--do you?"

"No," I said; "it's not likely. What good could they do when they couldn't see to shoot?"

"None, of course. It's not as if they were soldiers with bayonets. The only thing they could do would be to stampede the horses."

"What!" I whispered excitedly. "Oh, I say, don't talk like that."

"Only a bit of an idea that came into my head. Don't see anything--do you?"

"Nothing," I replied. "It's dark; but there's a curious transparent look about the night, and I think we should see any one directly if he were advancing."

"How? I don't see that's at all likely."

"If any one passed along it would be like a shadow crossing the grey stones. They look quite grey in the starlight."

"Well, yes, they do," he said; "and--I say, what's that?"

He pointed towards the Boers' camp-fires, and, startled by his tone, I looked eagerly in the direction pointed out; but there were the piles of grey stones looking dull and shadowy, but no sign to me of anything else.

"Fancy," I said.

"No. Just as you spoke I saw something dark go across one of the stones. Shall I fire?"

"Certainly not. It would be alarming every one for nothing. We talked about seeing things pass the grey stones, and that made you think you saw some one."

"Perhaps so," he said thoughtfully. "Anyhow, there's nothing here now. I say, that seems to have woke me up."

"It would," I said; and then I crouched a little lower, shading my eyes from the starlight and keenly sweeping the chaotic wilderness of rocks again and again, but seeing nothing.

I heard, though, the steps of the sentry away to my left, and soon after a faint cough to my right sounded quite loudly.

"It wouldn't have done for you to have gone to sleep with me taking your place, for I suppose some officer will be visiting the posts before very long, and then you'd have been found out if I hadn't woke you in time."

I said this in a low tone not much above a whisper, in case any one was going the rounds; but he did not take any notice.

"It wouldn't have done, you know," I said.

There was a low, heavy sighing breath, which made me start in wonder, and then turn towards my companion, to find that his rifle was resting against the stone, and that he had sunk sidewise against another and was fast asleep.

"Completely fagged out," I said to myself, with a feeling of pity for him. "He did fight bravely against it; but the drowsiness was too much for him."

One moment I felt ready to take hold of his arm and shake him, but I did not. I was there with his rifle ready to my hand, and if I kept his watch, perhaps only for a few minutes, he would wake up again, refreshed and better able to keep it till he was relieved.

"It often is so," I said to myself. "One drops asleep after dinner, and then wakes up ready to go for any length of time. It's being a good comrade to the poor fellow," I thought; and, picking up his rifle, I took over his duty just as if it were my own, keeping my eyes wandering over the dark grey stones in front, and sweeping the whole space. Then my breath suddenly felt as if checked in my surprise, for about thirty yards away, as near as I could guess, there was a dark shadow passing one of the great blocks.

"Fancy," I said to myself as soon as I could recover from my surprise; and, treating myself as I had treated my fellow-trooper, I mentally declared I had thought about it till I seemed to see it.

"It's all imagination," I said again; and then I lowered the rifle I held, a thrill running through me as I distinctly saw the dark shadow again, but nearer than before. This time I was certain it was not imagination. A figure--enemy or no--was cautiously stealing towards our lines! My first impulse was to fire at the figure and give the alarm; but on second thoughts I hesitated to go to such an extreme. Fixing my eyes upon the dark, shadowy form, I cocked my rifle, and called hoarsely upon whoever it was to stop.

"Ah! No shoot, no shoot," cried a familiar voice.

"Joeboy!" I exclaimed.

"Um!" was the reply; and, to my astonishment, the black came hurrying towards me, bending under a load which stuck out curiously from his sides and back.

"Why, what have you been doing out there?"

"Been get all these," he said as he forced his way between a couple of stones, which caught his bulky load and checked him for a few moments.

"You idiot!" I said in a low tone, for I was afraid now that I had alarmed the sentries on either side; but though Joeboy's load on one side bumped against my companion sentry, he was so utterly wearied out that he did not stir.

"Um? Idiot?" said Joeboy. "Boss Val going to be hungry. Joeboy hungry. Been to get all these."

"What are they--forage-bags?"

"Um!" he said.

"But where did you get them--whose are they?"

"Doppies'. All in a heap. Brought them all along."

