General Gatacre Part 13

"Before I met you I thought there was only one thing in the world, and that was soldiering; now I think there are two, but the soldiering is at present the only one I have got. I have been busy to-day, and in a fever about the whole thing. I have been calling on the Italian ship, drinking 'The King and Italy,' again very bad {124} when one has fever, I should say; but no matter, the champagne was very good. The levee is just over, the whole world pouring before Lord Harris, and now I am going to paint till about 3 a.m. to-morrow. I have half a town to do, and no one seems able to originate anything."

On the 18th, after the first day's performance, he writes:

"What will you say to me, not writing to you yesterday? But if you only knew the sort of day I have had! First I was busy in the office, could not move from my chair till 4 o'clock p.m.; then I had to dress and meet H.E. the C.-in-C. at the station at 4.45, then to meet the Admiral at the Apollo Bunder a mile away at 5 o'clock--all official receptions; then to go to the Tournament to see all was right, finish painting scenery, entertain the Governor's party at dinner, go to the Tournament, watch it till 1 a.m., then drink 'the King and Italy' with the Italian officers, who remained till the last. Finally, at 2 a.m., commence to count with an enormous staff of clerks 10,000 tickets, to see if the money was right. You see, I am responsible, and I like to be sure what we are doing. Well, dearest, the thing was a tremendous success. We sold 10,000 Rs. worth of tickets last night, shall sell probably 11,000 Rs. to-night, and so on.

[Sidenote: Tent-pegging]

"Everything went well. The light was not as good as I should wish, but it was fair. We had no accident in the ring, but got a horse killed afterwards, his leg being broken by a kick.... Well, I finished these beastly tickets at 4 a.m., and at 7 had to go tent-pegging for an hour, and since then have never sat down, so you see why I did not write.

Now it is 5.30 {125} p.m., and I am so tired--or at least my eyes are; and I shall not have a chance to rest till 5 a.m. to-morrow; it will take us all that time to check the takings."

On the 21st, when it was all over except for the prize-giving and the congratulations, he writes:

"I have fever this morning; have not had any sleep for days, and had to run in the Open Compet.i.tion for Officers' Tent-pegging, which I won easily, taking both pegs and then touching two more turned on edge. I was rather pleased, as no one else touched one sideways at all, and all were about twenty years younger than I! My team ran fourth for the Duke of Savoy's Cup; my men could not ride well enough; I got both mine.

"To-day is the final ceremony. You have never seen such an extraordinary mult.i.tude; tens of thousands of children, who pay one anna each, crowding round the place endeavouring to get an entrance. I do wish you were here to see the unusual activity reigning in the town and the excitement we have caused."

It was the novelty of the thing that gave importance to this tournament; the idea has since been carried out in many stations with marked success. It is interesting to note that such a gathering has also an indirect value; it promotes camaraderie between different branches of the service, and shows how much pleasure may be provided to both compet.i.tors and on-lookers by what was essentially "soldiering" in its inception.

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In _The Times of India_ we read:

"At the close of the Commander-in-Chief's speech three ringing cheers were given for His Excellency and a similar number for Brigadier-General Gatacre. The Commander-in-Chief having then left the arena, the troops left the ground with bands playing, the men-of-war's men as a special and well-deserved honour being escorted to the Apollo Bunder by a regimental band, and followed by a large crowd of civilians. Several of the troops in camp on the Oval visited the flagship H.M.S. _Bonaventure_, and the turret-ship _Magdala_ yesterday morning, while others were taken for a cruise in the harbour, a number of the up-country native troops being taken on a visit to inspect the local cotton mills.

"The work of demolishing the enclosure and removing the plant has already begun, and to-day the majority of the troops will be _en route_ for their up-country stations, many of them taking back prizes and other mementoes of the well-organised, well-managed, and finest military display and gathering of its kind ever held in the East."

As soon as it was all over Gatacre took ten days' leave to Calcutta, where he was welcomed with surprise and pleasure by his friends of the other side.

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CHAPTER IX

1895

CHITRAL

The annual inspections in the Bombay District for the season 1894-5 had all been carried out, confidential reports were rapidly being filled in, and got ready to forward to Headquarters, the arrangements for the sailing of the last transport were all settled, and all work was beginning to slacken in Bombay with the approach of the hot weather.

Gatacre was making a push to conclude the season's work with a view to taking eight months' leave to England. In theory this long leave can be secured once in every five-year command; but Gatacre had now completed two such appointments without availing himself of this privilege, having been content with the sixty days' leave allowed each year.

But whatever might be the special reasons which drew him homewards in 1895, a better thing still was in prospect for him: in whole-hearted joy he writes on March 15:

"I am so pleased: have got a telegram from {128} Sir George White saying, 'Have nominated you to command Third Brigade in Division to be mobilised for possible service Chitral.' This is a first-cla.s.s business, for though it will prevent my coming home so soon, still it is a step onwards, and that is what we want, isn't it, dear? I am so pleased at getting this chance, and will do my best for your sake and my own."

