CHAPTER EIGHT.
A NIGHT ATTACK.
Being perfectly secure from Mormon interference--at all events, for themoment--Grenville and the two Zulus proceeded somewhat leisurely ontheir way to the rock, for, truth to tell, all three were suffering fromboth hunger and fatigue, and their one single consolation consisted of agood smoke.
And now, as they gradually knocked off the weary miles which lay betweenthe central river and the great rock, Grenville heard the details of theZulu expedition to the eastern bridge.
These active children of the veldt had made a very wide detour duringthe first night, and safely reached the desired shelter of the timberabout an hour before dawn, and had watched and slept by turns all day,having first satisfied themselves that no large force of the enemy wasnear at hand. On the bridge they found two guards instead of one,which, as they said, "made their hearts glad, as the fight would be afair one," for the astute Myzukulwa had determined that _at least threerockets should go up_, by hook or by crook. Instead, therefore, ofalarming the sentinels by showing their persons at dusk, they came uponthe miserable men in the most approved Zulu fashion, and settled themout of hand, without even giving them the chance of firing a shot.
The pair had then coolly sat down and talked, debating how many rocketsto fire, and had ultimately concluded that Amaxosa, who was quite _aufait_ with the method of sending up these aerial messengers, shoulddespatch _five_, and thus cause the Mormons to believe that Winfield andthe escaped Zulu had joined themselves to the audacious invaders oftheir secret kingdom.
No sooner was this operation satisfactorily performed than the brothersprepared to set out for the central bridge, when they were all at onceassailed by five or six Mormons, who had sprung from somewhere close athand, and a desperate battle of course ensued. One of the attackingparty, in trying to shoot Myzukulwa, had kindly missed that worthy and"potted" one of his own friends, and in less time than it takes to tell,three of the enemy were dead and the others retreating at full speed;but not knowing how many more might be lying hid, the Zulus for a wonderconcluded discretion to be the better part of valour, and after turningoff the bridge had come at a slinging trot all the way to Grenville'sposition, which, as we have already seen, they reached just in the verynick of time.
When the trio had put in nearly two hours' solid work, poor Grenvillegrew faint with fatigue, exposure, and loss of blood. The grey ghostlymists of dawn were now hanging over the party on every side; but, as faras Amaxosa could judge, they were still an hour's journey from the rock,and as the Mormons might have sent a fast detachment by the westernbridge, it behoved our friends to lose no time.
For some way the faithful Zulus, themselves nearly dead beat, halfsupported, half carried Grenville, only to find, when they spoke to him,that he was fast asleep on his feet; laying him gently down, the pairlooked at each other as if wondering what to do, when suddenly acolossal figure seemed to burst out of the mist and dash right down uponthem at full speed; in one instant the Zulus sprang over their fallenchief and raised their spears to meet the foe, but all at once Myzukulwalowered his weapon quietly. "Ow! Inkoos," he said. "Ow!"
The new arrival was Alf Leigh, riding the quagga, which had shortlybefore carried the lovely Rose of Sharon. Seeing his cousin'smotionless and bloodstained body, he threw himself off the animal andfell on his knees beside it. "Dick! Dick! my poor old Dick--dead!dead! dead! Oh, God! oh, God! what shall I do? Would I had died forthee, my dear old Dick!"
"Stay, Inkoos," said Amaxosa gently. "My father the lion-hearted chiefis not dead; he does but sleep the sleep of the wounded and the weary.At yonder bridge, by the dark River of Death, did the sons of Undi findtheir father, the mighty warrior, surrounded by heaps upon heaps of deadand dying men, and also by men yet living who thirsted for his blood;but his faithful war-dogs chased away these evil ones; even as the chaffthey flew before the fierce wind; but they were not, for the sons ofUndi slew them. And but now, as you came, had we laid the Inkoos ourfather on the grass, for he sleeps a sleep of weariness, of cold, ofhunger, and of blood; and we, his weary children, are too worn to carryhim; yet if the Inkoos will take our father on the horse, we will aidhim gladly."
And so the noble fellows did; and Leigh, with fervent thanks to Heavenfor the miraculous escape of his beloved cousin, lifted him on to thequagga, and held him there with Myzukulwa's help, whilst Amaxosa tookthe animal's head, and led the way at a quiet pace--not, however, beforeLeigh had first refreshed the Zulus with a strong nip of brandy.
At last they reached the rock, just as the sun rose, and laid the stillunconscious Grenville down to have his rest out, whilst the Zulus flungtheir tired bodies down and were instantly asleep.
When our hero at last awoke, feeling stiff, sore, and very hungry, hestared about him in sheer astonishment, and wondered whether he stilldreamed. He had no recollection of having reached the rock, yet he knewhe was inside it, and quickly realised that he must have been in someway carried there.
