CHAPTER XVI
CLOSING IN
The story of that night's achievement, told with the usual orientalexaggeration by the Arabs who had accompanied Burnet, evoked anextraordinary burst of enthusiasm among Rejeb's people. The capture ofone of the terrible Germans filled them with a childish pleasure andsatisfaction. Major Burckhardt, it is true, did not look veryterrible. Without his uniform he was just a fat little man; withouthis spectacles he looked out dreamily upon a disappointing world.Clothed in Arab dress, his appearance drew many a smile from Jacksonand Sturge, the machine-gunners, who, however, with the Tommy'saccustomed kindliness, did what they could for his comfort. They gavehim half the small supply of tobacco they had with them, and one oftheir pipes, smoking the other in turn.
For three or four days the Turks left the garrison in peace, except foroccasional sniping. The non-appearance of guns seemed prettyconclusive proof that Burnet's work had been effectual. He wonderedwhether they would send for others before resuming their attack. Thatwould give probably more than a week's respite. Would the Britishrelief force arrive during that time? If not, he foresaw a verycritical situation. The defences could not long withstand abombardment; moreover, the food question was always an anxiety. Still,he must hope for the best, and employ the quiet period in doing what hecould to strengthen the defences.
In this task the machine-gunners did yeoman service. Acting for thetime as foremen of the works, so to speak, they assisted him indirecting the building of small redoubts along the edge of theembankment from which he could command the stretch of water between theisland and the firm land beyond. That an attack by water, or at anyrate supported from the water, had been contemplated was clear from theinclusion of a motor-boat among the enemy's impedimenta. Thedestruction of the boat had rendered that for the moment impossible,and it was unlikely, perhaps, that the Turks would have another boat tospare.
In addition to the redoubts, he erected a long, slightly curvedbreastwork behind the embankment, at such a distance from the latterthat it was concealed from the view of the enemy. Without experiencein this sort of work himself, he relied on Sturge and Jackson, who werelearned in all that pertained to parados, traverses, and so on, andtook a great pride in the fortification which the Arabs constructed totheir plans, and still more in the fact that, though they had picked uponly a word or two of Arabic, they were able to dispense with Burnet'sassistance as interpreter after the first day.
The Turks, meanwhile, though they refrained from attacking, were notidle. They strengthened their bridgehead half-way along the causeway,fencing the latter on both sides with a mud wall just high enough tocover their movements up and down. The wall was no doubt easilypenetrable by rifle or machine-gun bullets, but, as the Turks must haveguessed, the garrison's supply of ammunition was not sufficient toallow them to pepper the wall at random on the chance of hitting themen behind it. Burnet hindered their work as much as possible byemploying some of the best marksmen among the Arabs as snipers; thevegetation, however, that fringed the causeway formed in itself a veryeffective screen to the enemy, and he feared that a good proportion ofthe snipers' bullets were wasted.
Remembering the old adage that it is lawful to learn from the enemy,Burnet was inclined to raise similar walls on his own side of thecentral gap. But he saw on reflection that if the Turks succeeded inbridging the gap--and that was always to be reckoned with--such wallswould give them invaluable cover right up to the shore of the island.He therefore abandoned the idea.
It was Sturge who suggested the employment of listening patrols bynight, to discover any new movement on the part of the enemy. Hiscrude idea was merely to send a few picked men along the causeway asfar as the gap. Burnet improved on this. With Rejeb's consent hesent, nightly, a swimmer on an inflated skin from the kelak to worm hisway under cover of the reeds as near to the enemy's walls as possible.For three nights the scout's report was of no great value, but on thefourth, just before dawn, he came back with the news that there wasconsiderable movement at the bridgehead and along the causeway, and agood deal of bustle on shore.
Not a little surprised that the enemy, after waiting so long for guns,had apparently decided to attack without them, Burnet at oncereinforced the small body of picked men on duty at the outwork at hisend of the gap, and sent word to the garrisons of the redoubts to be onthe alert. The two English gunners were eager to take a part at once,but Burnet, with wise forethought, declined to let them use their gunsor even enter the firing-line. The enemy's intentions were not yetdisclosed.
It turned out that the warning had reached him only just in time. Whenhe joined the Arabs at the outwork he saw, in the grey light of dawn,several dim shapes on the water on both sides of the causeway, slowlyapproaching the island. In a minute or two he made them out to besmall kelaks crowded with men. Some of them were converging on thegap, the others were keeping a straight course for the island.