[Sidenote: The Third Brigade]

The Chitral Relief Force was under the command of Sir Robert Low; the expedition was organised to effect the relief of Surgeon-Major Robertson, I.C.S., and some half-dozen officers who were shut up with a small garrison in the fort at Chitral. We are not concerned here with the internal events which had culminated in the siege of the fort by a hostile faction; suffice it to say that the Government of India regarded the matter as very urgent, and were sending a strong division of both British and Native troops to their a.s.sistance.

Sir Robert Low's force was to approach from the south over the Malakand Pa.s.s, and to make its way up the valley of the Chitral River. This was a route which had not hitherto been used by the Indian Government, and covered about 185 miles. Communications with Chitral had previously been maintained from the north-east, via Gilgit. During the winter months this latter route was closed, as the road lay over snow-covered pa.s.ses; the distance was about 160 miles from Gilgit, and this was the recognised access and the base of supplies for the little garrison.

And so it came about that, {129} in response to messages from Major Robertson, Colonel Kelly was endeavouring to reach him from Gilgit, undismayed by almost impa.s.sable winter snows, at the same time that the Indian Relief Force was advancing with similar intention from Peshawur.

In a letter from Mian Mir, March 24, 1895, Gatacre writes:

"I leave to-morrow to take command of my Brigade at Hoti Mardan, about twenty-five miles north-east of Peshawur, and we shall march from there on April 1, right away for Chitral; but without doubt we shall have some rough work and some fighting. Umra Khan knows he will have no mercy after destroying Captain Ross's detachment, and will do his best to raise the whole border against us.

"I have four first-cla.s.s regiments--the Seaforth Highlanders, the Buffs, the 25th Punjab Infantry, the Second 4th Ghoorkas, and we are all sound and prepared to go anywhere, so I hope we shall all come well out of it.

"I think myself we shall have to drop our tents, small as they are, and march without them. Our difficulty will be crossing deep rivers; we shall have no boats, and must trust to making rafts of skins and floating the men across; but it is always a shaky business when there are bullets flying about."

On March 30, in drenching rain, the first troops marched out of Hoti Mardan; on April 2 they met the enemy, who were lying in wait for them on the slopes of the Malakand Pa.s.s. But {130} in this and the subsequent engagements on the banks of the Swat and the Panjkora Rivers, the Third Brigade took no part, being held in reserve. A stirring account of the fighting is given by Colonel Younghusband in his _Story of the Guides_.

A bridge of rafts was thrown across the Panjkora River; the Guides Cavalry and Infantry were pa.s.sed over on the afternoon of April 15, with orders to reconnoitre certain villages early the next morning.

But in the night a flood arose, huge trees crashed down on the swollen stream, completely wrecking the bridge. Two miles below this point, the Sappers were rigging up a suspension bridge; and in the meantime an attempt was made to float the men across on rafts supported by mussocks, or inflated goat-skins, and navigated by native boatmen.

[Sidenote: A rescue]

Gatacre, whose brigade was still in the rear, had pushed forward to see what was going on, and stood by the river's edge watching this "shaky business." Suddenly a raft on which four men were seated got out of control, broke away from the guiding rope, and was immediately caught by the current, and swirled down the turbulent stream. In an instant Gatacre jumped on his pony, and dashed at full gallop over the rocky ground in the wild hope of reaching the spot where the bridge was being made in time to warn the Sappers, and attempt a rescue. The bend of the river gave him time; with equal prompt.i.tude Major Aylmer got into a sling-cradle, and was lowered in mid-stream {131} just as the raft came in sight. Two men only were still on it, one of whom saw his chance and grasped the extended hand. As the river had narrowed from 200 yards to ninety feet, the raft was travelling at a tremendous pace.

There was a moment of thrilling strain on the ropes; the cradle was submerged by the sudden pull; but all held on heroically, and Aylmer had the satisfaction of bringing Private Hall safely to land. The other man, together with the two comrades who had been thrown off in the wild descent, were hopelessly lost.[1]

[1] See Sir Robert Low's _Despatch_, April 18, 1895, par. 18.

Early on April 17, the bridge being completed, the advance was resumed.

It was here that the Third Brigade got its chance. An officer writes:

"I can well recall our intense joy when we found ourselves going over the Panjkora Bridge in front of the Second Brigade, which had been leading since we left the Malakand. With feverish haste we packed our mules, having moved our camp the night before, so as to be as close as possible to the bridge."

By 10.45 the Third Brigade, accompanied by the Guides Cavalry and the 11th Bengal Lancers, were all across, and orders were received for a general advance on Miankalai, which was being held against us. Sir Robert Low's despatch runs:

"I pushed on to Ghobani with the Third Brigade, arriving there soon after noon. The enemy had then collected on a bluff in two villages west of Mamugai. The battery came into action {132} about 12.30 p.m., and the enemy soon fell back under cover. The Seaforth Highlanders and 4th Goorkhas moved up to the south side of the valley, and then advanced against the enemy in a westerly direction, driving them back from spur to spur, and eventually arrived at the bluff mentioned about 4 p.m., which they occupied for the night.