CHAPTER XV.
SPIKING THE GUNS.
As soon as night fell a little procession with three little forms ontrays covered with white cloths, and two of larger size, started fromGubbins' house to the churchyard. Mr. and Mrs. Hargreaves, and Mrs.Righton and her husband, with two other women, followed. That morningall the five, now to be laid in the earth, were strong and well; butdeath had been busy. In such a climate as that, and in so crowded adwelling, no delay could take place between death and burial, and thevictims of each day were buried at nightfall. There was no time to makecoffins, no men to spare for the work; and as each fell, so were theycommitted to the earth.
A little distance from Gubbins' house the procession joined a largerone with the day's victims from the other parts of the garrison--atotal of twenty-four, young and old. At the head of the processionwalked the Rev. Mr. Polehampton, one of the chaplains, who wasdistinguished for the bravery and self-devotion with which he laboredamong the sick and wounded. The service on which they were now engagedwas in itself dangerous, for the churchyard was very exposed to theenemy's fire, and--for they were throughout the siege remarkablywell-informed of what was taking place within the Residency--everyevening they opened a heavy fire in the direction of the spot wherethey knew a portion of the garrison would be engaged in this sadavocation. Quietly and steadily the little procession moved along,though bullets whistled and shells hissed around them. Each stretcherwith an adult body was carried by four soldiers, while some of thelittle ones' bodies were carried by their mothers as if alive. Mrs.Hargreaves and her daughter carried between them the tray on which thebody of little Rupert Righton lay. Arrived at the churchyard, a longshallow trench, six feet wide, had been prepared, and in this, side byside, the dead were tenderly placed. Then Mr. Polehampton spoke a fewwords of prayer and comfort, and the mourners turned away, happilywithout one of them having been struck by the bullets which sangaround, while some of the soldiers speedily filled in the grave.
While the sad procession had been absent, the boys had gone to Mrs.Hargreaves' room. The curtain was drawn, and they could hear the girlssobbing inside.
"Please, Miss Hargreaves, can I speak to you for a moment?" Ned said."I would not intrude, but it is something particular."
Edith Hargreaves came to the door.
"Please," Ned went on, "will you give us two good-sized pieces ofsponge? We don't know any one else to ask, and--but you must not say aword to any one--my brother and myself mean to go out to-night tosilence that battery which is doing such damage."
"Silence that battery!" Edith exclaimed in surprise. "Oh, if you coulddo that; but how is it possible?"
"Oh, you dear boy," Nelly, who had come to the door, exclaimedimpetuously, "if you could but do that, every one would love you. Weshall all be killed if that terrible battery goes on. But how are yougoing to do it?"
"I don't say we are going to do it," Ned said, smiling at the girl'sexcitement, "but we are going to try to-night. We'll tell you all aboutit in the morning when it is done; that is," he said seriously, "if wecome back to tell it. But you must not ask any questions now, andplease give us the pieces of sponge." Edith disappeared for a moment,and came back with two large pieces of sponge.
"We will not ask, as you say we must not," she said quietly, "but Iknow you are going to run some frightful danger. I may tell mamma andCarrie when they come back that much, may I not? and we will all keepawake and pray for you tonight--God bless you both!" And with a warmclasp of the hands the girls went back into their room again.
"I tell you what, Ned," the midshipman said emphatically, when theywent out into the air, "if I live through this war I'll marry NellyHargreaves; that is," he added, "if she'll have me, and will wait abit. She is a brick, and no mistake. I never felt really in lovebefore; not regularly, you know."
At any other time Ned would have laughed; but with Edith's farewellwords in his ear he was little disposed for mirth, and he merely puthis hand on Dick's shoulder and said:
"There will be time to talk about that in the future, Dick. There's thebattery opening in earnest. There! Mr. Gubbins is calling for all handson the roof with their rifles to try and silence it. Come along."
