CHAPTER IV
PRISONERS
There was but a short cessation of hostilities, and then from everybuilding round a blaze of musketry burst out. The men were at oncecalled down from the upper rooms, where there were no shutters, andplanted at the loopholes of those on the ground floor. "Don't throwaway a shot," was the order given to them; "keep well in shelter, andwhen you do fire take care that you bring down your man."
So the fight went on all day. The losses of the enemy were far greaterthan those of the garrison, but the men lost to the latter could be illspared.
"It is awful to think of the fate of those in the hospital," Nita said,when she took a hasty meal in the middle of the day with LieutenantCarter. "Four or five of them managed to get in here alive, the restmust have been massacred in cold blood."
"Do not fret over that, Nita; it may be the fate of all of us in a fewhours. We shall sell our lives dearly, but I cannot shut my eyes to thefact that the enemy are not far off a big rush. Then the doors willgive way, for we have no means of strengthening them; and as there aretwo entrances at the back as well as those in front, nothing but thereturn of the major can save us. There is no doubt that in spite oftheir losses the enemy are determined to capture the place. We have nowonly eighteen men left capable of firing a rifle, and they are fifty toone against us. It is of no use disguising it from ourselves. To-nightwill see the end of the fight."
"If it must be so, it must," Nita said quietly. "You don't think thatanyone is likely to see that I am a girl?"
"Certainly not; your disguise in that way is complete. Perhaps you hadbetter allow me to trim your hair as closely as I can to the masculinestyle. There is more chance for you and me than for the men, for it isjust possible that they may take us and carry us off as hostages. Thatmeans that they will keep us as slaves till they are attacked in suchforce that they may think it prudent to make terms. The chances areagainst it, but there is a possibility that it is the course they willtake."
"I would rather die than that," Nita said. "I might keep up my disguisefor a time, but they would be sure to detect it sooner or later. I darenot think of this."
"I don't believe that you would be detected, Nita. I should notpenetrate your disguise myself, and if I who know you cannot do so youmay well pass with these ruffians. You have plenty of spirit and mayvery well sustain your character."
"I shall blow my brains out before I am taken," she said passionately,"I have quite made up my mind to that."
"That must be your own choice," he said gravely. "While there is lifethere is hope, and sooner or later you may be restored to your friends.Sooner than later, I should guess, for you may be sure that when thenews of this massacre reaches the authorities they will lose no timein getting together a strong punitive expedition against the tribes,and as soon as they find that resistance is hopeless they will try tomake terms on the strength of any hostages that they may have in theirhands."
Nita shook her head. "It is all very well for you to give me hope,Charlie, but you know as well as I do that the chances are hundreds toone against us."
"NITA HAD ONE SHOT LEFT IN HER REVOLVER, AND SHEDIRECTED THIS AGAINST HER FOREHEAD"]
At night, as soon as it became dark, there was a tremendous rushagainst all four doors. "It is of no use, men," Carter said, in firmtones which rose above the din, "the doors will not hold out fiveminutes. We will assemble here and fight till the last. We have doneall that men can do, and I thank you for the way that you have stoodby me; but the odds are too great for us, and we have nothing to do nowexcept die like men. They will find that, handful as we are, we canaccount for a good many of them yet."
The men gathered in a ring, with Carter and Nita in the centre. Threeminutes later two crashes were heard, and the Afridis burst in. Theypaused a moment on seeing the compact little body waiting their attack,then with yells of triumph rushed at them. They were met with a streamof musketry, every shot of which took effect, and the crack of therevolvers of Carter and Nita added to the din. In vain the enemyendeavoured to break the circle. Then they betook themselves to theirmuskets. The ground was speedily piled with dead, but numbers graduallyprevailed. The little ring of defenders grew smaller and smaller, andat last, when but six men were standing, the enemy burst into thecircle. There was wild fighting for a minute, bayonets against swordand spear, but gradually the din ceased.
Carter was one of the last to fall. Nita had one shot left in herrevolver and directed this against her forehead. But at the moment whenshe was about to draw the trigger she was felled to the ground by ablow from the butt-end of a musket. Then the Afridis, seeing that allwas over, scattered for plunder, leaving the bodies of the slain wherethey lay.
Daybreak dawned, and Nita opened her eyes. She saw that Carter,herself, and two others had been removed from the heap of slain andplaced by themselves. She closed her eyes again with a shudder, andyet with a feeling of relief. The removal of the three men as well asherself must have been the result of an examination of the slain, and,like herself, the other three must have been found breathing. Her headached as if it would split, and she lay for a long time without moving.Then two men, who were evidently chiefs, came up and examined them.
