CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
LETTERS FROM HOME--FLYNN IS EXALTED AND BROUGHT LOW--RUMOURS OF WAR INTHE AIR.
Events in life sometimes ripple along like the waters of a little streamin summer. At other times they rush with the wild impetuosity of ahill-torrent in winter.
For some time after the incidents just narrated the life of our herorippled--but of course it must be clearly understood that a Suakimripple bore some resemblance to a respectable freshet elsewhere! OsmanDigna either waited for reinforcements before delivering a grandassault, or found sufficient entertainment to his mind, and satisfactionto his ambition, in acting the part of a mosquito, by almost nightlyharassment of the garrison, which was thus kept continually on thealert.
But there came a time at length when a change occurred in thesoldier-life at Suakim. Events began to evolve themselves in rapidsuccession, as well as in magnified intensity, until, on one particularday, there came--metaphorically speaking--what is known among theScottish hills as a spate.
It began with the arrival of a mail from England. This was not indeed amatter of rare occurrence, but it was one of those incidents of thecampaign which never lost its freshness, and always sent a thrill ofpleasure to the hearts of the men--powerfully in the case of those whoreceived letters and packets; sympathetically in those who got none.
"At long last!" exclaimed Corporal Flynn, who was observed by hiscomrades, after the delivery of the mail, to be tenderly struggling withthe complicated folds of a remarkable letter--remarkable for itscrookedness, size, dirt, and hieroglyphic superscription.
"What is it, Flynn?" asked Moses--one of the unfortunates who hadreceived no letter by that mail.
"A letter, sure. Haven't ye got eyes, Moses?"
"From your wife, corporal?"
"Wife!" exclaimed Flynn, with scorn; "no! It's mesilf wouldn't take thegift of a wife gratis. The letter is from me owld grandmother, an'she's better to me than a dozen wives rowled into wan. It's hard workthe writin' of it cost her too--poor owld sowl! But she'd tear her eyesout to plaze me, she would. `Corporal, darlint,'--that's always the wayshe begins her letters now; she's that proud o' me since I got thestripes. I thowt me mother or brother would have writ me too, butthey're not half as proud of me as my--"
"Shut up, Flynn!" cried one of the men, who was trying to decipher aletter, the penmanship of which was obviously the work of anunaccustomed hand.
"Howld it upside down; sometimes they're easier to read that way--moresinsible-like," retorted the corporal.
"Blessin's on your sweet face!" exclaimed Armstrong, looking at aphotograph which he had just extracted from his letter.
"Hallo, Bill! that your sweetheart?" asked Sergeant Hardy, who was busyuntying a parcel.
"Ay, sweetheart an' wife too," answered the young soldier, withanimation.
"Let me see it, Willie," said Miles, who was also one of thedisconsolate non-receivers, disconsolate because he had fully expected areply to the penitent letter which he had written to his mother.
"First-rate, that's Emmy to a tee. A splendid likeness!" exclaimedMiles, holding the photograph to the light.
"Arrah! then, it's dead he must be!"
The extreme perplexity displayed in Flynn's face as he said this andscratched his head produced a hearty laugh.
"It's no laughin' matter, boys," cried the corporal, looking up with anexpression so solemn that his comrades almost believed it to be genuine."There's my owld uncle Macgrath gone to his long home, an' he was thesupport o' me grandmother. Och! what'll she do now wid him gone an' meaway at the wars?"
"Won't some other relation look after her, Flynn?" suggested Moses.
"Other relation!" exclaimed the corporal; "I've got no other relations,an' them that I have are as poor as rats. No, uncle Macgrath was theonly wan wid a kind heart an' a big purse. You see, boys, he was rich--for an Irishman. He had a grand farm, an' a beautiful bit o' bog. Och!it'll go hard wid--"
"Read on, Flynn, and hold your tongue," cried one of his comrades;"p-r-aps he's left the old woman a legacy."
The corporal did read on, and during the perusal of the letter thechange in his visage was marvellous, exhibiting as it did an almostmagical transition from profound woe, through abrupt gradations ofsurprise, to intense joy.
"Hooray!" he shouted, leaping up and bestowing a vigorous slap on histhigh. "He's gone an' left the whole farm an' the beautiful bog to ME!"
"What hae ye got there, sergeant?" asked Saunders, refolding the letterhe had been quietly perusing without paying any regard to the Irishman'sgood news.
"A parcel of booklets from the Institute," answered Hardy, turning overthe leaves of one of the pamphlets. "Ain't it good of 'em?"
"Right you are, Hardy! The ladies there never forget us," said MosesPyne. "Hand 'em round, sergeant. It does a fellow's heart good to geta bit o' readin' in an out-o'-the-way place like this."
"Comes like light in a dark place, don't it, comrade?" said Stevenson,the marine, who paid them a visit at that moment, bringing a letterwhich had been carried to the wrong quarter by mistake. It was forMiles Milton. "I know'd you expected it, an' would be awfullydisappointed at finding nothing, so I brought it over at once."
"_You_ come like a gleam of sunshine in a dark place. Thanks,Stevenson, many thanks," said Miles, springing up and opening the lettereagerly.
The first words sent a chill to his heart, for it told of his fatherhaving been very ill, but words of comfort immediately followed--he wasgetting slowly but surely better, and his own letter had done the oldman more good in a few days than all the doctor's physic had done inmany weeks. Forgiveness was freely granted, and unalterable lovebreathed in every line. With a relieved and thankful heart he went onreading, when he was arrested by a sudden summons of his company to fallin. Grasping his rifle he ran out with the rest.
"What is it?" he whispered to a sergeant, as he took his place in theranks. "Osman again?"