A little further questioning made it all clear--that under cover of the darkness the plucky fellow had crept up the valley, taking advantage of the shelter afforded by the stones, passed the lines of the Boers, and hunted about till he came upon something worth having in the shape of a pile of canvas forage-bags containing the men's provender, which they had left together and in charge of a sentinel, so as to be unencumbered in their attack upon us.

"But what about the sentry?" I said suspiciously.

"Um? Fast asleep," said Joeboy.

"What! all the time you were loading yourself with these bags?"

"Um!"

"You did not send him to sleep, did you?" I said suspiciously.

"Um? Killum?"

"Yes."

"No," said Joeboy coolly. "Didn't wake up. Lot more couldn't carry. Plenty to eat now."

"Then you actually went foraging up there, and got back safely with this load?"

"Um!" said Joeboy. "Boss Val must have plenty to eat. Doppies nearly caught um."

"So I should expect," I said. "But you nearly got shot, stealing up to the lines like this."

He laughed softly.

"Boss Val wouldn't shoot Joeboy. Doppies nearly ketch him. Big lot coming down now."

"What!" I said excitedly. "Some of them coming down?"

"Um! Big lot coming down to fight."

I began to grasp now that after all there was some night expedition on the way, and that the pile of haversacks Joeboy had found had been deposited there to leave the men free and unfettered.

"Look here," I said sharply; "are you sure that the Doppies are coming down?"

"Um! Great big lot."

"Here, you," I whispered, "wake up!" and I shook and shook the sentry roughly, making him spring up and make a snatch at his rifle.

"Thank ye," he said. "I say, I was nearly dropping off to sleep."

"Very," I said dryly; "but keep awake now. My man here has just brought in news that the enemy are coming on down the pass."

"What--for a night-attack?"

"Yes."

"The beasts!" he cried, and he raised his rifle to fire and give the alarm.

"No, no," I said; "don't fire unless you see them. I'll go and give the alarm. Stand fast till reinforcements come.--Here, Joeboy, bring your load into camp."

I led the way straight to the Colonel, being challenged twice before I reached the side where he, in company with his officers, lay sleeping in their horsemen's heavy cloaks.

All sprang up at once, and each started to rouse his following, with the result that in a few minutes the whole force was under arms and divided in two bodies to join the line of sentries who paced up and down the pass.

It was only now I became aware of the Colonel's plan of strategy, which was to defend the position as long as seemed wise, and then for each line to fold back, making the pivot of the movements the ends of the lines by the niche in the hillside where the horses were sheltered. Then, on the performance of this evolution, there would be a double line facing outward for the defence of the horses, in a position enormously strong from the impossibility of there being any attack from flanks or rear.

So far we had no news of any attack threatening from the Boers who held the lower part of the pass; but scouts had been sent out in that direction to get in touch with the enemy, and their return was anxiously awaited where the men were in position; but the minutes glided by in the midst of a profound silence, and I began to feel a doubt about the correctness of Joeboy's announcement.

I was in the centre of the line which would receive the shock of the descending Boers, and Joeboy had stationed himself behind me as soon as he had bestowed his plunder in safety; and at last, as there was no sound to indicate that the enemy was on the move, I began to grow terribly impatient, feeling as I did that before long the Colonel and his officers would be reproaching me for giving a false alarm.

"Are you quite sure, Joeboy?" I whispered, turning to him where he squatted with assagai in hand and his shield spread across his knees.

"Um?" he whispered. "Yes, quite sure. Come soon."

They did not come soon, and I grew more and more excited and angry; but I refrained from questioning the black any more, feeling as I did the uselessness of that course, and being unwilling to bring down upon myself the reproof of the officers for talking at a time when the order had been passed for strict silence, so that the Boers might meet with a complete surprise.

It seemed to me that an hour had passed, during which I stood behind the natural breastwork of a stone upon which my rifle rested, gazing straight away up the pass, and straining my sense of hearing to catch something to suggest that the enemy was in motion; but there was not a sound in the grim and desolate gap between the hills, and my beating heart sank lower and lower as I glanced back at Joeboy, who reached towards me.

"Doppy long time," he said, hardly above his breath.

"They won't come," I whispered back angrily. "You fancied it all."