There was some discussion between them, and then Carter and anotherwere taken away, and she and the remaining man, who was one of thenative officers, were also carried out. The wounds of the four wereall roughly bandaged, and then Carter and his companion were taken upby four natives and borne away. Nita remained for another hour. Bythis time the fort had been completely ransacked. Then she and hercompanion were also placed on stretchers and carried out of the fort,which was at once set on fire in a dozen places. Some water was giventhem, and the tribe then started off. Nita lay with her eyes closed allday, scarcely able even to think, for her head throbbed as if it wouldsplit. They travelled fast and did not halt till nightfall. Then shewas given a piece of dry bread and a little water. She made an effortto eat, but it was useless; she drank most of the water, however, andsoaked her handkerchief in the rest, and placed it on her head, andmanaged at last to doze off to sleep. In the morning she felt better.The chief then came up and spoke to her. She shook her head, and hewent away, and presently returned with one of the tribesmen who hadserved in a Punjaubi regiment.
"Who are you?" he asked, and in that language, which Nita could speakfairly well.
"I am an officer in the regiment," she said, "and am a relation of themajor who commanded the fort." The man translated this to his leader,who looked pleased.
"Tell him that he will be my servant," he said, "and will be welltreated if he gives no trouble, but if he attempts to escape he will beshot at once."
This was translated to Nita. Then he went on: "You are very young to bean officer, you are no more than a boy."
"I am young," Nita replied, "but when one has a major for a relationone can get a commission at a much younger age than one otherwisewould."
"Here are some peaches;" he said, "you will eat them better thanbread."
"Thank you very much!" Nita replied.
"You have nothing the matter with you," the chief went on, "exceptthat you have a big swelling at the back of your head. I suppose youwere knocked down by a musket. It is fortunate for you that you weresupposed to be dead at the time, for the men would not have spared youafter the loss that you had inflicted upon us. By the time we foundthat you were alive their passion had died down, and I was able to showthem that you and the other three might be much more useful alive thandead."
"Is my friend the other officer seriously hurt?" Nita asked.
"Yes, he's badly wounded, but I think that he will recover, and alsothe other two." So saying, he turned off and went away.
Nita felt most grateful for the peaches. She gave a couple of themto the havildar, who evidently needed them even more than she did.Then she sat down and ate her own slowly, the sweet juice cooling herparched tongue, and even the pain in her head
seemed to abate somewhat.Half an hour later the tribe again set off. They ascended two steeppasses, and at the end of the sixth day halted in a small valley.There were several villages scattered about, and every foot of theground was cultivated. They were greeted with shouts of welcome by theinhabitants who flocked out; but soon cries and lamentations mingledwith the cheering, from women whose husbands had not returned. These,however, soon retired to their homes to grieve in solitude, whilethe others went on with their dances of triumph, and the tribesmenscattered to their own villages.
In the centre of the valley stood a strongly-fortified house, and tothis the prisoners were taken. That day Nita had been strong enough towalk, and the pain in her head had abated, though the pressure of hercap still hurt her. The chief's wife, who walked beside her husband,glanced at the prisoners, and was evidently by no means pleased attheir being quartered upon her, but when the chief explained that theywould both be slaves at her service she looked mollified. They weretaken to a small room in an upper story. Then she gave Nita a largejug and signified to her that she was to draw water from the streamthat ran through the valley. Anxious to please the woman who was to beher mistress she fulfilled the mission, although feeling very tiredwith her walk. The woman seemed more gracious when Nita returned withher burden. While she had been away the chief had explained to herthe value of the captives, and that he should either get a large sumfor restoring them to their friends, or might use them to arrest theprogress of a large party of troops sent against him.
"Only to think," she said, as Nita went wearily upstairs, "that thatslight boy should be an officer! Why, with us it is the bravest andstrongest men who are the chiefs. How can they expect to fight againstus, when they are led by boys like that? I could twist him round myfinger."
"The ways of the English are unaccountable," the chief said. "He is, asyou say, but a boy, though he and another officer, not much bigger thanhim, with only fifty men, have killed nearly three hundred of us. Notone offered to surrender, and they fought to the last. These two, andtwo others who have gone with the Orokzais, were the only ones foundbreathing when we examined the dead. They are strange people these men,but they are men, and these fought like lions. If they had offered tosurrender we would have given them their lives, and carried them offas captives. It is a good thing to have a certain number of prisonersin our hands, for then we can always make peace with their countrymen.But it was not to be. This little garrison were determined to die, andthey did die. However, both their officers are in our hands. Treat themwell, wife. It will pay us to do so. I rather like that fair-hairedboy; he has shown himself very patient and plucky, and himselfvolunteered to walk instead of being carried to-day. I think you willfind him very willing and cheerful."
"He had better be," she said savagely. "As to his being cheerful, Icare not for it one way or the other; but if he is not willing, he willsoon get a taste of my stick."
