For Fortune and Glory Part 27

"If you have so much time to spare, which I very much doubt," said MacBean, "you will employ it better in visiting a very pretty place and a curious. There is just a gap in the earthworks which protects Suakim, a regular breach as one may say, which has to be defended by two strong works, which the sailors have given the names of ships to--Euryalus and Carysfoot they call them. And why is the gap left? And why are the two forts made to defend it instead of filling it up? Just because the rains, which some don't believe in, make a torrent in the proper season, and this is the watercourse, and everything which barred its pa.s.sage would be swept into the sea."

"I recant and apologise," said Green. "The rain quite convinced me of its existence at Baker's Fort, I promise you. But you know you sold me so often that I hardly knew what to believe."

"I never practise upon anybody's credulity in matters of that sort,"

said the doctor. "If a young man likes to believe that the moon is made of green cheese, I may let him; but atmospheric and scientific facts are above being trifled with. Well, if you go through this gap, which is barely a mile off, you will find a very pretty place--the wells, and sycamore trees, and dates. Just the place to spend a happy day. And if you take a bottle or two of champagne, and a _pate de foie gras_, I shall not mind if I make one of the party, and show you the objects of interest."

But such a pic-nic was not destined to come off, nor was there even any opportunity given for testing the coral theory, for there was plenty of work to be done at the moment, and on the eleventh the intending pleasure-seekers started for Baker's zereba at six o'clock in the evening.

Baker Pasha's Egyptians, though they had not proved much good at fighting, and had paid the penalty of their cowardice by undergoing a ma.s.sacre which made the world thrill with horror, were very useful to the avenging force which followed so quickly on their traces. The fort they had constructed near Trinkitat had done much to help the rapid and successful advance upon Tokar; and now the zereba they had made eight miles out from Suakim, and in the direction in which Osman Digna lay with his whole army, made a good first halting-place for the English troops. A zereba, it should be mentioned, is an enclosed s.p.a.ce surrounded by thorn-covered bushes cut down and packed round it, with old packing-cases, or anything else which will afford cover to those inside. This one was particularly strong, being further protected by a mound of earth all round it.

When the force, which was the same as before, with the addition of two hundred Marines, and a mule battery of four nine-pounders, had gone some little way, night fell, but not darkness, for a bright moon lent them her rays. Not such a moon as we are accustomed to in these lat.i.tudes, but a large brilliant orb, by whose light small print might be easily read.

"You have got the best of it," said MacBean, who rode up first to one friend amongst the officers and then to another, detailing information which he managed to pick up, he himself best knew how; but it was, as a rule, exceptionally correct. "The Highlanders, who marched out to the zereba yesterday in the heat, suffered awfully. There were five cases of sunstroke, and lots of other men had a narrow squeak of being bowled over too."

"I can easily imagine it," replied Major Elmfoot, "for it was hot enough in camp."

"It is not exactly what you would call bracing to-night, even," said Fitzgerald.

And, indeed, the air was very close, and the march over the loose sand fatiguing. But the men stepped out merrily, and joke and song lightened the way. There was an improvisatore in the Blankshire, whose comrades considered him a wonderful genius, though, as a matter of fact, his extempore effusions only consisted of taking some well-known song, and altering certain words or lines to suit a particular occasion.

But this was far more successful than original composition would have been, because it was so readily understood and caught up; and the man was really shrewd, and often hit on something appropriate.

He now trolled out in a clear, ringing voice, with every word distinct, a new version of "The Poacher":--

"When I was bound apprentice in a village of Blanksheer, I served my master truly for close upon a year; But now I serves her Majesty, as you shall quickly hear, For 'tis my delight of a shiny night, in the season of the year."

And then the chorus broke out far and wide:--

"For 'tis my delight of a shiny night, in the season of the year."

And the lads laughed at the aptness of the "shiny night," for that was evident to the dullest capacity. Thus encouraged, he tried a second verse:--

"As the soldiers and the sailors was a marching to his lair, Old Digna he was watching us, for him we didn't care; For the bayonet beats the spear when he rushes on our square, And 'tis my delight by day or night to beat the Johnnies fair."

Towards the end of the eight miles march indeed there was less singing and laughing, for throats were dry and legs weary. What, in eight miles and at night-time? Well, the next time you are staying at a sea side place, where there is plenty of sand, you try walking along it, not where it is firm, but higher up from the sea, where you sink over your ankles at every step; if you can borrow a rifle and a hundred rounds of ball cartridge and carry that too, you will be able to form a still more just opinion; but, even without that, I invite you to consider how many more miles of it you want when you have gone four. But if they were tired and thirsty they were full of spirit, and it would only have required the sight of an enemy to make them as lively as crickets again.

It was midnight when they arrived, and they bivouacked outside the zereba in the square formation, every man lying down in the place he would occupy if the force were attacked, so that if the alarm sounded, he had only to s.n.a.t.c.h up his rifle and rise to his feet, and he was ready for anything.

But they were not disturbed, and rested till noon on the 12th, when dinner was eaten, and after it, at 1 p.m., they started once more to find the foe. As you draw cover after cover to find a fox, so in the desert you try watering-places when you are seeking game of any kind, quadruped or biped. And thus information was obtained that Osman Digna had a camp where all his forces were ma.s.sed at Tamai, a valley well supplied with the precious fluid, nine miles from the zereba.