For an hour the fire on both sides was incessant. The six guns of thebattery concentrated their fire upon Gubbins' house, while from thewalls and houses on either side of it the fire of the musketry flashedunceasingly, sending a hail of shot to keep down the reply from theroof.
On their side the garrison on the terrace disregarded the musketryfire, but, crowded behind the sandbags, kept up a steady andconcentrated fire at the flashes of the cannon; while from the batterybelow, the gunners, unable to touch the enemy's battery, dischargedgrape at the houses tenanted by the enemy's infantry. The Sepoys,carefully instructed in our service, had constructed shields of rope toeach gun to protect the gunners, but those at the best could cover butone or two men, and the fire from the parapet inflicted such heavylosses upon the gunners that after a time their fire dropped, and anhour from the commencement of the cannonade all was still again on bothsides. The Sepoy guns were silenced.
It was now ten o'clock, and the Warreners went and lay down quietly fora couple of hours. Then they heard the guard changed, and after waitinga quarter of an hour they went out to the battery, having first filledtheir sponges with water. There they joined Mr. Johnson.
"Can't sleep, boys?" he asked; "those flies are enough to drive onemad. You will get accustomed to them after a bit."
"It is not exactly that, sir," Ned said, "but we wanted to speak toyou. Dick and I have made up our minds to silence that battery. We havegot sponges full of water, and we mean to go out and drown the priming.Then when we come back and tell Mr. Gubbins, I dare say he will takeout a party, make a rush, and spike them."
"Why, you must be mad to think of such a thing!" Mr. Johnson said inastonishment.
"I think it is easy enough, sir," Ned replied; "at any rate, we mean totry."
"I can't let you go without leave," Mr. Johnson said.
"No, sir, and so we are not going to tell you we are going," Nedlaughed. "What we want to ask you is to tell your men not to fire ifthey hear a noise close by in the next few minutes, and after that tolisten for a whistle like this. If they hear that they are not to fireat any one approaching from the outside. Good-by, sir."
And without waiting for Mr. Johnson to make up his mind whether or nothis duty compelled him to arrest them, to prevent them from carryingout the mad scheme of which Ned had spoken, the Warreners glided offinto the darkness.
They had obtained a couple of native daggers, and took no other arms.They did not take off their boots, but wound round them numerous stripsof blanket, so that they would tread noiselessly, and yet if obliged torun for it would avoid the risk of cutting their feet and disablingthemselves in their flight. Then, making sure that by this time Mr.Johnson would have given orders to his men not to fire if they heard anoise close at hand, they went noiselessly to the breastwork which ranfrom the battery to the house, climbed over it, and dropped into thetrench beyond.
Standing on the battery close beside them, they saw against the sky thefigure of Mr. Johnson.
"Good-by, sir," Ned said softly; "we will be back in half an hour if wehave luck."
Then they picked their way carefully over the rough ground till theyreached the lane, and then walked boldly but noiselessly forward, forthey knew that for a little way there was no risk of meeting an enemy,and that in the darkness they were perfectly invisible to any nativeposted near the guns. After fifty yards' walking, they dropped on theirhands and knees. Although the guns had been absolutely silent sincetheir fire ceased at ten o'clock, a dropping musketry fire from thehouses and walls on either side had, as usual, continued. Thisindicated to the boys pretty accurately the position of the guns.Crawling forward foot by foot, they reached the little ridge whichsheltered the guns from the battery in Gubbins' garden.
The guns themselves they could not see, for behind them was a hous
e,and, except against the sky line, nothing was visible. They themselveswere, as they knew, in a line between Gubbins' house and any one whomight be standing at the guns, so that they would not show against thesky. They could hear talking among the houses on either side of theguns, and could see the light of fires, showing that while some oftheir enemies were keeping up a dropping fire, others were passing thenight, as is often the native custom, round the fires, smoking andcooking. There was a faint talk going on ahead, too, beyond the guns;but the enemy had had too severe a lesson of the accuracy of theEnglish rifle-fire to dare to light a fire there.
