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Charge! - A Story of Briton and Boer, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 17. We Make A Discovery |
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_ CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. WE MAKE A DISCOVERY "Oh, I don't like it; I don't like it," cried Denham to me, as he rode up to my side while we were cantering over the veldt one day. "We always seem to be running away." "Manoeuvring," I said, with a laugh. "Oh, hang so much manoeuvring!" he muttered. "The Boers set it all down to cowardice, and hold us in contempt." "It doesn't matter what they think," I said, as we rode on over the splendid open highland, with the brisk bracing air whistling past our ears, and our horses seeming thoroughly to enjoy the run; "we've shown the enemy time after time that we are not cowards." "But we're running away again; we're running away again." "Nonsense," I said; "we're altering our position. I declare I'm getting to be a better soldier than you are. Would it be right to stand fast here and let the Boers surround us and lie snugly behind the rocks to take careful aim and shoot us all down, horse and man?" "Oh, I suppose not," groaned my companion; "but I hate--I loathe-- running away from these bullet-headed double-Dutchmen. They think it so cowardly." "Let them, in their ignorance," I said. "It seems to me far more cowardly to hide one's self behind a stone and bring down with a rifle a man who can't reach them." "Perhaps so. But where are we making for?" "That clump of rocks right out yonder, that looks like a town." "But they're making for that too," said Denham, shading his eyes by pulling down the rim of his soft felt hat. "Yes," I said; "and there's another body behind us, and one on each flank. We're surrounded." "Then why doesn't the Colonel call a halt and let us stand shoulder to shoulder and fight it out with the ring?" "Because he wants to save all our lives, I suppose." "'He who fights and runs away will live to fight another day,'" said Denham, with a bitter sneer. "Oh, I'm sick of it. Look here; those brutes of Boers will reach that great kopje first, drop amongst the stones, and shoot us all down just when we get there with our horses pumped out." "Yes," I said, "if you keep on talking instead of nursing your horse." "Are you aware that I am your officer?" he cried angrily. "Quite," I replied; "but I was talking to my friend." "Friend be hanged!" he snapped out. "Keep your place." "I am keeping my place," I said--"knee to knee with you; and our horses are going as if they were harnessed together. I say, what a race!" "Yes, it's splendid," said Denham excitedly. "Oh, how I wish the brutes would stand fast and let us charge right into them--through them--cut them to pieces, or ride them down! I feel strung up for anything now." I nodded at him, and panted out something about his knowing that the enemy would not stand for a charge. It was exciting. By accident, of course, in following out certain instructions from the General in command, to take a certain course and cut off a commando of the Boers, we had somehow managed to get into an awkward position, no less than four strong bodies of the enemy hemming us in. There was nothing for our commander to do but make for the nearest shelter, and this presented itself in the distance in the shape of what looked like one of the regular piles of granite rocks, which, if we reached it first, we could hold against the enemy, however greatly they outnumbered us; though even then it seemed plain enough that they were far more than ten to one. "Shall we do it?" said Denham as we rode on, having increased our pace to a gallop. "Yes," I said; "I don't think there's a doubt of it now. We're on better ground, and they're getting among rocks." "The flanks are closing in fast," said Denham. "Yes; but we shall be out of the jaws of the trap before it closes," I said, "and we're leaving the last lot behind fast." "Oh," said Denham between his teeth, "if we can only get time to hurry the horses into shelter and give the enemy one good volley before they sneak off!" "Well, it looks as if we shall. But look! look!" I said excitedly; "that's not a kopje." "What is it, then?" "A town, with a fort and walls. We're riding into a solid trap, I'm afraid." "Nonsense; there's no town out here." "But look for yourself," I said excitedly. "It's a fort, and occupied. I can see men on the walls." "Impossible. There's no fort or town anywhere out here." "I tell you I can see plainly," I said stubbornly, for I had in those days capital eyes, well trained by hunting expeditions to seeing great distances. "I tell you you can't," cried Denham. "I can, and that's what the Boers are doing. They're driving us into a trap, and that troop that has been racing us is fighting to get here first so as to cut us off when we find out our mistake and try to get away." "I say, are you talking foolishness or common-sense?" said Denham. "Common-sense," I replied; "the sort that nobody likes to believe." "If you are we're galloping into a horrible mess; the Colonel ought to be told. Yes, I'm beginning to think you're right. Ah! I can see the people there. They're manning that tower in the middle; I can just make them out. Val, lad, your horse is faster than mine. You must try and drop out, or spin forward, or do something to get to the Colonel's side and tell him what you can see." I made no reply, but rode on stride for stride with my companion; but I kept my eyes fixed upon the strange-looking rocks and edifices