CHAPTER XXXII.
WAR.
TWELVE days later I found myself accompanying Kona who, at the head of agreat force of over eighteen thousand men, was crossing the treacherousquicksands by the Way of the Thousand Steps. The critical position of Mohad been fully discussed by Omar, his officers and sages, and it had beendecided to send, in addition to the force of twenty thousand men to theHombori Mountains on the northern frontier, a second expedition to travelwith all swiftness across the sandy plain and make a dash upon Samory'sstronghold at Koussan in the absence of its picked troops.
Within two days after Makhana had brought news of the coming invasion,the whole of the twenty thousand men, with Omar himself at their head,had marched out of the capital on their way to defend the pass. I hadexpressed a wish to accompany them, but my friend had requested me to gowith the expedition to Samory's capital because, having been there incaptivity, I could act as guide. To this I made no objection, and biddingfarewell to Omar, Goliba and Niaro at the city gate, I had watched themride away at the head of a brilliant cavalcade, and the same evening atsundown descended the face of the cliff by the long flight of steps, andjumping into the saddle of a horse held ready for me, rode with all hasteto catch up Kona who, as leader of our expedition, had already startedfor the gigantic precipice known as the Gate of Mo.
To Niaro, an excellent officer, the leadership of the defending force hadbeen entrusted, as he had already had experience of fighting in theHombori country, having been second in command of Kouaga's expeditionwhen he conquered the tribes of Massina, while Kona, who had with him hisvaliant Dagombas, had orders to enrol another thousand men of that tribewhen passing through their territory, prior to our dash upon Samory'scountry.
The passage to the desert by the Way of the Thousand Steps was abrilliant feat, for of our great force not a single life was lost, and sorapidly did we travel, that within two weeks of the day we left thepalace, our Dagombas, who preferred their native spears and arrows tofirearms, were enrolled and we were well on our way to the Great SaltRoad, a mere native path notwithstanding its imposing designation,towards Samory's great fortress-city.
Heedless of the noontide heat we pushed forward over stony desert andgreen grass-land, now plunging into those gloomy dismal forests ofeternal darkness where the stench of decaying vegetation sickened us,only to emerge again into the open plain devoid of shade, scorched by thepitiless rays of the fiery sun. Snatching brief rests, and pushing forever onward our great host of armed men and carriers, with the vigilantKona at their head, pressed forward, entering at last the land of ourenemies.
The Dagomba scouts, travelling before us, splendid fellows, all eyes andears, who could detect the slightest indication of an enemy's presencefar or near, whether it were the broken twig at one's feet or the suddenrising of a bird in the distance, kept us well informed of alltranspiring on every side. For a hundred miles we marched through theArab chieftain's land without any of its inhabitants dreaming of thepresence of a hostile force, and it was only by our sudden descent onenight upon the small walled town of Torola, which we sacked and burned,that they were awakened to the truth.
But ere the news could spread to Koussan, about forty English milesdistant, we, by a forced march, had already reached the capital. Making adash upon the place by night with our Maxim and Hotchkiss guns, thegarrison were completely taken by surprise, nevertheless so well were itshigh white walls defended, that our forces were driven back with severeloss.
Undaunted however, Kona, who placed himself at the head of our Dagombaallies, backed by the well-armed soldiers of Mo, made a second assaultupon a point that had been indicated by our spies as weaker than theothers. The fighting was desperate, and the sight, viewed from where Iwas standing with the reinforcements, was one of exceeding grandeur.Night was rendered almost bright as day by the constant flashing of guns,and the noise of the tumult ever increasing sounded high above theconstant roar of artillery. Suddenly, as I gazed across the plain towhere the sharp conflict was proceeding, a brilliant blue flash blindedme and an instant later a deafening explosion caused the ground totremble, while the red light of the guns gleamed through the increasingveil of smoke, and I saw that our men had successfully placed a minebeneath that portion of the fortifications near where they were fighting,and it had been fired, effecting a great breach through which they nextmoment poured, engaging the defenders hand to hand.
Soon afterwards a signal light flashed thrice, as had been agreed, andsix thousand men, including myself, sped over the plain to reinforce ourcomrades. Soon, clambering over the fallen masonry where the enormousbreach had been made, I found myself with my sword, the one I had used inthe conquest of Mo, hacking right and left, endowed with a strength thatonly came to me in moments of intense excitement.
The dash we made was indeed a brilliant one. The Arab defenders were, wefound, fully equal to us in numbers and were withal magnificent soldiers,for in the broad squares of the city their cavalry, with their whiteflowing robes and heavy curved swords, committed frightful havoc in ourranks, yet in such numbers had we clambered into the great chieftain'sstronghold that they became gradually hampered in the streets and, unableto manoeuvre, were compelled to dismount and engage us in combat. Thefight proved an even more desperate and bloody one than that whichresulted in the dethronement of the Naya. So equally matched were theforces, that the struggle raged with frightful ferocity, each sidedetermined to secure the victory. In the old Moorish-looking streets, sonarrow that two asses could scarce pass abreast, there were encountersmore desperate than any I had ever witnessed, for the soldiers of Samoryand the fighting-men of Mo, the two most fierce and valiant forces in thewhole of the African continent, were pitted against each other.