Having taken in the scene, the boys moved forward, inch by inch.Presently Ned put his hand on something which, for a moment, made himstart back; an instant's thought, however, reassured him; it was a man,but the hardness of the touch told that it was not a living one.Crawling past it, the lads found other bodies lying thickly, and thenthey touched a wheel. They had arrived at the guns, and the bodies werethose of the men shot down a few hours before in the act of loading.
Behind the guns a number of artillerymen were, as the boys could hear,sitting and talking; but the guns themselves stood alone and unguarded.A clasp of the hand, and the boys parted, one going, as previouslyarranged, each way. Ned rose very quietly by the side of the gun,keeping his head, however, below its level, and running his hand alongit until it came to the breech. The touch-hole was covered by a wad ofcloth to keep the powder dry from the heavy dew. This he removed, putup his hand again with the wet sponge, gave a squeeze, and thencautiously replaced the covering.
Dick did the same with the gun on the right, and so each crept alongfrom gun to gun, until the six guns were disabled. Then they crawledback and joined each other.
A clasp of the hands in congratulation, and then they were starting toreturn, when they heard a dull tramp, and the head of a dark columncame along just ahead of them. The boys shrank back under the guns, andlay flat among the bodies of the dead. The column halted at the guns,and a voice asked:
"Is the colonel here?"
"Here am I," said a voice from behind the guns, and a native officercame forward.
THE WARRENERS DROWNING THE PRIMING OF THE SEPOY GUNS.]
"We are going to make an attack from the house of Johannes. We shall bestrong, and shall sweep the Kaffirs before us. It is the order of thegeneral that you open with your guns here, to distract their attention."
"Will it please you to represent to the general that we have foughtthis evening, and that half my gunners are killed. The fire of the sonsof Sheitan is too strong for us. Your excellency will see the ground iscovered with our dead. Bring fire," he ordered, and at the word one ofthe soldiers lighted a torch made of straw, soaked in oil, which threwa lurid flame over the ground. "See, excellency, how we have suffered."
"Are they all dead?" asked the officer, stepping nearer.
The boys held their breath, when there was a sharp cracking ofmusketry, the man with the torch fell prostrate, and several criesarose from the column. The watchers on the roof of Gubbins' house hadbeen quick to discern their enemy.
"Move on, march!" the officer exclaimed hastily, "double. Yes, I see,it is hot here; but when we have attacked, and their attention isdistracted, you may do something."
So saying, he went off at a run with his regiment.
The boys lost no time in creeping out again, and making the best oftheir way back; once fairly over the crest, they rose to their feet andran down toward the intrenchment. As they neared this Ned whistledtwice. The whistle was answered, and in a minute hands were stretcheddown to help them to scramble over the earthwork.
"All right," Ned said to Mr. Johnson; "the guns are useless, and weaklyguarded. There are lots of infantry on both sides, but some of themwill be drawn off, for they are going to make an attack from Johannes'house. Where is Mr. Gubbins?"
"He has just made his rounds," Mr. Johnson said; "I will take you tohim."
Mr. Gubbins was astonished when he heard from the boys that they hadbeen out, and rendered the guns temporarily useless. "You were wrong toact without orders," he said, "but I can't scold you for such a gallantaction. We must act on it at once. I would send for a reinforcement,but we must not lose a moment. If the attack from Johannes' housebegins before our attack, the artillerymen will prepare for action, andmay discover that the breeches of their guns are wet. Call up every manat once, Mr. Johnson, and let them fall in on the battery; and do you,"he turned to another, "run down to the Sikh Square and Martinieregarrison, and warn them that a great attack is just going to be made.Tell them that we are making a sortie, and ask them to bring everyrifle to bear on the houses to the left of the guns, so as to keep downthe infantry fire there."
In two minutes every man of the garrison was assembled in the battery,even those from the roof being called down.
