CHAPTER VIII.
A DESPERATE DEFENSE.
"Well, major, what do you think of the situation?" one of the seniorcaptains asked, after the pipes had begun to draw.
"It looks rather bad, Crawshay. There's no disguising the fact. Weshall have the country up in force; they will swarm out like wasps fromevery village, and by to-morrow night we shall have, at the very least,ten thousand of them round us. Against a moderate force we could defendthe village; but it is a good-sized place, and we have only twenty-fivemen for each wall, and a couple of hundred would be none too little."
"But surely, major, we might prevent their scaling the walls. It is notlikely that they would attack on all sides at once, and withoutartillery they could do little."
"They will have artillery," said Captain Wilkins, an officer, who hadserved for some time in Oude. "These talookdars have all got artillery.They were ordered to give it up, and a good many old guns were sent in;but there is not one of these fellows who cannot bring a battery at thevery least into the field. By to-morrow night, or at the latest nextday, we may have some thirty or forty pieces of artillery round thisplace."
"It will not do to be caught like rats in a trap here," Major Warrenersaid. "For to-night it is a shelter, after that it would be a trap. Butabout Bithri; I don't like to give up the idea of rescuing ourcountry-people there. Still, although the matter has been left to mydiscretion, I cannot risk losing the whole squadron."
"What is the castle like, Warrener? have you heard?" Captain Crawshayasked.
"A square building, with high walls, and a deep moat. Beyond the moatis another wall with a strong outwork and gate. There are believed tobe a couple of guns on the outwork, and eight on the inner wall."
"Do you think they will attack us to-morrow, Wilkins? You know theseOude fellows."
"They will muster strong, no doubt, and be prepared to attack us if wesally out; but I should think if we remain quiet they would wait tillnext day, so as to gather as many men and guns as possible."
"Then you think we ought to be out of this early?" Major Warrener asked.
"I don't say we ought to be, major; I only say we ought to be if weintend to get off without having to fight our way through them. Isuppose the Bithri man is sure to come out to attack us?"
"Oh, no doubt," Major Warrener answered; "he has openly declaredagainst us."
"The thing would be to pop into his place, just as he is thinking ofpopping in here," Captain Dunlop said, laughing.
"That's a good idea, Dunlop--a capital idea, if it could be carriedout. The question is, is it possible?"
Then gradually the plan was elaborated, until it finally was definitelyarranged as afterward carried into execution.
The night passed quietly, but fires could be seen blazing in manydirections over the plain, and occasionally a distant sound of drums,or a wild shout, came faintly on the still air. Next morning MajorWarrener started early, with half a troop, to reconnoiter the countrytoward Bithri. The party got to a spot within two miles of the castle,and had a look at it and its surroundings, and were able to discernthat a great deal of bustle was going on around it, and thatconsiderable numbers of horse and footmen were gathered near the gate.Then they rode rapidly back again, having to run the gantlet of severalbodies of natives, who fired at them. One party indeed had alreadyplaced themselves on the road, about a mile from the village; butCaptain Kent, seeing with his glass what was going on, rode out withhis troop to meet the little reconnoitering party, and the enemy,fearing cavalry on the open, fell back after a scattering fire, but notquickly enough to prevent the horse from cutting up their rear somewhatseverely.
At eight o'clock large bodies of men could, be seen approaching thevillage. These, when they arrived within gunshot, discharged their longmatchlocks at the walls, with much shouting and gesticulation. MajorWarrener's order was that not a shot should be returned, as it wasadvisable to keep them in ignorance as to the long range of the Enfieldcarbine.
"Let all get their breakfasts," he said, "and let the horses be wellgroomed and attended to; we shall want all their speed to-morrow."
At eleven some elephants, surrounded by a large body of horse, could beseen across the plain.
"Here come some of the talookdars," Captain Wilkins said. "I suspectthose elephants are dragging guns behind them."