"Um?"

"You fancied it all. They would not come on in the night."

"Boss Val wait a bit. Come soon."

"Ugh!" I ejaculated; and a voice somewhere near whispered, "Silence in the ranks!" The command was needed, for a low murmur was beginning to make itself heard.

All was still again directly after, and the time glided slowly on again, till that which I expected came suddenly; for I heard the trampling of feet behind me in the darkness, and a voice whispered, "Where's that new recruit Moray?"

"I am here, sir," I said.

"Quick! the Colonel wants you."

I left my post, and another man stepped into my place, while I followed the sergeant who had summoned me.

"I say, young fellow," he said, "you're in for a bullying. The Colonel's horribly wild about your false alarm. Are you sure the Doppies were coming on?"

I told him what I had learned, and that I had felt obliged to report it.

"Humph! Yes, of course; but it's a great pity, when the men wanted rest."

The next minute I was facing the Colonel in the middle of the pass, where he stood with a group of the officers, about half-way between the two lines of men facing up and down, but lying so close that they were only visible here and there.

"Oh, here you are, young fellow!" were the words that saluted me, spoken in a low, angry whisper. "Now then, where are these two attacking parties of Boers?"

"I only reported that one was coming, sir--one descending the pass."

"Very well; you shall have credit for only one, then. Well, where is it?"

"I can't say, sir," I replied. "I was warned of it by my native servant."

"Then just go back and flog your native servant till you have given him a lesson against spreading false alarms to rob tired men of their rest. It is perfectly abominable--just when we want all our strength for the work in hand for us to-morrow."

"I'm very sorry, sir," I said.

"Sorry? What must I be, then? I can't fight unless I have plenty to eat and as much sleep as I can get. There, get back to your post. I wish to goodness you had stopped at home or joined the Boers, or done something else with yourself, instead of coming and giving this confounded false alarm. Be off.--Here, call in the men again, and--Yes, what now?"

"Enemy coming up the pass in great strength, sir," said one of the scouts, who had come breathlessly back.

"What!" said the Colonel in a hurried whisper. "Could you make them out?"

"Yes, sir; two or three hundred, I should say."

"You got near enough to see?"

"I couldn't see much, sir; but I could hear. They seemed to spread right across from the side I was on."

"Here, you, Moray," said the Colonel, turning to me, for at this announcement I had stood fast. "Get back to your post; and I beg your pardon.--Yes; who are you?"--for another scout came in to endorse the words of the first. He had scouted down the other side of the widening pass, and according to his report the enemy could not be a quarter of a mile away.

"Thank goodness!" said the Colonel fervently. "Mr Moray, I spoke in haste and disappointment. Now then, gentlemen, perfect silence, please. I believe we shall hear some signal from below, and that is what the party above are waiting for. Then they will attack simultaneously, to give us a surprise, and we're going to surprise them. Every one to his post, please; and then, at their first rush, let it be volleys and slow falling back, so as to keep them from breaking our too open formation."

The next minute every man was in his place, and the pass so dark and still that it was impossible to believe that a terrible conflict was so close at hand. As I stood waiting and listening for the enemy's order to attack, I could feel my heart go _throb, throb, throb, throb_, so hard that I seemed to be hearing it at the same time making a dull echo in my brain.

Still there was no sign; and at last I began to go over my brief interview with the Colonel, and to wonder whether he would turn now upon the two scouts and charge them with having deceived themselves, for according to their report the enemy ought to have been upon us long before. I had got to this point when all at once I felt an arm upon my shoulder, and could just make out at the side and front of my face a big hand pointing forward towards the stones a hundred feet away.

"Um!" whispered Joeboy, with his lips close to my ear. "See um now. Big lots."

"I can see nothing," I whispered.

"Joeboy can. Lie down ready. Boss Val going to shoot?"

"When I get the order," I said softly, and my heart beat more heavily than ever, for I felt now that the black must be right. I had had for years past proofs of the wonderful power of his sight, and had not a doubt that, though they were invisible to me, a large body of the enemy were clustering among the stones ready for the assault upon our position.