"Bring a dark lantern," Mr. Gubbins said; "it may be useful. Now, lads,we are going to spike the guns; they have been rendered useless, so wehave only got to make a dash for them. The moment they are in ourpossession, you, Mr. Johnson, with ten men, will clear the houseimmediately behind it, and look for the magazine. Mr. Leathes, you,with fifteen men, will move to the right a little; and you, Mr.Percival, with your command, to the left. Do not go far, but each carrya house or two, set them on fire, and fall back here when you hear thebugle. I have got the hammer and spiking nails. Now, as quietly as youcan till you hear that we are discovered, and then go with a rush atthe guns."
In fact, they had gone very few paces before there was a shout in theenemy's line. The noise of so many men stumbling over the _debris_ ofleveled houses was heard in an instant in the night air.
"Forward!" Mr. Gubbins shouted; "don't fire, give them the bayonet."
At a charge the little party rushed along. They were in the lane now,and were able to run fast. The shout had been followed by a shot, thenby a dozen others, and then a rapid fire broke out from the houses andwalls in front.
They were still invisible, however, and the balls whistled overhead.They heard the voice of the officer at the guns shout to his men:
"Steady; don't fire till they are on the crest, then blow them intodust."
They topped the crest and rushed at the guns.
"Fire!" shouted the officer, but a cry of dismay alone answered hiswords, and in a moment the British rushed on to the guns, and bayonetedthe astonished and dismayed enemy.
Then they separated each to the work assigned to them, while Mr.Gubbins, with a man with the lantern, went from gun to gun and drove anail down the touchhole of each. Then he followed into the housebehind. Here a short but furious fight had taken place. The Sepoyslodged there fought desperately but unavailingly. A few leaped from thewindows, but the rest were bayoneted. The fight was stern and silent;no words were spoken, for the Sepoys knew that it was useless to askfor quarter; the clashing of sabers against muskets, an occasionalsharp cry, and the sound of the falling of heavy bodies alone told ofthe desperate struggle.
It ended just as Mr. Gubbins entered.
"Look about," he said; "they must have a magazine somewhere here;perhaps a large one."
There was a rapid search.
"Here it is," Ned said, as he looked into a large outhouse behind thebuilding. "There are some twenty barrels of powder and a large quantityof shot and shell."
"Break open a barrel, quick!" Mr. Gubbins said. "Mr. Johnson, I will dothis with the Warreners. Do you line that low wall, and keep back thepandies a minute or two; they will be on us like a swarm of bees. Runinto the house," he said to Dick, as Mr. Johnson led his men forward tothe wall, "you will see a bucket of water in the first room. Bring ithere quick. Now then," he said, "empty this barrel among the others;that's right, smash in the heads of three or four others with thishammer. That's right," as Dick returned with the water. "Now fill yourcap with powder."
Dick did so, and Mr. Gubbins poured some water into it, stirred themtogether till the powder was damped through, and with this made a trainsome five feet long to the dry p
owder.
The party at the wall were now hotly engaged with a mass of advancingenemy.
"Fall back, Mr. Johnson, quickly. Sound the retreat, bugler. Go along,lads; I'll light the train."
He waited until the last man had passed, applied a lighted match to thetrain, which began to fizz and sputter, and then ran out and followedthe rest, shutting the door of the magazine as he went out, in orderthat the burning fuse should not be seen.
By this time the houses on either side were alight, and the whole partywere returning at a double toward the intrenchments.
As they neared the lines the enemy swarmed out from their cover, andthe head of the reinforcements were pouring out through the house intothe battery, when the earth shook, a mighty flash of fire lit the sky;there was a roar like thunder, and most of the retreating party wereswept from their feet by the shock, while a shower of stones and timberfell in a wide circle. They were soon up again, and scrambled over theearthworks.
For a minute the explosion was succeeded by a deathlike stillness,broken only by the sound of the falling fragments; then from the wholecircle of the British lines a great cheer of triumph rose up, while ayell of fury answered them from the enemy's intrenchments.
