CHAPTER XXVII.
BY THE NAYA'S ORDERS.
A SHORT time only did we remain in doubt as to the intention of thepopulace. The suppressed excitement found vent even before the clouds ofchoking smoke had rolled away. The signal had been given, and instantlythey responded with fierce yells, throwing themselves suddenly upon thesoldiers, using weapons that seemed to have been produced like magic.
Those who had effected our capture, dumbfounded, first by the appallingexplosion, and then by the hostile attitude of the people, released usinstantly, being compelled to fight for their lives back towards thesmoking ruins of the palace-gate.
Within a few moments the great broad thoroughfare, with its handsomehouses, became the scene of a most fierce and sanguinary conflict. Riflesflashed everywhere, in the street, from the windows and roofs ofsurrounding buildings, pouring a fire upon the soldiers so deadly thatfew succeeded in escaping back to the place whence they came. Withstartling suddenness I found myself in the midst of this stirring scene,fighting for life beside Omar. Both of us had snatched rifles andammunition from fallen soldiers, while someone in the crowd had given mea fine sword with bejewelled hilt, which I hastily buckled on in case ofemergency. Behind us a great barricade was being built of the firstthings that came to hand. The houses were being divested of theirfurniture by a hundred busy hands, and this, piled high, with spaces hereand there for the guns, soon presented a barrier formidable, almostinsurmountable. The erection of barricades was, we afterwards found, partof the scheme, for in all the principal thoroughfares similar piles wereconstructed, each being manned by a sturdy body of men, well-armed anddetermined to hold in check and repulse the attack which they knew would,ere long, be made upon them by the military.
The forces of Mo, feared on every hand for their daring and brilliantfeats were, we knew, not to be trifled with, and as word had beensecretly conveyed to Omar that the Naya, on hearing of the intention ofthe people, had ordered her soldiers to institute an indiscriminatemassacre, we should have to fight hard to save our lives.
The barricade was soon completed, and quickly word spread from mouth tomouth to get behind it. This we all did, to the number of about threethousand; then came a period of waiting. It was not our object to renewthe attack, but to await reprisals. Apparently, however, the blowing upof the palace-gate had utterly disconcerted the royal troops whosebarracks were in that vicinity, and we could see by the crowd of movingtorches that the soldiers were engaged in repairing the huge breach madein the walls before marching forth to quell the insurrection.
In the darkness we waited patiently. A few desultory shots, fired by someof our more adventurous partisans, who, climbing to the top of thebarricade, aimed where they saw the torches moving, broke the ominoussilence, but in distant parts of the city we could hear the rapid firingof musketry, with now and then a loud thundering roar when a heavyfield-piece was discharged.
Each moment seemed an hour as we remained inactive behind that improvisedbarrier of doors, shutters, furniture, iron gates and railings. Omar andI were standing together beside one of the three Maxim guns by which ourposition was defended, watching the preparations being made on the top ofthe hill for assaulting us, when suddenly there was a bright flash, andnext instant a great shell fell behind us, bursting and dealing death anddestruction among our ranks. The air became rent by the shrill cries ofthe wounded and the hoarse agonized exclamations of the dying, for thisfirst shot from the palace had been terribly effective, and fully fiftyof those anxious to bear their part in the struggle for liberty had beenkilled, while many others were wounded. The shell had unfortunatelyfallen right in the centre of the crowd.
Again another was discharged, but it whistled over our heads and explodedfar away behind us, shattering several houses, but injuring nobody. Athird and a fourth were sent at us, but neither were so effective as thefirst. The breach in the wall where the gate had once been had now beenrepaired, and the adherents of the Great White Queen were at last takingthe offensive.
Both Omar and myself had earlier that day, during our visit to the storeof arms, been instructed in the use of that terror of modern warfare, theMaxim gun, and the one against which we stood with two men had beenallotted to us.
My companion, who had been watching with the deadly weapon ready sightedto sweep the street, turned to ask news of Liola, whom we had not seensince we were dragged from her father's house, and I had taken his place,my hand ready to fire. Of Liola's fate I feared the worst. She had beentaken prisoner, and had probably been killed or injured in the fierce_melee_.
Suddenly with wild yells, several hundred of the Naya's horsemen dasheddown the hill, their swords whirling, followed by a huge force of menmounted and dismounted. I saw that at last they had come forth for theattack, and without a second's hesitation bent and commenced a fire, theterrible rattling of which held me appalled. The guns on either sidefollowed mine in chorus, and almost momentarily we were pouring out sucha hail of bullets, that amid the smoke and fire the great body of horsesand troops were mowed down like grass before the scythe. The foremost inthe cavalry ranks had no time to lift their carbines to reply, ere theywere swept into eternity, and those coming behind, although making adesperate stand, fell riddled by bullets from our three terrible enginesof destruction.