Before he had time even to conjecture what the enemy's aims might be, ahot fusillade, no doubt intended to cover the approach of the kelaks,broke out from behind the breastwork on the further side of the gap.One or two of the Arabs were hit before they had obeyed his order tolie low and hold their fire until he gave the word. At the same momenthe sent a man back to the shore with instructions to their comradesthere not to fire until they could be sure of hitting.
As soon as the individual forms of the men on the kelaks could bedistinguished Burnet gave the order to open fire. The range where hestood was almost point blank, and the first volley all but cleared twoor three of the kelaks of their crews, the vessels drifting idly for afew moments and getting in the way of the rest. But the others crowdedon, and in spite of their losses under the continuous fire of the Arabsthey pushed into the gap, where they were partly protected by thebroken edge of the causeway.
Now Burnet seized their intention. The kelaks jostling each other inthe gap formed a sort of pontoon, not so much below the surface of thecauseway but that the enemy could easily reach it. The enemy's firesuddenly ceased; then a stream of men passed from the outwork at theirside of the gap, leapt from kelak to kelak, and tried to spring overthe parapet on the nearer side. Many of them fell before they reachedit, but their places were instantly filled, and the fight became ahand-to-hand grapple.
Dawn had increased to almost full daylight with the rapiditycharacteristic of this latitude. Meanwhile the Arabs on shore hadalready been directing a hot fire upon the crews of the kelaksapproaching them. And now, from behind the enemy's outwork, throughembrasures suddenly opened in the mud walls, two machine-guns, one oneach side, began to play upon the shore. The Arabs' position therebeing considerably higher than the level of the water, the Turks wereable to shoot without danger of hitting their own men. The fire fromthe machine-guns and a hurricane fusillade from the opposite shore ofthe channel kept down the Arabs' fire, and the kelaks drew slowlynearer to their goal.
When the fighting at the gap became close, Burnet seized the rifle of afallen Arab and did strenuous work in holding the enemy at bay. Suchof them as succeeded in clambering upon the parapet were hurled backupon their comrades in the kelaks beneath. But the assailants were allsturdy Turks and stern fighters. Fresh men were continually pouringacross the gap, and the Arabs, fight as gallantly as they might, wouldsooner or later yield to the enemy from sheer weariness. Thebreastwork could not be held much longer. Indeed, the inevitablemoment came earlier than Burnet expected, for two kelaks, propelled bystout polemen, pushed beyond the gap, and ran close in on the side ofthe causeway, the Turks upon them opening fire upon the defenders fromthe flank and rear.
Burnet's little band was thrown into momentary confusion by thisunexpected attack, and several Turks gained a footing on thebreastwork. A final effort was necessary before the position could besafely abandoned. Telling off a number of the men to return the firefrom the kelaks, Burnet called on the rest to support him. With ashrill cry they rallied, and threw themselves upon the enemy with animpetuosity
that nothing could withstand. The Turks were forced back,some falling upon the kelaks in the gap, others into the water. Oncemore the breastwork was clear.
Then Burnet gave the order for retirement. The flank attack had beenbeaten off; the causeway was open. One by one at intervals of a fewyards the Arabs dashed back towards the shore. Burnet kept a few menwith him to act as rearguard, and waited until the wounded had almostreached the end of the causeway before he followed them up. It seemedthat the enemy was hardly aware of what was happening, for theretirement was not harassed until the last few men had almost reachedthe bridgehead. Then, however, the fusillade broke out again, answeredby the Arabs on shore, and one or two men, including Burnet himself,were hit before they had gained shelter. Burnet had already seen thatthe kelaks which had headed for the shore had been driven back, inspite of the support of the machine-guns. The Arabs at the bridgeheadand in the redoubts had suffered very little loss, and he felt that thehonours of this first encounter were with the defence. The Turks,seeing that their opponents had made good their retreat, ceased fire.They had captured the gap, but it was clear that they had to master afurther line of defences before they gained access to the island. Whatwould be their next move? Their success at the gap might give themsufficient encouragement to push on after a breathing space and finishthe job while their blood was up and the tide seemed to have turned intheir favour. It might prove a somewhat desperate undertaking unlessthey had more artillery at their disposal than the two machine-gunswhich had already been in action; but they in their turn would notsuspect that they had to face machine-guns, and they would probablyconclude that the Arabs' retirement after a short action was an earnestof further retreat as soon as they were hard pressed.
It seemed to Burnet that a serious attack in force along the causewaywas to be expected and provided against. Like many another subalternin the heroic annals of British warfare, he found himself alone, at thehead of an alien force, badly provided, and, what was worse, totallyinexperienced. But it is in such circumstances as these that Britishvalour has shone forth most brightly, and British ingenuity mostthoroughly proved itself, and Burnet was to show forth those sterlingqualities which hundreds before him had evinced.
