Fix Bay'nets Part 69

"Then friends have attacked the enemy in camp--advanced upon them so as to catch them before daylight."

"Oh! they might ha' waited till it was light enough for us to see, sir.

Mr Bracy, sir, don't, pray don't say it's reg'lars, because if it ain't I couldn't stand it now. I should go down and blubber like a great gal."

"It is a force of regulars, my lad," cried Bracy, whose voice sounded as if he were choking. "Friends are there below in the valley. I know: the Colonel must have been badly beaten at the fort."

"Oh, don't say that, sir."

"It must be. They have been too much for him, and he is retreating with our lads trying to make for the Ghil Pa.s.s. That is the meaning of the gathering last night to bar their way."

"Oh Lor'! oh Lor'! and us not able to fire a shot to help 'em. Be any use to begin, sir, like for signals to show we're here?"

"No," said Bracy sadly; "our single shots could not be heard."

"Not if we fired both together, sir?" cried Gedge wildly. "I'll load for you."

"How could they distinguish between our shots and those of the enemy you can hear crackling?"

"Course not, sir. I'm a poor idjit sometimes. But oh! why does it keep dark down there so long when it's getting quite light up here? We can't see what's going on a bit."

"No; but my ears tell me pretty plainly," said Bracy excitedly.

"Mr Bracy, sir."

"Yes?"

"We aren't worse, are we, and all this a sort o' nightmare before we loses ourselves altogether?"

"No, man, no. Listen. They must be getting the worst of it."

"Our lads, sir? Oh, don't say that! There must be a lot of them, by the volley-firing. Don't say they're being cut up."

"The enemy, man. Can't you hear how steady the firing is?--Splendid. I can almost see them. The enemy must be retiring stubbornly, and they're following them up."

"Yes, sir; that's it," cried Gedge wildly. "Go on, sir; go on."

"Their officers are holding the men well in hand, so as not to come to a charge in that broken country, and withering the crowd with their fire to make them scatter."

"Right, sir, right. That's it. Oh, if we was only there!"

There was a pause--the two men listening.

"The enemy's firing sounds more broken up, and is getting feebler."

"Yes, sir; I can make out that," panted Gedge. "Oh! I say, don't let the lads get out of hand and follow the beggars where they can get hold of the bay'nets and use their long knives."

For another half-hour the pair lay listening to the engagement going on, till it seemed as if the daylight below would never come. Then the darkness gave way, to display far below a cold grey mist, through which clouds of smoke were softly rising; and Bracy brought his gla.s.s to bear upon the fight still raging furiously, and looked in silence till Gedge turned to him:

"Oh, do say something, sir! Our lads--they ain't being cut up, sir, are they?"

"No, no, I think not, my lad; but I can hardly make out what is going on at present. Ha! it's gradually growing lighter there. The enemy are not where they were last night, and the troops are there."

"Then they've took the beggars' camp, sir?"

"That does not follow," said Bracy, whose eyes were glued to his gla.s.s.--"I can make out the white-coats now. They have divided, and are upon the rising ground all round. Our poor fellows must have fallen into a trap."

"No, sir; no, sir, they couldn't, sir," cried Gedge; "they'd have seen that fire and known there was an enemy."

"Yes, I forgot the fire," said Bracy. "Oh, if the sun would only shine down upon them now!"

"But he won't, sir; he never will when he's wanted to. He won't shine there for an hour yet."

"Yes--no--yes--no," panted Bracy at slow intervals; and Gedge wrung his hands, like a woman in trouble, whimpering out:

"Oh! who's to know what that means, with his 'Yes--no--yes--no'? Mr Bracy, sir, do--do say that our lads are whipping the beggars back."

"Yes," cried Bracy excitedly; "I can see now; the hill-men are scattered and running towards the mountains."

"Hoorray!" yelled Gedge. "Hoorray! Hoorray! Hark at the steady volleys still, sir! Hoorray! Who wouldn't be a soldier of the Queen?"

"Ha! Who indeed?" sighed Bracy.

"And it don't matter, sir, now?" said Gedge.

"No; not so much, my lad; but they'll be hara.s.sed like this all the way to the Ghil Pa.s.s."

"And drive the beggars back, sir. But don't you think we ought to make one try to get down to them, sir? Same as I said last night?"

Bracy was silent as he kept on using his gla.s.s, with the valley below growing clearer--so light now that, the young soldier could begin to see something of the fight with the naked eye, and he joined in the eager watch downward for a time before repeating his question.

"I fear not, my lad," said Bracy, with a sigh. "The enemy are cut in two; one body is retreating down the valley in the direction of the fort; the other, widely scattered, is making for the snow-slope."

"Not coming this way, sir?" cried Gedge.

"Yes, as far as I can see; and our men are steadily in pursuit, firing wherever a crowd collects."

"That's the way to do it, sir; but that's cutting off our retreat."

"Yes."

"Well, then, sir, we must lie low till the enemy is cleared off. They won't come up here."

"No; they must be making for the track we crossed--the one below there, where we saw the men going towards the valley-bend."

"That's it, sir, and they've got their work cut out; but our lads won't follow 'em right up there."

"No; they will only follow till they have scattered them as far as possible."