The fight with Samory's fugitives on the Way of the Thousand Steps hadbeen exciting enough, but in extent or bloodshed was not to be comparedwith this. In that single onward rush of the Naya's troops hundreds werekilled, for, ceasing our fire for a moment or two while the smokecleared, we saw, lying in the street, great piles of men and horses, whohad fallen upon one another in their forward dash and died under ourfrightful hail of lead.
A short pause, and the rifles and all the chorus of surrounding artillerytook up their thunder-song with increased energy. These works of manoutrivalled the natural elements by their tremendous booming and theirdisastrous power. Shells from the palace walls fell upon us thick andfast. No lightning's flash can accomplish such ruin as the modernordnance projectile. A few centuries back the thought would have beenincomprehensible; even so the visionary and ridiculed idea of to-day maybe realised in the future. The shots descended, a veritable storm oflead, and several times the clouds of choking dust they set up envelopedus; but we were undaunted, and continued to work the Maxim, spreading itsdeath-dealing rain up the broad thoroughfare and preventing any fromreaching our barricade.
The idea of the troops was no doubt to gradually force us back from theexternal positions of the city into the central, and from the centre tothe east in the direction of the gate that gave access to the country. Bythis means the fighting area would be compressed, and we should besurrounded by a large body of our enemies who had massed outside the gateto cut off our retreat. But the thundering boom of cannon and sharprattle of musketry on our right, showed that our comrades, barricaded ina great thoroughfare running parallel with the one wherein we were, hadalso set to work to repel their enemy.
Barricades had sprung up in all directions like magic. The four cornersof intersecting streets were the positions mostly chosen for them, andevery conceivable article was used in their construction. Women andchildren vied with the men in activity and resourcefulness in theerection of these improvised works of defence, and the work slackened noteven when shells and bullets fell about in dangerous proximity.
Our companions, the partisans of Omar to whom they looked to delivertheir country from the thraldom of tyranny, were fortunately not devoidof those soldier-like qualities which in past ages had raised themilitary renown of Mo to the greatest altitude; what they lacked mostlyoutside of themselves were capable officering and generalship. There werea few officers of the royal army among them, men who had become convincedthat a change of government was necessary, but the people were left to dobattle mainly on the principle of individual enterprise.
Time after time attacks, each increasing in strength and proving moredisastrous to us than the first, were made upon us. But our Maxims keptup
their rattle, and from every part of the great wall of paving stones,furniture, trees and heaped-up miscellaneous articles, there poured outvolley after volley from bristling rifles.
The troops quickly found the street absolutely untenable, for each timethey made a rush to storm our position they were compelled to fall back,and few indeed reached a place of safety amid our deadly fire. When wehad held the barricade for nearly an hour, Kona, Omar and myself beingclose together bearing our part in repulsing our opponents, a loud roarsuddenly sounded before us and at the same instant a huge shell,imbedding itself in our defences, exploded with a bright light anddeafening report.
The havoc caused was appalling. Half our barricade was blown completelyaway, and besides killing and maiming dozens of our comrades, itshattered several houses close by, and its force sent me down flat uponmy back. Instantly I struggled to my feet, and finding myself uninjuredsave for a severe laceration of the hand, glanced round seeking my twofriends. But they were not there!
The shell had set part of the barricade on fire, and already the flameswere rising high, lighting up the terrible, lurid scene. Again I bent tomy Maxim and recommenced firing, but as I did so another shell, only toowell directed, struck the opposite end of our defences, and instantly adisaster resulted similar to the first, while a house at the same momentfell with a terrible crash, burying several unfortunate fellows beneathits _debris_.
Instantly I saw that our defences were partially demolished, and as shellafter shell fell in rapid succession in our vicinity and exploded, ourgallant defenders, still determined to prove victors, rushed up the hillto try conclusions with the Naya's troops. It was a wild, mad dash, and Ifound myself carried forward in the onrush of several thousand excitedmen. Meeting the remnant of the cavalry we fought with savage ferocity,alternately being beaten and beating. I had lost Omar, Kona and Goliba,half fearing that they had been blown to atoms by the shell, neverthelessthe courage of my comrades never failed, although gaining the top of thehill and defeating the cavalry by sheer force of numbers, they weredriven back again at the point of the bayonet, while from the ruins ofthe palace-gate a steady rifle fire was poured upon us at the same time.
Half-way down the hill we made a gallant stand, but again were compelledto fall back in disorder. Soon we were driven from the main thoroughfareinto the minor streets, refuging in and fighting from the houses, whilstour foe steadily and angrily pursued and closed in upon us, dislodging usfrom our shelters and leaving few loop-holes for escape.