To rest was soothing, but the pangs of hunger were gnawing his veryvitals, and heaving a weary sigh he made a movement to rise. At thismoment a small white hand was laid upon his shoulder, and a sweet voice,which he at once recognised, said in tones of playful command, "Liestill, sir; I can't afford to let you become an invalid."
"Ah! young lady," he said, "and how is the Rose of Sharon this morning,and did her curious-looking pony bring her safely here?"
"Thank you, I am very well," replied the young girl, coming round to theother side of the cavern and looking down upon him as he leaned lazilyon one elbow; "only it isn't morning, but four o'clock in the afternoon;and don't you mock at my little horse--you would never have got here butfor him. There now, don't talk any more. Just lie down again and I'llbring you some food, which Dora is getting ready;" but as Rose turnedaway Miss Winfield herself entered with a big plateful of boiled fish,the best food, she said, they could offer him at present.
Both girls looked fresh and hearty, and neat as new pins, much toGrenville's surprise, for the storm of the night before was calculatedto have ruined every garment they possessed.
Whilst he ate greedily, the girls explained that the storm had hardlytouched them until near the rock itself, and by dint of making the poorquagga carry double burden they had practically arrived in shelterbefore any serious harm was done.
"Very hard on the animal, Mr Grenville, I can assure you," said Dora;"two of Rose wouldn't have mattered so much, you know, but when I got onhis back I felt certain I could hear him groan. When the poor littlebeastie got here he thought, I suppose, that he could rest, but themoment the storm began to clear off Mr Leigh insisted on mounting himand riding away to look for you. He found you lying so fast asleep thathe took you for dead, and the Zulus were at their wits' end, not knowingwhat to do, so you were mounted and brought here in a state ofunconsciousness."
"Well done, Alf," said Grenville; "it was a risky thing to set out byhimself in this country so mounted and on such a night, but he alwayswas a plucky fellow. Where is everybody, Miss Winfield?"
"My father and the Zulus have gone to Amaxosa's cave to bring up therest of the dried meat at nightfall, and have taken the quagga withthem, and your cousin is here to look after Rose and myself."
"And a very good judge, too," said Grenville, noticing that the fairgirl blushed when she named his cousin; "but Miss Winfield--"
"Won't you call me Dora?" said the girl; "Mr Leigh does."
"With pleasure," said Grenville heartily, "provided you will play fairlyand call me Dick."
This was agreed upon, as also that Rose and himself should be equallyintimate for the future.
"You see," explained Miss Winfield, "we have been called Sister Rose andSister Dora so long, that surnames sound odd to us, and I really thinkthey are somewhat out of place in the African bush."
"Well, Dora, I was about to say," resumed Grenville, "that I haveenjoyed the fish very much, and am extremely glad to know that we canprocure such a valuable
addition to our scanty bill of fare; but haven'tyou been unwise to light a fire in the daytime? Believe me, theseMormon bloodhounds are to be feared, and we are by no means out of thewood yet."
Both girls laughed, and then quoth Rose: "You forget I am a Mormonbloodhound, sir, and that this is my country; and let me tell you we ownmany strange and wonderful things--amongst them, a boiling spring, whichbubbles up close to the rock, if you know where to find it, and thereinwe have cooked all our food. Seriously, I must thank you very, verymuch for helping me yesterday, and let me add that all the annals of ourrace contain no instance of such determined bravery and devoted heroismas you exhibited at the bridge last night. You saved me from death orworse than death, at the hands of the detested Holy Three; and when thetime comes, remember that the Mormon queen will pay you life for life."And with the tears starting from her fine eyes this strange girl sweptimperially away, followed almost immediately by Dora, after she hadfirst instructed Grenville to sleep again, which he did, dreamingalternately of fair-haired and dark-browed maidens, and Mormonsthirsting for his blood.
All that night Grenville again slept soundly, and when he awoke in themorning he was quite his own man again, much to the relief of allconcerned.
His first act was to make several necessary provisions for the comfortof the young ladies, after which he again inspected the defences of therock with a dissatisfied air.
"What's the matter with the place, Dick?" said Leigh; "it'simpregnable."
"Not a bit of it, Alf," was the reply; "if they attack any night beforethe moon rises, they can shoot us through our own loopholes like rats ina cage."