Cutting our way forward, I found myself at last beneath the highwhitewashed wall of the great Djamaea Thelatha Biban, or Mosque of theThree Gates, one of the most ancient in the city. I recognised it by itsfine dome standing out white against the flame-illumined sky, andremembered that when a captive in the hands of the brutal Arab ruler,Omar had translated to me the fine Kufic inscription on its handsomefacade, recording its construction by Mohammed Ibn Kheiroun el-Maaeferi inthe second century of the Hedjira. For a moment I paused under itshandsome entrance of black and white marble, when suddenly Kona rushedtowards me, crying:
"Quick, Master! Fly for thy life, here, across the square!" and as hetore away as fast as his long black legs would carry him, I followedwondering.
Scarcely had we reached the opposite side of the great market-place whena deafening roar sounded, and an instant later, as I turned, I saw thegreat dome crack, tremble and collapse, together with the high whiteminaret, while the whole of its facade fell out with a terrific crash inthe opposite direction. Our men had blown up the principal mosque inSamory's capital, an action which increased tenfold the rage of ourfierce fanatical enemies.
With loud yells they fell upon us from every quarter, when a few minuteslater they realised what had been done, and during the next hour theconflict became terrific. Hundreds were struck to earth by bullets andswords, and it appeared to me, striving as I was in the midst of thesmoke and heat of battle, that the longer we fought the more numerousbecame the defenders, and the less our chance of success. Yet slowly wehad succeeded in cutting our way from the city wall up the hill crownedby the great white Kasbah, or fortress, which constituted Samory'spalace, and were now actually within sight of it. Fiercely exerting everymuscle we fought to attain our goal, but so desperate was the defence,that time after time our forward movement was prevented, and we werecompelled to fall back bleeding and frustrated. In these valiant attemptsto reach the walls of the Kasbah there fell, at a low estimate, fullyfive hundred of that portion of the force to which I had attached myself.With reinforcements we might have flung back the defenders, yet separatedas we had been into small bodies during the earlier manoeuvres, fightingwas now taking place in every part of the city, no two bodies being ableto unite their forces.
To thus cu
t us off one from another had, no doubt, been the tactics ofthe defenders, for we afterwards learnt that in many instances thesmaller of our gallant little bands had been slaughtered literally to aman.
At last, however, my worst fears began to be realized, for the defenders,receiving reinforcements, swooped suddenly down upon us, and with theirswords and those sharp double-edged knives they carried in their belts,wrought frightful havoc among us everywhere, while upon us another bodypoured a terrible fire from their long-barrelled rifles.
As result of this, although we made a spirited stand, once again we werecompelled to fall back in confusion, leaving many dead and dying upon thestones. Suddenly I heard Kona's well-known voice behind me uttering thefierce war yell of the Dagombas, and next instant we found to oursatisfaction that a great body of his dark oily-faced warriors had cometo our relief. The reckless and savage manner in which they fought a fewmoments later was astounding, and it was certainly due to their courageand strength that the Arabs were first forced back and then cut to piecesand utterly routed.
This, however, did not carry us much further towards the Kasbah, for whenwithin an ace of gaining its walls, another body of Arabs swept acrossthe great square with its clump of date-palms, and with cries of rageattacked us vigorously with rifle and sword. The combat again becameterrible, and in it I received from a big, raw-boned Arab a severesword-cut over the left wrist that caused me excruciating pain. Still Ifought on, although half fearing that our expedition was ill-fated. Wehad believed Samory's capital practically denuded of troops, and of suchstrenuous opposition as that offered we had never dreamed.
But the assertion of the West Coast tribes that the soldiers of themystic land of Mo know not fear is certainly true, for never once didthey falter, although the citadel seemed absolutely unassailable byreason of the fierceness and strength of its defence.
Through the dark night hours we had fought on revengefully, and when dawnspread the grey glimmering light disclosed the terrible result of thedeadly fray. Dead and wounded lay everywhere, and through the suffocatingsmoke the fire of the rifles now seemed yellow where in the darkness ithad appeared blood-red. By some means the Arabs rallied their forces, andI confess that the sight of the overwhelming numbers opposing us causedmy courage to fail. Swiftly and unrelentlessly the attack upon us wasdelivered, and with such vigour that our van fell back, weak anddecimated. Suddenly, without warning, a sound above the din broke uponour ears, startling us.
The rapid cackling was unmistakable, and involuntarily I burst into agood old-fashioned English cheer. One of our Maxims had been tardilybrought into play!
Ere a few moments had elapsed the Arabs, having already had a taste ofthe terrible effect of the deadly weapon during the recent campaignagainst the French and English, stood panic-stricken. Their hesitationproved fatal. Under the hail of lead they were mowed down, and ere theremainder could recover from their astonishment a second weapon wasbrought into play, riddling their ranks with showers of death-dealingmissiles.