in front, and made no effort to change my position. "Did you hear what I said?" cried Denham. "Yes, I heard," I replied. "But how is it to be done?" "Don't ask me how it's to be done," he said angrily; "do it." "There's no need," I said; "the enemy is scuttling off as fast as he can go." "Retreating?" "Seems like it. Why, Denham, can't you see?" "See? No! What? Speak out, before it's too late." "Look again," I said, laughing. "It's a troop of baboons." "What!" cried Denham. "Well, of all the absurd things! So it is." There was no doubt about the matter, and five minutes' gallop brought us close up to where a mob of two or three hundred of the fierce and hardy half-doglike creatures were racing about over the rocks, after leaving the walls and battlements of the great buildings in front of us, and leaping higher and higher amongst the rocks of the great clump which stood like an island in the midst of a dried-up sea. There was no time for natural-history studies of the ape. The squadron of Boers we had been racing to get first to the ruins--as we now saw them to be--were only far enough off to afford us time to pull up, spring from our horses at the foot of a huge wall, and, from our steady position, give the advancing enemy a volley with such good effect that over a dozen saddles were emptied, and the whole body wheeled round and dashed off to join the rest of the advancing force. This gave us a few minutes' respite, during which the horses were rapidly led into shelter by half our party, who found a way through the great wall; while the other half rapidly manned wall, rock, and tower, ready to receive the enemy with a steady fire, which they were not likely to stand, for in every direction now the veldt stretched away, bare of such cover as our enemies loved to use. It was close work, and the Boers swept round right and left to attack us in the rear. Our men were, however, too quick for them; and, climbing higher, knots of them reached the highest portions of the rocks beyond the ruins, and opened fire upon the enemy, so that in a short time our assailants drew back to a distance, but kept their formation of four parties. As soon as they were beyond range, we could see three men from each of three bodies gallop off to join the fourth, evidently to hold a council of war concerning their next movements. This afforded us time to make something of an examination of the stronghold so opportunely offered as a refuge, and gave the Colonel an opportunity for taking the best advantage of our position. The ruined buildings had undoubtedly been constructed for purposes of defence; and, to every one's intense delight, on passing through an opening in what proved to be a solid cyclopean wall, strengthened with tower-like edifices, there was a wide courtyard-like enclosure, quite beyond the reach of bullets, into which our horses were led, the walls themselves being of ample width to be manned, and with sufficient shelter from which our marksmen could command the whole kopje; and on these walls about fifty of our men were stationed. "We're safe enough here from any attack they can make," said the Colonel. "What we have to fear is the want of water and provisions if they try to invest us." Which they would not do, was the opinion of all who heard his words. We had our haversacks pretty well lined, and each man had, of course, his water-bottle; but the possibility of being held up for over twenty-four hours was enough to make the Colonel give orders for an examination of the ruins and the rocks of the kopje around, to see if water could be found. To Denham was given the task of making the search, and he nodded to me to accompany him, and afterwards called to Sergeant Briggs, who eagerly came to our side. "We're to go upon a foraging expedition, Briggs," said Denham, "in case we want food and water." "Well, it won't take much looking to prove that there isn't a mouthful of food to be got here, sir," said the Sergeant, "unless we take to shooting some of those pretty creatures hiding amongst the stones. They're as big as sheep, but I should want to be more'n usually hungry before I had a leg or a wing." "Ugh!" shuddered Denham. "I'd sooner eat hyena." "Well, no, sir; I won't go as far as that," said the Sergeant. "As to water," said Denham; "this has been a city at some time, so there must have been wells somewhere, for no river has ever been hereabout in the plain." "Wells or tanks, no doubt, sir, if we can find them," said the Sergeant; "but I expect we shall find they have been filled up or covered by the stones that have crumbled down from these towers and walls." "What a place to build a city in, out in the middle of this wide veldt!" I remarked. "It's more a fort or castle than the ruins of a city," said Denham. "It's a puzzle, and it must be very, very old; but I say bless the people who built the place, for it's a regular haven of refuge for us. Why, we could hold these old walls against the whole Boer army." "Two of 'em, sir, if we'd got anything to eat." "And drink," I added. "Yes," said Denham. "That's the weak point; but there must be a big well somewhere, and we've got to find it." "I believe the horses would find it, sir, if we led one about--a thirsty one. They're good ones to smell out water when they want it." "Well, we'll try one if we can't find it without," said Denham. "Come on." We "came on," searching about in the inside of the place, while the outer works and the rocks were held by our troops; and after carefully examining the enclosure where the horses stood looking rather disconsolate, as they