"Yes, the fun will soon begin now," Captain Dunlop answered. "Now,Dick," he went on to young Warrener, "you are going to see a littlenative artillery practice. These fellows are not like the Delhipandies, who are artillerymen trained by ourselves; here you will seethe real genuine native product; and as the manufacture of shell is inits infancy, and as the shot seldom fits the gun within half an inch,or even an inch, you will see something erratic. They may knock holesin the wall, but it will take them a long time to cut enough holes neareach other to make a breach. There, do you see? there are another lotof elephants and troops coming from the left. We shall have the wholecountryside here before long. Ah! that's just as we expected; they aregoing to take up their position on that rising ground, which youmeasured this morning, and found to be just five hundred yards off. Ourcarbines make very decent practice at that distance, and you will seewe shall astonish them presently."
The two forces with elephants reached the rising ground at the sametime, and there was great waving of flags, letting off of muskets, andbeating of drums, while the multitude of footmen cheered and danced.
By this time the greater portion of the little garrison were gatheredbehind the wall. This was some two feet thick, of rough sun-driedbricks and mud. It was about fourteen feet high. Against it behind wasthrown up a bank of earth five feet high, and in the wall wereloopholes, four feet above the bank. At the corners of the walls, andat intervals along them, were little towers, each capable of holdingabout four men, who could fire over the top of the walls. In thesetowers, and at the loopholes, Major Warrener placed twenty of his bestshots. There was a great deal of moving about on the rising ground;then the footmen cleared away in front, and most of the elephantswithdrew, and then were seen ten guns ranged side by side. Close behindthem were two elephants, with gaudy trappings, while others, lessbrilliantly arrayed, stood further back.
Major Warrener was in one of the little towers, with his second incommand, and his two sons to act as his orderlies.
"Run, boys, and tell the men in the other towers to fire at the howdahsof the chief elephants; let the rest of them fire at the artillery.Tell them to take good aim, and fire a volley; I will give the word.Make haste, I want first shot; that will hurry them, and they will firewild."
The boys started at a run, one each way, and in a minute theinstructions were given. The major glanced down, saw that every carbinewas leveled, and gave the word:
"Fire!"
The sound of the volley was answered in a few seconds by a yell ofdismay from the enemy. One of the state elephants threw up its trunk,and started at a wild gallop across the plain, and a man was seen tofall from the howdah as it started. There was also confusion visible inthe howdahs of the other elephants. Several men dropped at the guns;some, surprised and startled, fired wildly, most of the balls goinghigh over the village; while others, whose loading was not yetcomplete, ran back from the guns. Only one ball hit the wall, and madea ragged hole of a foot in diameter.
"That's sickened them for the present," Captain Dunlop said, "I expectthey'll do nothing now till it gets a bit cooler, for even a niggercould hardly stand this. Ah, we are going to give them another volley,this time a stronger one."
Fifty carbines spoke out this time, and the wildest confusion wascaused among the elephants and footmen, who were now trying to drag theguns back. Again, a third volley, and then the garrison were dismissedfrom their posts, and told to lie down and keep cool till wanted again.
Half an hour later another large train of elephants, ten of them withguns, came from the direction of Bithri, and proceeded to a tope atabout a mile from the village. There the elephants of the first comershad
gathered after the stampede, and presently a great tent was raisedin front of the tope.
"Bithri is going to do it in style," Dick laughed to his brother. "Ishouldn't mind some iced sherbet at present, if he has got any tospare."
"Look, Dick, there is a movement; they are getting the guns in positionon that knoll a little to the right, and a hundred yards or so in frontof their tent."
Dick took the field-glass which his brother handed him.
"Yes, we shall have a salute presently; but they won't breach the wallthis afternoon at that distance."
Twenty guns opened fire upon the village, and the shot flew overhead,or buried themselves in the ground in front, or came with heavy thudsagainst the wall, or, in some instances, crashed into the upper partsof the houses. After an hour's firing it slackened a little, andfinally died out, for the heat was tremendous.
At three o'clock there was a move again; ten of the guns were broughtforward to a point about a thousand yards from the wall, while tenothers were taken round and placed on the road, at about the samedistance, so as to command the gate. Again the fire opened, and thistime more effectually. Again the men were called to the loopholes. Thegreater portion of them were armed, not with the government carbines,but with sporting rifles, shortened so as to be carried as carbines;and although none of the weapons were sighted for more than six hundredyards, all with sufficient elevation could send balls far beyond thatdistance. Ten of the best-armed men were told off against each batteryof artillery, and a slow, steady fire was opened. It was effective,for, with the field-glasses, men could be seen to fall frequently atthe guns, and the fire became more hurried, but much wilder and evenless accurate, than it had hitherto been. The rest of the men, with theexception of ten told off for special duty, were dispersed round thewalls, to check the advance of the footmen, who crept daringly towithin a short distance, and kept up a rolling fire around the village.