"I should advise you not to try it. I was in the room in the last fightand saw how steadily and straight he shot. Certainly fourteen or so ofour men fell at his hands, and I would have saved him then if I couldhave done so, for never did I see a lad fight so stoutly. He fired asdeliberately as if he were aiming at a mark. His eyes shone strangely,and he cheered on his men to the end. I am sure that if you strike himhe is capable of doing you harm, at whatever cost to himself."
The woman muttered to herself. She was evidently impressed with herhusbands warning, and also with the glance Nita had given her whenordered to fetch water. "Can he cook?" she said. "One of our womenhas died since you have been away, and I have all the work on my ownshoulders."
"I am not sure if he knows anything of cooking," the chief replied,"but you can teach him, and he will not be long in picking it up. Now Iwill show you the things that I have brought you home."
The sight of the various articles of spoil completely mollified thewoman. There was a large copper cooking-pot and two small ones. Therewere some clothes that Nita recognized as belonging to Carter, alooking-glass, a dozen knives and forks, and a meat-chopper, all ofthem precious things indeed in an Afridi village. Besides this, outsidethere were a dozen cattle and some forty sheep, the chief's share ofthe animals picked up at various villages in the neighbourhood ofDarlinger. The chief's wife was specially delighted with the mirror,and, fixing it against the wall, she stood admiring herself for a longtime, twisting her head from side to side and grimacing with such anair of affectation that it was as much as Nita could do to refrain frombreaking into a scream of laughter.
"This is all my own," she said at last, turning to the chief; "yourother two wives have nothing to do with it, and are not even to lookinto it unless I give them permission?"
The chief nodded gravely. The other two wives had, while this was goingon, been occupied with domestic duties and in bringing in the variousgoods. Nita made up her mind at once that they had a very bad time andwere little better than slaves.
As the chief left the hut his wife turned to Nita. "Go and help theothers," she said.
Nita understood her action though not her words, and with a shrug ofher shoulders went to help the other women. Presently a large bowlof rice slightly flavoured with condiment was brought in. The chief,who had returned, sat gravely down by himself to eat it. When he hadfinished, his head wife seated herself and took her share. After shewas satisfied the other women sat down together.
Nita hesitated, but she had now recovered her appetite and sat downquietly with them. Instead, however, of grabbing handful after handful,as did the others, she took as much as she wanted, placed it on theground in front of her, and quietly began to eat it.
The head wife laughed derisively and made some remark to her husband,but the chief was evidently not pleased and spoke sternly to her, andNita guessed that he said she was a valuable captive, and being anofficer must be fairly treated. It was, of course, all important thatif a British army entered the valley the prisoners should give a goodaccount of their treatment while captive there. The woman was, withoutdoubt, cowed. The Afridis use their sticks freely on their wives,and it was evident that although a tyrant in the house she stood inwholesome fear of her husband.
The chief moved across the hut, took down an earthenware plate,and placed it before Nita, who let him see by her manner that sheappreciated his act of kindness. He further signified by gesture thatshe might regard this plate as her own and use it upon all occasions.
When the meal was over, Nita assisted to tidy up the room, then wentdown with a large earthenware jug to the stream and brought it backfull of water. She had not been ordered to do this, and the womannodded to her more kindly than she had hitherto done, seeing that thecaptive was ready to make herself useful.
After doing this Nita returned to her room. It was now nearly dark. Shewent and chatted to the native officer, bathed his wound, and gave himsome of the food that she had put by for him.
"Don't get well sooner than you can help," she said; "the woman of thehouse is a vixen of the worst kind, and will set you to work the momentyou are able to crawl about. Her husband is disposed to be friendly. Ithink I frightened the woman. Of course, she would not have understoodanything I said, but I am sure my manner showed her that it wouldn't besafe to touch me."
Nita went down early in the morning. The mistress of the house had notyet appeared, but the two women were hard at work grinding meal. Nitawent at once to their assistance. She was clumsy at the work, and hershare was very inconsiderable. Still, the women were grateful. Nitacould not understand all that they said, but by the way they patted heron the back and shook their fists menacingly at the room where the headwife was sleeping, it was apparent that they hated her with a deadlyhatred, and recognized in Nita a friend animated by the same feelingsas themselves.
Matters went on quietly for some little time. Nita set to work to pickup the language, and as their oppressor evidently thought that shecould make more use of the prisoner if she understood what she saidshe threw no impediment in the way, and she suffered Nita to
chatfreely with the others while they were at work. She even went so faras to admit to her husband that the prisoner was very willing to work,and understood what she wanted done. Still, the fact that her husbandhad placed Nita to some extent beyond her power galled her, and shefrequently indulged in violent ejaculations and threats. She was themore furious because Nita received her upbraidings with quiet contemptand did not appear even to hear her. She would many a time have struckher, but was, in truth, a little afraid of Nita, and was convinced thatdid she attempt to do so "the lad" would, regardless of consequences,return the blow with interest.