Then I heard from somewhere below a faint, rushing, whistling sound, as of a firework, followed by a crack, and the white stars of a rocket lit up the sides of the pass and made the stones in front visible in a soft glare. The next instant from front and rear, almost simultaneously, there were flashes and a scattered roar, while the sides of the pass took up the reports, forming a deafening roll of thunder running down towards the plain.

Before this was half-over there was the rush of men before us, the stones and the spaces between seeming to be alive with running and leaping Boers, shouting and cheering like mad as they came on, their purpose being to scare us and frighten the horses into a stampede, which, if it had followed, must have been equally fatal to their comrades attacking from the rear as it would have been to us; but, instead of the enemy being gratified by hearing the clattering of hundreds of hoofs, they were received by a series of sharp volleys proceeding from our two lines of men. These were so inadequately returned that the officers in the rear ran to and fro bidding us stand firm and keep up the fire, no attempt being made to fall back towards the gap where the horses were tethered.

Those were tremendously exciting minutes, and in the confusion, the crack of the rifles, and the reverberations, I hardly know what I did, except that I kept on firing without taking aim, for the simple reason that there was nothing visible in the smoke and darkness unless one had tried to aim at a spot from whence flashes came; and as the men attacking us were constantly on the move, that would have been useless.

I found afterwards, on talking to the men above me, that they had behaved in precisely the same way as I did--they kept on firing; while all were in constant expectation of having to club their rifles to beat back the enemy should they come on with a rush.

However, we never came to close quarters that night; for, failing in sweeping our men back in the first surprise, the enemy drew off a short distance till all were well under cover, and then kept up their fire, each party of the enemy seeming utterly regardless of the risk to their own comrades beyond us.

In the midst of the roar and reverberation I was startled by a hand laid upon my shoulder, and, turning sharply, I found the sergeant by my side.

"Fall back," he said; and as I obeyed I thrust my hand to my cartridge-belt so as to reload, when, to my utter astonishment, I found it was two-thirds empty. This was soon remedied; for, as we--that is to say, about half the defenders of the upper side of our stronghold--stood fast, non-commissioned officers came running along and thrust packets of cartridges into our hands.

It was, as I have said, very dark; but I could just manage to see beneath the canopy of smoke which rose slowly that half the lower line of defenders had fallen back. Directly after, we were all hurried to the front of the great niche and ordered to man the rocks there in front of the horses.

While settling ourselves in every advantageous position we could find, the firing went on as briskly as ever, the Boers blazing away at our two lines of men, who replied as fast as they could load; and, as far as I could tell by the sound, the fusillade did not slacken.

Then I began to understand what was about to happen, and could not help laughing to myself when I saw the part of our line we had left firing suddenly come hurrying in, to pass through an opening in our ranks; and no sooner were they safe than the lower line fell back and came running into the shelter, to join up with the others.

As soon as these detachments were out of the way we had orders to fire four cartridges each, half of us firing as well up the pass as possible, the other half to fire as far downwards as they could. After these four rounds each we were to cease firing: this was, of course, to prevent the Boers from noticing that our fire had slackened and then ceased; and it answered exactly as the Colonel had intended, for the bull-headed and obstinate enemy went on for the next half-hour firing away at the stones where we had been, each side believing that a portion of the reports and echoes were caused by our firing, and all the time our men stood laughing and enjoying the blunder, and pretty sure that the enemy must be bringing down some of their own comrades. Whether the enemy found this out at last, or were dissatisfied at not being able to silence our fire, I don't know; but suddenly there was another train of sparks rushing up through the smoke, and the bursting of a rocket far on high, sending down a dingy bluish light through the overhanging cloud. Then the firing stopped as if by magic.

Instantly every man was on the _qui vive_, the front of the niche bristling with rifles ready to deliver volley after volley as soon as the rush we all expected began; but we waited in vain. When skirmishers were sent out to feel their way cautiously in the darkness, through which the smoke was slowly rising, we still waited and listened, expecting to hear them fired upon; but again we waited in vain. Both parties of the enemy had retired for the night; and, as soon as the Colonel was satisfied of this, the necessary advance-posts were sent out and stationed, and the men then ordered to lie down on their arms and get what sleep they could. _

Read next: Chapter 15. The Sergeant's Wound

Read previous: Chapter 13. Realities Of War

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