If the defence was to have the least chance of success, the rough andhastily contrived fort at the bridgehead must be held to the lastmoment. In spite of the limited quantity of ammunition, the time hadclearly come to bring the machine-guns into action. Burnet sent forthe two gunners, who had been itching to take their part, and told themfrankly what he expected, and how he proposed to meet the attack.
"We'll give 'em what for, sir," exclaimed Sturge, rubbing his hands."With Bill on one side and me on the other we'll keep that Margate pierclear of Turks for a hundred years."
"Well, you know how many rounds you have," said Burnet. "But I don'twant both guns in action at first. Both might be knocked out. We'llkeep one in reserve, in case anything happens. The one we have in thefort is certainly pretty well protected against anything less than a9-pounder, but we must provide against accidents. You can help eachother in working it. Open fire only if the enemy make a rush along thecauseway."
Something more than two hours passed. The enemy were seen to beframing a practicable floating bridge from the kelaks, and Burnetordered some of his best marksmen to snipe them. But they were to someextent covered by the captured outwork, and completed their task withvery little loss.
A few minutes afterwards, the kelaks which had not been required forthe bridge emerged from both sides of the gap and approached theisland, keeping close to the walls of the causeway. At the same time acolumn of Turks streamed across the bridge, sprang over the abandonedoutwork, and rushed without making any attempt at regular formationstraight for the bridgehead. From the shelter of their walls on thecauseway itself, as well as from their main position at the furtherend, the enemy opened a heavy covering fire, to which the Arabs repliedthinly, and chiefly for form's sake, Burnet desiring to mislead theTurks while husbanding his ammunition.
The head of the enemy column had advanced a hundred yards along thecauseway before any attempt was made to check them. Then, however,while they were in full career, the machine-gun suddenly rapped out itsdeadly message. The effect was like that of a huge scythe sweepingalong the causeway. Within less than a minute there was scarcely a manleft erect between the bridgehead and the gap. The few who had escapedthe hail of bullets flung themselves frantically into the water, andswam for safety, some of them falling victims to rifle fire from theflanks of the Arabs strung out behind their breastwork near the shore.
As soon as the causeway was clear, the machine-gun ceased fire. It wasevident that the enemy was disconcerted by the check. Their plan ofoperations had taken no account of the possession of a machine-gun bythe defenders. Some time elapsed before they made any furthermovement. Then with their own machine-guns they directed a rain ofbullets upon the Arabs, raking their position from end to end. At thefirst sound of the guns Burnet ordered his men to throw themselvesdown, and all the effect produced by the enemy was the carving ofinnumerable dents in the stonework, and the infliction of slight woundson a few men.
Trusting probably rather in the moral than in the material effect ofthis miniature bombardment, the Turks launched a second attack. Theirmachine-guns were now silent, for they could not fire on the Arabsdefending the bridgehead without hitting their own men. Again a columnof brave and gallant men surged along the causeway, springing over thebodies of their fallen comrades, and encouraging one another withstrident shouts. But in face of the terrible machine of man'sinvention the highest human valour availed nothing. Confined to thenarrow causeway, the Turks had no means of escape. Once more they weremown down, and the frenzied survivors took to the water. Burnetcontrived to signal to the enemy that they might remove the woundedwithout molestation, and for a time men were engaged in the grim workof clearing away the traces of their defeat.
While a fight is in progress, a man has no time to think of anythingbut the deadly work in hand. It is afterwards, in quiet moments, thathe cannot but reflect on the causes of warfare, the root ideas thatdevelop into so terrible a harvest of pain and misery. Burnet, withless than a year's soldiering behind him, had not become hardened. Hewas not content with knowing that killing was his duty: he felt boundto go a step farther back, and ask himself, was his duty right? Amidmuch that was puzzling his thoughts all converged to the sameconclusion: force could only be overcome by force. The Germans hadelected for military force as the efficient agent of civilisation. Allthat they had done since the war began showed that German civilisationwas rotten to the core. It was a system in which lying, low cunning,treachery and brutality were, not tolerated, but applauded. Thenations that cherished different ideals, or, to put it on the lowestground, desired to live their own lives unmolested, had either tosubmit to material loss, moral degradation, the cowed and hopelessexistence of slaves, or to stand up defiantly against this monstroustyranny and fight it with its own weapons. Only thus could they savetheir souls.