Once more was theory knocked over by experience. If there is one thing upon which most people feel quite confident about with regard to Egypt and the surrounding country, it is that the atmosphere is always perfectly clear, so that objects are only hidden from the eye by intervening high ground or the curve of the earth. For, as you probably know, anything on a (so called) level surface like the sea may be visible if the atmosphere allows it for ten miles, to a man on the same plane the sh.o.r.e say; but beyond that distance it gets so far round the globe we inhabit as to be hidden. Of course the taller it is the longer the top of it can be seen, as you will often perceive a ship's top masts after the hull and lower spars have vanished.

Or, on the other hand, the higher the ground you stand on the further round the earth's curve you can see; so that a man living on the top of a high mountain has a longer day than one on a flat, since the sun rises earlier and sets later for him.

But it was neither high ground nor the dip of the horizon which bounded the view of those quitting the zereba, but a thick, grey, British haze, which swallowed up everything a thousand yards in front, and out of which the Arab hosts might pour at any moment. The order of advance was different on this occasion, two squares instead of one being formed, the right under General Buller, and the left being commanded by General Davis. The guns were dragged with ropes by men of the Naval Brigade--a tug of war with a vengeance. The haze being so thick would have made it difficult to go straight for the enemy's position had the information been as uncertain as was sometimes the case, but happily it had been ascertained that if they took a south-west course they could not go far wrong, and the compa.s.s came to their aid.

The cavalry marched in rear of the square, with the exception of the scouts, who with the Mounted Infantry explored the ground in front, preventing the possibility of a surprise. Tramp, tramp, mile after mile, hour after hour, plodded the two brigades, with many a halt to enable the man-drawn guns to keep with them. But tedium and fatigue were thought nothing of. The man who would consider a five-mile walk without an object a frightful infliction would think nothing of ten with a gun in his hand, and the chance of game getting up every minute. It is the same with all sports. How far across country could you run alone for the mere sake of exercise? And how far in a paper-chase, with the hare to run down and other hounds to compete with? Think how this stimulating excitement must be intensified when there is an enemy in front of you certain to fight well, and make you do all you know to beat him. After awhile the haze grew thinner, and a range of hills loomed through it in the distance.

As the atmosphere grew clearer these became distinct, and were seen to be low, while a higher range rose above them beyond. On towards the higher ground slowly moved the two brigades, with a total front of from 400 to 500 yards, the scouts spread in a cloud before them, and these were now amongst the spurs of the lower hills.

Presently a couple of them came galloping back with the report that these were clear of the enemy, who were ma.s.sed further behind, and were watching the English advance. And then a group of mounted infantry were seen returning at a slower pace.

"Look!" cried Strachan, whose eyes were remarkably good; "they have caught some natives."

And sure enough the troopers could presently be distinguished, coming on in a semi-circle, driving before them a group of men who were unarmed, and declared themselves friendly, or at least no adherents of the Mahdi, Osman Digna, or any votaries of the new Mohammedan heresy. This might be true, but the officer with the scouts thought the general had better decide so knotty a point, and so they were thus brought before him, travelling perhaps a little quicker than they were accustomed to, but otherwise uninjured.

"That's the way to run fellows in!" cried Tom, enthusiastically. "A fellow, you see, is bound to go straight when he has several rifles pointed at his head in cold blood. There goes the interpreter. I wish the colonel would just go up and hear what it is about, because he would tell the major, and the major would tell the captains loud enough for us poor subs to hear, perhaps."

"The colonel knows his duty," said Fitzgerald, "and does not intrude upon the general unless he is sent for."

"I know he doesn't, but I wish he did," replied Tom. "However, we shall get it all out of old MacBean."

And sure enough, soon after the captured natives had been pumped dry and dismissed, the doctor rode up.

"No fighting for you, my boys," he said. "The Arabs won't meet you this time, I expect, and you have had your walk for nothing. I expect that they see that the sun will lick us single-handed, and they need not take the trouble."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, at El Teb, you know, they kept their women and boys with them, and these carried hatchets to kill our wounded with after the fight."

"That's their notion of surgery," said Tom, in a very audible aside.

"It goes more directly to its result than ours."

"Wait till you come under my hands, you young monkey! You will sing a different song then."

"I have no doubt you will hurt me more than Mrs Arab would, doctor; but then you would cure me, you know, and she wouldn't."

"Never mind that cheeky boy, MacBean," said Fitzgerald. "Why won't they fight now?"

"Because they have sent all their women and boys away, and that, the friendly natives say, is a sure sign."

"Curious; it is just the other way on with other savage people, who send their families off when they _do_ mean to fight."

"But the Arabs are only half savages; and besides they are quite unlike other people. Why, their lucky day is Friday, and their unlucky day Wednesday."

"Yes," said Tom Strachan, "and Robinson Crusoe called his savage Friday, and these fellows calls their Prophet Tuesday."

"Tuesday! What _do_ you mean?" asked Major Elmfoot.

"Mardi is the French for Tuesday, is it not, sir?"

"Strachan, you are really too bad, to make such execrable puns in the middle of the desert."

"That is it, sir? I thought even my poor flowers of speech might be welcome in such a barren waste!"

Soon after this the colonel was called up to the brigadier, and when he returned he communicated what he had been told to his officers. The low hills being found clear of the enemy, it was intended to occupy them at once, and then if possible to advance upon the camp and the wells, and carry that position before nightfall. But this depended on what daylight they had, for rather than risk being overtaken by darkness in an unfavourable position, it was determined to form a zereba and wait for the advance till next day.

"It is just four o'clock," said Strachan, looking at his watch as he returned to his company; "and surely there must be a fair chance of carrying the wells before sunset, for I see a lot of the enemy on the hills beyond. Therefore I shall risk a drink," and he put his water- bottle to his lips accordingly.