snuffed at the chaotic heaps of broken and crumbling stones, we passed through what must have been a gateway built for defence. The sides of this gateway were wonderfully sharp and square, and the peculiarity of the opening was, that it opened at once upon a huge blank wall not above six feet away, completely screening the entrance to the great court, and going off to right and left. So that, instead of going straight on to explore the exterior of the court, we had the choice of proceeding along one of two narrow passages open to the sky, but winding away just as if the court had originally been built with two walls for an enemy to batter down before they could reach the centre. No enemy had battered down these walls, not even the outer one. Time had been at work on the upper part some thirty or forty feet above our heads, where many stones had been loosened and others had fallen; but the greater part of the walls stood just as they had been built by the workmen when the world was much younger, possibly two or three thousand years ago. Had time permitted, I for one should have liked to wander about and climb here and there, and try to build up in imagination a theory as to what race or age the old builders of the place belonged. "It's a puzzle," said Denham, in answer to a remark of mine; "but they were not of the same race or kind of people as the tribes of niggers who have lived here since, and who have never built anything better than a kraal. But look here, Val; we mustn't stop mooning over old history; we've got to find water for the horses, and there must be some about, for people couldn't have lived here without." I roused myself at once to my task, and we struck off to the left, walking and climbing over blocks of stone which had dropped in from the outer wall and encumbered the narrow passage, every now and then being saluted by one of the men, who, rifle in hand, was perched on high, watching the Boers, and ready, as Denham put it, to administer a blue pill to any one impudent enough to come too close. After getting along for about a hundred feet we came to a big opening on our right--a wide gap where the huge stone wall had been broken down by man or through some convulsion of nature, and now forming a rugged slope full of steps, by which our men had mounted on either side of the opening to the top, where, as stated, they had ample space for moving and shelter from the enemy's bullets. "What are you looking for?" said one of the troopers from the top. "There's no one here." "Water," said the Sergeant gruffly. "Then you'll have to wait till it rains," said the sentry. "Humph! we shall see about that," said Denham in a low tone, intended for my ears only; and we climbed on over a heap of debris, at the top of which we had a good view outward to where one of the Boer parties had dismounted and were resting their horses before retiring or making another attack. Upon descending the farther side of the heap of broken stones, there was a continuation of the open passage, always about six feet wide, but winding probably in following the course of the rock upon which the place was built, so that we could not at any time look far along the passage. "This doesn't seem like the way to find water," said Denham. "One never knows," I said. "Let's see where the passage leads to." "Of course; but it seems waste of time. The old city, or temple, or whatever it was, must have been built with two walls for security, and I dare say once upon a time it was covered in so as to form a broad rampart." "Right!" I said eagerly, and pointed forward. For we had just come in sight, at a bend, of a spot where great stones were laid across from wall to wall; and on passing under them we found our way encumbered beyond by numbers of similar blocks, some of which seemed to have crumbled away in the middle till they broke in two and then dropped. "Oh yes," said Denham, in reply to a remark, "it's very interesting, of course, but we're not ruin-grubbers. I dare say the place was built in the year 1; and the knowing old codgers who understand these things would tell us that the people who built the place had dolly something, or square heads; but we want to find out which was the market-place where they kept the town-pump." "And as the pump is most probably worn out," I said laughingly, "we'll be content with the well." "Oh, if we find the well the pump-handle's sure to be at the bottom, and--Hullo! what have we got here?" I shared my companion's wonder, for upon rounding a curve of the passage we came upon an opening in the great stones of the inner wall--an opening that was wonderfully perfect, being covered in by the cross-stones, which were in place over the passage where the doorway showed. "Dark," I said as I passed in. "No; only just here. There's another wall, and quite a narrow passage not above three feet wide, and then it's light again." "Let's look," said Denham. "Stop a minute, though. Don't go in, or you may drop down some hole. Here, I'll strike a light." The next minute a little match was lighting up the narrow place, with the wall close in front and then a passage going off to the right. "Why, it's like Hampton Court Maze done in stone," said Denham. "But there, what did I say? Look at that hole." He pitched the remains of the burning match to the right, and it dropped down out of sight, lighting up the narrow way and then going out. "That's the well, I believe," I said. "Let well alone," replied Denham. "We don't want to tumble down there.