"Any loss?" was Mr. Gubbins' first question.
"No one killed," was the report of the officers of the three sections.
"Any wounded?"
Four of the men stepped forward; two were slightly wounded only; twowere seriously hit, but a glance showed that the wounds were not of anature likely to be fatal.
"Hurrah! my lads," Mr. Gubbins said cheerily; "six guns spiked, ourgarrison freed from that troublesome battery, a lesson given to theenemy, and I expect a few hundred of them blown up, and all at the costof four wounded."
"Well done, indeed," a voice said; and General Inglis, with two orthree of his officers, stepped forward. "Gallantly done; but how was itthat the guns were silent? you could hardly have caught them asleep."
"No, sir," Mr. Gubbins said; "the gentlemen who brought in the messagefrom General Havelock, two days ago, went out on their own account, andsilenced the guns by wetting the priming."
A suppressed cheer broke from the whole party; for until now only Mr.Johnson and those on guard with him knew what had happened, and thesilence of the guns had been a mystery to all.
"Step forward, young gentlemen, will you?" General Inglis said. "Youhave done a most gallant action," he went on, shaking them by the hand,"a most gallant action; and the whole garrison are greatly indebted toyou. I shall have great pleasure in reporting your gallant conduct tothe commander-in-chief, when the time comes for doing so. I will notmar the pleasure which all feel at your deed by blaming you for actingon your own inspiration, but I must do so to-morrow. Good fortune hasattended your enterprise, but the lives of brave men are too valuableto allow them to undertake such risks as this on their own account. Andnow that I have said what I was obliged to say, I ask you all to givethree cheers for our gallant young friends."
Three hearty cheers were given, and then the general hurried off tosuperintend the preparations for the defense of the quarter threatenedby the attack from Johannes' house, if indeed that attack should not bepostponed, owing to the discouragement which the blow just inflictedwould naturally spread. Surrounded by their comrades, the Warrenersre-entered the house.
"What was that terrible explosion?" "What has happened?" was asked by ascore of female voices as they entered.
"Good news," Mr. Gubbins said; "you can sleep in peace. The guns of thebattery which has annoyed us are all spiked, and their magazine blownup, and all this without the loss of a man, thanks to the Warreners,who went out alone and disabled all the guns, by wetting the primings.All your thanks are due to them."
There was a general cry of grateful joy; for since the battery hadbegun to play upon the house, no one had felt that his own life or thelives of those dearest to him were safe for a moment. All were dressed,for in these times of peril no one went regularly to bed; and they nowcrowded round the boys, shaking them by the hand, patting them on theshoulders, many crying for very joy and relief.
Mrs. Hargreaves was standing at the door, and the boys went up to her.She drew back the curtain for them to enter; for, sure that the boysintended to carry out some desperate enterprise, none of her family hadeven lain down. Mr. Hargreaves and Mr. Righton followed them in.
"We were all praying for you," she said simply, "as if you had been myown sons; for you were doing as much for me and mine as my own couldhave done;" and she kissed both their foreheads.
"I think, Mrs. Hargreaves," said Dick, with the demure impudence of amidshipman, "that that ought to go round."
"I think you have fairly earned it, you impudent boy," Mrs. Hargreavessaid, smiling.
Mrs. Righton kissed Dick tearfully, for she was thinking that, had thebattery been silenced only one day earlier, her little one would havebeen saved. Edith glanced at her mother, and allowed Dick to kiss her;while Nelly threw her arms round his neck and kissed him heartily,telling him he was a darling boy.
Ned, who possessed none of the impudence of his brother, and who wasmoreover at the age when many boys become bashful with women, contentedhimself with shaking hands with Mrs. Righton and Edith, and would havedone the same with Nelly, but that young lady put up her cheek with alaugh.
"I choose to be kissed, sir," she said; "it is not much kissing that weget here, goodness knows."