The carnage was awful; quarter was refused. It seemed as though our hopewas a forlorn one; the general and ruthless massacre ordered by the GreatWhite Queen had actually begun!
The loss of our barricade paralysed us. Yet we could hear the roar andtumult, and seeing the reflection of fires in other parts of the city,only hoped that our comrades there were holding their own valiantly as wehad struggled to do. Ever and anon loud explosions sounded above thethunder of artillery, and it became apparent that the royal troops wereengaged in blowing up any defences they could not take by assault.
From where I had sought shelter behind a high wall with a lattice windowthrough which I continually discharged my rifle into the roadway, I sawmassacres within walls and without. The troops had poured down upon us inabsolutely overwhelming numbers, and no resistance by our weakened forcecould now save us. One fact alone reassured me and gave me courage. Inthe bright red glare shed by the flames from a burning building, among aparty who made a sally from the opposite house I caught a momentaryglance of the lithe, active figure of Omar, fighting desperately againsta body of the Naya's infantry and leading on his comrades with loudshouts of encouragement.
"Do your duty, men!" he gasped. "Let not your enemies crush you!"
But the _melee_ was awful. Once again our partisans were driven back, andthe street was strewn with bodies in frightful array, left where theyfell, uncovered, unattended.
The thick black cloud of smoke which hung over the City in the Clouds andon either side of it obscured the rising dawn and intensified the horrorsof the awful drama. Fires raged in every direction, making the air hot;it was close through the smoke cloud above and the absence of wind,foetid with the odour of human blood that lay in pools in every streetand splashed upon the houses. The sight was majestic, terrible,never-to-be-forgotten; in the midst of it the terror and stupefactionwere almost beyond human endurance. On all sides were heard the roar offlames, the breaking of timbers and the crashing in of roofs and walls.Fire and sword reigned throughout the magnificent capital of Mo; itspeople were being swept into eternity with a relentless brutality thatwas absolutely fiendish.
Into the hearts of the survivors of the gallant force who had so readilyconstructed our barricade and so valiantly defended it, despair hadentered. There was now no hope for the success of our cause. The forcesof tyranny, oppression and misrule were fast proving the victors, and inthat fearful indiscriminate shooting down of men, women and children thatwas proceeding, all knew that sooner or later they must fall victims.
I had seen nothing of Kona or Goliba since the wrecking of ourbarricade, but Omar, I was gratified to observe, was stationed at awindow of the opposite house from which he directed well-aimed shots atthose below. A body of fully five hundred infantry were besieging thehouse wherein a large number of our comrades had taken shelter,determined to put them to the sword; yet so desperate was the resistancethat they found it impossible to enter, and many were killed in theirfutile endeavours. At length I noticed that while the main body coveredthe movements of several of their companions the latter were preparing amine by which to blow it up. With the half-dozen men beside me we kept upa galling fire upon them, but all in vain. The mine was laid; only aspark was required to blow the place into the air.
Knowing that if such a catastrophe were accomplished we, too, must sufferbeing in such close proximity to it, we waited breathlessly, unable toescape from the vicinity of the deadly spot.
Suddenly, as one man, more fearless than the others, bent to fire themine, the soldiers, with one accord, rushed back, and scarce daring tobreathe I waited, fearing each second to see the house and its garrisonshattered to fragments and myself receive the full force of theexplosive.
But at that instant, even as I watched, a loud exultant shout broke uponmy ear, and looking I saw approaching from the opposite end of the streeta great crowd of people rushing forward, firing rapidly as they came.
They were our comrades. Their shouts were shouts of victory!
"Kill them!" they cried. "Let not one escape. They have killed ourbrothers; let us have revenge! The Naya shall die, and Omar shall be ourNaba!"
The man bending over the explosive sprang back in fear without havingapplied the fatal spark, and his companions, taken thus completely bysurprise, stood amazed at this sudden appearance of so large a body ofthe populace. But the rifles of the latter in a few seconds had laid lowseveral of their number, and then, making a stand, they lowered theirweapons. A loud word of command sounded, and as if from one weapon avolley was fired full upon the victorious people. For a few moments itsdeadly effect checked their progress, but an instant later they resumedtheir onward rush, and ere a second volley could be fired they had flungthemselves upon their opponents, killing them with bayonet, sword andpistol.
Their rush was in too great a force to be withstood. As in other parts ofthe city, so here, they compelled the troops to fly before them, and shotthem down as they sped back up the hill towards the great stronghold.
In those few fateful minutes the tables had suddenly been turned. Whilewe, fighting hard in that hot corner, had imagined that we had lost, ourcomrades in other parts of the city had won a magnificent victory, andhad come to our rescue at the eleventh hour.
Truly it was everywhere a fierce and bloody fight.