--I say, Briggs, pick up that bit of stone, and reach in and pitch it down." The sergeant rested his rifle against the wall, picked up a block of stone, and reaching in, threw it to his left so accurately, by good chance, that it must have dropped right in the middle of the opening and gone down clear for some distance before it struck against stone, and then rebounded and struck again, rumbling and rolling down for some distance before it stopped. "Cheerful sort of place to have gone down," said Denham. "Tell you what; that's the way down to the wine-cellars. The old races were rare people for cultivating the grape and making wine." "I believe it's the way down to the vaults where they buried their dead," I said. "Ugh! Horrid," cried my companion. "Here, let's light another match." He struck one, held it low, and stepped in and then to his right, and stood at the very edge of a hole in the rough floor of crumbled stone. Then, to my horror, the light flashed in the air as if it was being passed through it rapidly. Then Denham spoke. "It's all right," he said. "You can step across. It's only about three feet over. Wait till I've lit another match. Yes," he said as the light flashed up, "it's just as wide as it is across. I believe that originally the place was quite dark, and this hole was a pitfall for the enemies who attacked. There, come on." It was easy enough to spring over, and the next minute Briggs followed, and we continued our way down a narrow passage whose roof was open to the sky at the end of a couple of dozen yards, so that there was no risk of our stumbling upon a pitfall; and, after passing along this passage for a time in a curve, we came upon what seemed to be its termination in a doorway, still pretty square, but whose top was so low that we had to stoop to enter a kind of building or room of a peculiar shape, wider at one end than at the other, in which there was a rough erection; while at one corner, some ten yards away, there was another doorway leading, probably, to another passage. "Why, it must be a temple," I said, "and that built-up place was the altar." "Does look like it," said Denham thoughtfully. "You gentlemen know best, I dessay," said the Sergeant; "but it strikes me that this here was a palace, and the bit we're in was kitchen." "Nonsense," said Denham. "It was a temple, and that was the altar." "Wouldn't want a chimbley to a temple, would they, sir?" "Chimney?" I said. "Where?" "Yonder, sir. Goes back a bit, and then turns up. You can see the light shining down." "Yes," I said, as we stepped close up to the supposed altar; "that must have been a chimney." "That's right enough," said Denham sharply. "Burnt sacrifices, of course. This place was covered in once, and that chimney was to carry off the smoke. But there, let's get on. We're not finding water. Is it dark through this doorway?" Inspection proved that it was rather dark; but the absence of stones in the roof enabled us to see our way without a match. At the end of ten feet of narrow passage, whose floor was very much scored and broken up, there was a square opening similar to that which we had passed before entering the so-called temple. "I shouldn't be surprised if that hole communicates with the first," I said. "Pretty well sure to," said Denham. "Here, sergeant, fetch one of those square bits of stone that lay by the other." Briggs stepped back, and returned with a curious-looking and roughly squared piece of stone, handing it to Denham for throwing down; but as he took it I checked him. "Don't throw that," I said; "it has been chiselled out, and is curious. It may show who the people were that did all this." "Humph! Maybe," said Denham. "Take it back, Sergeant, and bring us another." Briggs went back and fetched another block. "This here's the same, sir," he said, "and cut out deeper, as if to fit on something." "Yes, that's more perfect," I said. "Throw the first one down." "Seems a pity," said Denham, looking first at one block and then the other. "They are curious; why, they look as if some one had tried to chisel out a hand-barrow on a flat piece of stone." "Yes, sir," said Briggs gruffly, "or one o' them skates' eggs we used to find on the seashore at home in Mount's Bay." "Look here," I said, kicking at the flooring and loosening a shaley piece of stone about as big as my hand; "I'll throw this down." I pitched the piece into the darkness below, and we listened for it to strike, but listened in vain for a few seconds, and then: _Plosh_! "Water!" I cried. "Why, we've found the well." "Hurrah!" cried Denham; "well done us!" and he stepped back to where I had kicked out the piece of broken stone, and was about to throw another piece down, when, as the light from above fell upon it, I snatched it from his hand. "Don't do that," he cried angrily. "I want to judge how deep the place is." "Don't throw that," I said huskily. "Why not?" "It isn't a well." "What is it, then?" "Look at this piece of stone," I said, and I held the under part upward so that the light fell upon two or three scale-like grains and a few fine yellowish-green threads which ran through it. "It's an ancient mine, and this is gold." "Right!" cried Denham excitedly. "Then that old place back there with the chimney is the old smelting-furnace." "Right you are, gentlemen," cried Briggs, slapping his thigh; "and I know what those two hand-barrow stones are. I've seen one like 'em before." "What?" I said eagerly. "Moulds, sir, as the old people used to pour the melted stuff in. They used to do it near my old home in Cornwall, only the metal there was tin." _ |
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