At five o'clock half of the men were taken off the walls, and severalwere set to build a wall four feet high, in a semicircle just insidethe gate, which had been struck by several shots, and showed signs ofyielding. Two or three of the nearest huts were demolished rapidly,there being plenty of native tools in the village, and a rough wall wasconstructed of the materials; a trench five feet deep and eight feetwide was simultaneously dug across the entrance. At six o'clock, justas the wall was finished, an unlucky shot struck one of the doorposts,and the gate fell, dragging the other post with it. A distant yell oftriumph came through the air.
The gates fell partly across the trench. "Now, lads, push them back abit if you can; if not, knock the part over the ditch to pieces; it'shalf-smashed already."
It was easier to knock the gate, already splintered with shot, topieces, than to remove it.
"Now, Dunlop, fetch one of those powder-bags we brought for blowing upthe gates; put it in the trench, with a long train. You attend to thetrain, and when I give the word, fire it. Bring up those two big potsof boiling water to the gate-towers. Captain Kent, thirty men of yourtroop will hold the other three walls; but if you hear my dog-whistle,every man is to leave his post and come on here at a run. Thirty menmore will man this front wall and towers. They are to direct their fireto check the crowd pushing forward behind those immediately assaulting.The remaining forty will fire through the loopholes as long aspossible, and will then form round the breastwork and hold it to thelast. One man in each gate-tower, when the enemy reach the gate, willlay down his carbine, and attend to the boiling water. Let them eachhave a small pot as a ladle. But let them throw the water on thosepressing toward the gate, not on those who have reached it. Those areour affair."
In five minutes every man was at his post, and a sharp fire from theseventy men along the front wall opened upon the masses of the enemy,who came swarming toward the gate. The effect on the crowd, manythousand strong, was very severe, for each shot told; but the Mussulmenof Oude are courageous, and the rush toward the gate continued. Fast asthose in front fell, the gaps were imperceptible in the swarming crowd.Major Warreners band of forty men were called away from the loopholes,and were drawn up behind the ditch; and as the head of the assaultingcrowd neared the gate volley after volley rang out, and swept away theleaders, foremost among whom were a number of Sepoys, who, when theirregiments mutinied, had returned to their homes, and now headed thepeasantry in their attack upon the British force. When the dense massarrived within thirty yards of the gate Major Warrener gave the word,and a retreat was made behind the breastwork. On, with wild shouts,came the assailants; the first few saw the trench, and leaped it; thosewho followed fell in, until the trench was full; then the crowd sweptin unchecked. The defenders had laid by their carbines now, and haddrawn their revolvers. They were divided into two lines, who werealternately to take places in front and fire, while those behind loadedtheir revolvers. The din, as the circle inclosed by the low wall filledwith the assailants, was prodigious; the sharp incessant crack of therevolver; the roll of musketry from the walls; the yells of the enemy;the shrieks, which occasionally rose outside the gate as the men in thetowers scattered the boiling water broadcast over them, formed a chaos.With the fury and despair of cornered wild beasts, the enemy fought,striving to get over the wall which so unexpectedly barred their way;but their very numbers and the pressure from behind hampered theirefforts.
If a man in the front line of defenders had emptied his revolver beforethe one behind him had reloaded, he held his place with the sword.
"The wall's giving from the pressure!" Dick exclaimed to his father;and the latter put his whistle to his lips, and the sound rang outshrill and high above the uproar.
A minute later the front of the wall tottered and fell. Then MajorWarrener held up his hand, and Captain Dunlop, who had stood all thetime quietly watching him, fired the train. A thundering explosion, aflight of bodies and fragments of bodies through the air, a yell ofterror from the enemy, and then, as those already rushing triumphantlythrough the breach stood paralyzed, the British fell upon them sword inhand; the men from the other walls came rushing up, eager to take theirpart in the fray, and the enemy inside the gate were either cut down ordriven headlong through it!