"I never thought of that," said Leigh, pulling a long face; and havingcalled the rest of the fighting brigade into council, this seriousdifficulty was discussed at considerable length, but the only, and toGrenville unsatisfactory, conclusion arrived at was to lay on the groundafter nightfall a number of small fires made of resinous wood, andconnected with the rock by trains of powder. The Zulus were to patrolthe neighbourhood from dusk until moonrise, and give notice of anyhostile approach, when the trains would be fired and the beaconslighted, to enable the besieged to shoot accurately. This scheme hadweak points about it which disturbed Grenville, who now knew thefighting qualities of the Mormons. Still he could suggest nothingbetter, and could only hope their enemies would altogether fail todiscover the present position of the devoted little band. Scoutingparties had several times been seen outlying on the adjacent veldt, butit was only after the lapse of three full days that Myzukulwa found aMormon skulking in the woods, and clearly watching their movements: himhe slew, but it was evident that the man was only an advance guard, forthat very night, as soon as darkness set in, both scouts gave the dangersignal within a few moments of each other, and as soon as they hadregained the rock, Grenville lighted the fires, and sent his marksmen tothe loopholes.
This movement was only executed just in time, for about three scoreMormons were already half-way across the open glade. For anotherhundred yards they advanced steadily, under a murderous fire, and thengave way, and fled back to their covers, leaving upwards of a dozen menon the ground, having failed in getting within range to fire a singleshot from their own guns.
"Alf," said Grenville, "this won't do at all: three of our shots werethrown away, for on three several occasions we both took the same man;you keep the left advance in hand and I'll take care of the right."
Winfield, who had loaded all the captured Mormon guns, was anxious tojoin in the fray, but the enemy was of course quite out of his reach,and the two Zulus were fairly itching to use their spears, where theystood guarding the entrance to the cave.
Again the Mormons tried a rush, and again were driven back by the deadlyhail of bullets from the repeating rifles, and quickly retreating intothe woods, all grew still as death. And but for the corpses strewnabout the sward no one would have imagined that a fierce and bloodyfight was even now in progress.
Half an hour passed, and dashing the butt of his rifle on the ground,Grenville swore roundly.
"Just what I expected; the cunning rascals are waiting till yonderbeacons are burnt out, and then they'll rush us."
"Can't we mend the fires?" anxiously suggested Leigh; "we've plenty offuel."
"No, old man, they've got a rifle hidden in the grass less than 100yards from every fire. Just watch, and you'll see. Yonder scoundrel is500 yards if he is an inch, but I'll see if I can't rouse the snake outof that."
A careful sight preceded the report, and the concealed Mormon boundedfrom his hiding-place, with a bullet through his shoulder, only to beshot dead before he could move another yard.
A cry of astonishment broke from the forest--the range of the Englishrifles exceeded all they had feared or believed.
And now fire after fire died out, and Grenville commanded his littleparty to take up certain positions, where they would be more or lessscreened, and also confided the two girls to a perfectly safe corner,and then waited the result, straining his eyes through the darkness tocatch a glimpse of the foe, as he felt sure the Mormon crowd must now beon their way across the open space and speeding towards the rock.
Just at this critical moment the beleaguered party was relieved, and atthe same time fairly astonished by an extraordinary occurrence.Half-way between the rock and the fringe of forest the ashes of one firehad been quietly smouldering for some moments, after all the otherbeacons were clean burnt out; and now, as all listened intently,expecting to hear the cautious tread of the approaching foe, a curiousrumbling sound was heard, and a single instant later a liquid column offire suddenly burst from the ground, shooting up to the height of thirtyor forty feet, where it uniformly hung like a gigantic fountain ofliving flame, whose waves, as they reached the ground, scorched thegrass and rolled irresistibly towards the forest like a sea of blazingboiling lava.
The fire had burnt through the earth's crust and ignited a vastreservoir of petroleum, which now sprang heavenwards in a vivid pillarof lurid light, plainly revealing every stick and stone for fully half amile around the rock.
All this Grenville realised as it were by instinct; but there was notime to observe the extraordinary natural phenomenon, for the wholeMormon army appeared to be rushing across the open glade within twohundred and fifty yards of the rock.
The fire of the besieged was close and deadly; and though upwards oftwenty men fell to rise no more, whilst another score or two turned tailand incontinently fled into cover, still some ten in number, braver thantheir comrades, gained the rock and attempted to enter, only to fall auseless sacrifice to the spears of the Zulus and the revolvers of Leighand Winfield.
Thus closed the Mormon attack on the rocky fortress of the little band.
Careful watch was kept all night, but at dawn not a living soul was tobe seen, and ascending the rock Grenville soon found that the entireparty had gone clean away, leaving only their dead and their shame.
He had at first feared that the molten stream of fire would ignite theforest; this, however, was prevented by the river near the rock, intowhich the boiling oil poured, and was carried harmlessly away,incalculable wealth thus being wasted hourly before their very eyes.