"No, he's too sly a fox to show face in the day-time. It's a steamercoming with troops aboard. We're goin' down to receive them, Ibelieve."
Soon after, the overworked garrison had the immense satisfaction andexcitement of bidding welcome to reinforcements with a stirring Britishcheer.
These formed only the advance-guard. For some time after that troopswere landed at Suakim every day. Among them the 15th Sikhs, a splendidbody of men, with grand physique and fierce aspect, like men who "meantbusiness." Then came the Coldstream Guards, the Scots and the GrenadierGuards, closely followed by the Engineers and Hospital and TransportCorps, the Shropshire Regiment, and many others. The desire of thesefresh troops to meet the enemy was naturally strong, and the earnesthope of every one was that they would soon sally forth and "have a go,"as Corporal Flynn expressed it, "at Osman Digna on his own ground."
Poor Corporal Flynn! His days of soldiering were nearly over!
Whether it was the excess of strong feeling raised in the poor fellow'sbreast by the news of the grand and unexpected legacy, or the excitementcaused by the arrival of so many splendid troops and the prospect ofimmediate action--or all put together--we cannot say, but certain it isthat the corporal fell sick, and when the doctors examined the men witha view to decide who should march to the front, and who should remain toguard the town, he was pronounced unfit for active service. Worse thanthat, he was reported to have entered upon that journey from which notraveller returns.
But poor Flynn would not admit it, though he grew weaker from day today. At last it was reported that he was dying, and Sergeant Hardy gotleave to go off to the hospital ship to see him, and convey to him manya kind message from his sorrowful comrades, who felt that the regimentcould ill spare his lively, humorous spirit.
The sergeant found him the picture of death, and almost too weak tospeak.
"My dear fellow," said Hardy, sitting down by his cot and gently takinghis hand, "I'm sorry to see you like this. I'm afraid you are goin' toleave us."
The corporal made a sl
ight motion with his head, as if of dissent, andhis lips moved.
Hardy bent his ear over them.
"Niver a bit, owld man," whispered Flynn.
"Shall I read the Bible to you, lad?" inquired the sergeant.
The corporal smiled faintly, and nodded.
After reading a few verses Hardy began to talk kindly and earnestly tothe dying man, who lay with his eyes closed.
When he was about to leave, Flynn looked up, and, giving his comrade'shand a gentle squeeze, said, in a stronger whisper than before--
"Thankee, sergeant. It's kind o' ye to be so consarned about my sowl,and I agrees wid ivery word ye say; but I'm not goin' away yit, av yeplaze."
He ceased to speak, and again closed his eyes. The doctor and thechaplain chanced to enter the hospital together as Hardy retired. Theresult of their visit was that they said the corporal was dead, andorders were given to make his coffin. A firing party was also told offto bury him the next morning with military honours. Early next morning,accordingly, the firing party started for the hospital ship with thecoffin, but, before getting half-way to it, they were signalled to goback, for the man was not yet dead!
In short, Corporal Flynn had begun to talk in a wild way about hisestate in Ireland, and his owld grandmother; and either the influence ofthese thoughts, or Hardy's visit, had given him such a fillip that fromthat day he began to revive. Nevertheless he had received a very severeshake, and, not very long after, was invalided home. Meanwhile, as wehave said, busy preparations were being made by General Graham--who hadarrived and taken command of the forces--to offer battle to Osman'stroops.
In the midst of all the excitement and turmoil, however, the newchaplain, who turned out to be "a trump," managed to hold a temperancemeeting; and the men who desired to serve God as well as their Queen andcountry became more energetic than ever in trying to influence theirfellows and save themselves from the curse of strong drink, which hadalready played such havoc among the troops at Suakim.
Miles attended the meeting, and, according to promise, signed thetotal-abstinence pledge. Owing to the postponement of meetings and thepress of duty he had not been able to do it sooner.
Shortly after that he was passed by the doctors as fit for duty in thefield. So were Armstrong, Moses Pyne, and most of those strong andhealthy men whose fortunes we have followed thus far.
Then came the bustle and excitement of preparation to go out and attackthe enemy, and in the midst of it all the air was full of conflictingrumours--to the effect that Osman Digna was about to surrenderunconditionally; that he would attack the town in force; that he wasdead; or that he had been summoned to a conference by the Mahdi!
"You may rest assured," said Sergeant Hardy one day to his comrades, asthey were smoking their pipes after dinner, "that nobody knows anythingat all for certain about the rebel chief."
"I heard that a spy has just come in with the information that he hasdetermined not to wait for our attack, if we go out, but to attack us inour zereba," said Miles. "He is evidently resolved not to commit thesame mistake he made last year of letting us attack _him_."
"He has pluck for anything," remarked Moses.
Osman proved, that same evening, that he had at least pluck enough tosend a pithy defiance to his foes, for an insulting letter was receivedby General Graham, in which Osman, recounting the victories he hadgained over Hicks and Baker Pasha, boasted of his having destroyed theirarmies, and dared the general to come out and fight him. To this theBritish General replied, reminding Osman of our victories of El-Teb andTamai, and advising him to surrender unless he wanted a worse beatingthan he had got before!
Mutual defiance having been thus comfortably hurled, the troops were atonce detailed for service in the field, and the very next day set forth.As our hero did not, however, accompany that expedition, and as itreturned to Suakim without doing anything remarkable--except someenergetic and even heroic fighting, which is by no means remarkable inBritish troops,--we will pass on to the expedition which was sent outimmediately after it, and in which Miles Milton not only took an activepart, but distinguished himself. With several of his comrades he alsoentered on a new and somewhat unusual phase of a soldier's career.