The crowd beyond, already shaken by the murderous fire that the partyon the walls kept up unceasingly upon them, while they stood unable tomove from the jam in front, had recoiled through their whole mass atthe explosion, and the sight of the handful of their comrades flyingthrough the gate completed the effect. With yells of rage anddiscomfiture, each man turned and fled, while the defenders of thegateway passed out, and joined their fire to that of their comradesabove on the flying foe.
"Thank God, it is all over!" Major Warrener said; "but it has been hotwhile it lasted. Have we had many casualties?"
The roll was soon called, and it was found that the besieged hadescaped marvelously. One young fellow, a civil servant, had been shotthrough the head, by a stray ball entering the loophole through whichhe was firing. Thirteen of the defenders of the gateway were woundedwith pistol shots, or with sword cuts; but none of the injuries were ofa serious character.
It was now rapidly becoming dark, and Major Warrener mounted one of thetowers to have a last look.
The enemy had rallied at a distance from the walls, and two freshbodies of troops, with elephants, were to be seen approaching from thedistance.
"That is all right," he said. "They will wait, and renew the attackto-morrow."
An hour afterward it was night. The moon had not risen yet, and MajorWarrener had a huge bonfire lighted outside the gate, with posts andsolid beams from the fallen gates and from the houses.
"That will burn for hours," he said, "quite long enough for ourpurpose."
Lights could be seen scattered all over the side of the plain on whichthe tents were erected, some of them coming up comparatively close tothe walls. On the road in front, but far enough to be well beyond thelight of the fire, voices could be heard, and occasionally a shout thatthey would finish with the infidel dogs to-morrow rose on the
air.Evidently by the low buzz of talk there were a large number here, andprobably the guns had been brought closer, to check any attempt on thepart of the little garrison to dash through their enemies. The blazingfire, however, throwing as it did a bright light upon the empty gatewaythrough which they must pass, showed that at present, at least, thebesieged had no idea of making their escape.
At nine o'clock the whole of the garrison stood to their horses. Notonly had their feet been muffled with the leather shoes, but cloths, ofwhich there were plenty in the village, had been wound round them,until their footfalls would, even on the hardest road, have beennoiseless. Then Major Warrener led the way to the spot where ten menhad been at work during the afternoon.
At this point, which was on the side furthest from that upon which wasthe main camp of the enemy, a clump of trees and bushes grew close tothe wall outside; behind them a hole in the wall, wide enough and highenough for a horse to pass through easily, had been made, and the ditchbehind had been filled up with rubbish. There was no word spoken; everyone had received his orders, and knew what to do; and as silently asphantoms the troop passed through, each man leading his horse. Onceoutside the bushes, they formed fours and went forward, still leadingtheir horses-as these were less likely to snort with their masters attheir heads.
Ten minutes' walking convinced them that they had little to fear, andthat no guards had been set on that side. It was regarded by the enemyas so certain that the English would not abandon their horses and flyon foot, only to be overtaken and destroyed the next day, that they hadonly thought it necessary to watch the gateway through which, as theysupposed, the British must, if at all, escape on horseback.
The troop now mounted, and trotted quietly away, making a wide detour,and then going straight toward Bithri. The moon had risen; and when,about a mile and a half in front, they could see the castle, MajorWarrener, who with Captain Kent and the native guides was riding ahead,held up his hand. The troop came to a halt.
"There are some bullock-carts just ahead. Take the mufflings off yourhorse's feet and ride on by yourself," he said to one of the nativeguides, "and see what is in the wagons, and where they are going."
The man did as ordered, but he needed no questions. The wagons werefull of wounded men going to Bithri. He passed on with a word ofgreeting, turned his horse when he reached a wood a little in front,and allowed them to pass, and then rode back to the troop.
"Four bullock-carts full of wounded, sahib."
"The very thing," Major Warrener exclaimed; "nothing could be morelucky."
Orders were passed down the line that they were to ride along until theleaders were abreast of the first cart, then to halt and dismountsuddenly. The drivers were to be seized, gagged, and bound. The woundedwere not to be injured.
"These men are not mutinous Sepoys, with their hands red with the bloodof women," Major Warrener said; "they are peasants who have foughtbravely for their country, and have done their duty, according to theirlight."