In the Whirl of the Rising Part 36

"You've saved us, Grunberger," cried Lamont. "By G.o.d! you've saved us, man."

"_Ach, so_! Well, I think I made de tam n.i.g.g.e.rs feel sick."

What is this? There is a rumbling noise, then the sharp cracking of shots away there in the mist. It becomes a regular roll--and with it the sound of yells and the scurry of flying feet. The frenzied bellowing and moaning of the cattle in the kraal, rushing hither and thither, and struck down by the a.s.segais of the savages, blends, too, with the roar and din and confusion. Yet--what is this? Nearer and nearer comes that volleying roll, nearer and nearer the rumble of unmistakable horse-hoofs, and, as with incredible swiftness the last remaining savages flit away into the mist, such a ringing cheer goes up from all within the stockade that hardly the h.e.l.l of the recent battle rout can have surpa.s.sed it for volume.

It is answered, and now out of the smother, other forms appear--the forms of armed hors.e.m.e.n; and still the darkling mist is rent ever and anon by a spurt of flame, as these descry a belated body of fleeing warriors not sufficiently quick to take themselves out of sight and range.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

"WHERE IS HE?"

Clare Vidal's beautiful eyes are strained upon the farthest limits of vision in a certain direction, and, not for the first time, the thought rather than the utterance, expressed by these three words, pa.s.ses through her mind--

"Where is he?"

The day is one of cloudless beauty. With the arrival--the timely arrival--of the relieving force an hour or so ago, the mist had suddenly rolled back; retreating as though still to curtain their flight, simultaneously with the demoralised Matabele. The said relieving force--which was made up of a company of Green's Scouts, and a number of mounted men who had volunteered to patrol the Buluwayo road, and warn and a.s.sist all who should be in danger--had forthwith started in hot pursuit. They were going to keep that impi on the run, they declared, even if it had to run to--well, a certain place that shall be nameless, but which is popularly understood to lie within the torrid zone. With them had gone Lamont. Clare was a little sore at heart, a little reproachful, as she stood there outside the stockade, gazing wistfully out over the roll of the veldt. Why had he left her just then? There was no necessity for it. Had he not borne himself as a very hero in that awful fight which seemed to have lasted a year, though in point of actual time it lasted considerably less than an hour; what necessity then could there be for him to give further evidence of his prowess?

They two had but been s.n.a.t.c.hed back from the portal of Death, had even felt his cold blast together--why then, could he not have remained by her at such a moment? For the life of her she could not but feel conscious of a certain soreness.

Since the relief Clare had been by no means idle; for, conquering her natural repulsion towards wounds and death, she had been rendering the surgeon very practical a.s.sistance, and incidentally, but all unconsciously, had gone far towards implanting in poor Strange's system a wound which only time might avail to heal. Her quick apt.i.tude, however, atoned for her lack of experience, to a quite astonishing degree, and Strange expressed considerable scepticism as to her never having undergone any training. Lucy Fullerton, utterly worn out with the exhaustion of terror, had fallen sound asleep through the sheer reaction of relief; which was as well, for it may be imagined that the relics of such a struggle as this had been consisted largely of ghastly and horrifying sights meeting the eye at every turn. These, however, had been minimised, and the enemy's dead had been dragged off to a sufficient distance as to be invisible.

Their own dead had been cared for, and the wounded made as comfortable as the circ.u.mstances of the place would admit; this it turned out was beyond what might have been expected, for the Kezane Store was exceedingly well supplied with most necessaries; and fortunate indeed that it was so, for there had been grave danger of ammunition giving out during the battle. It must not be supposed, either, that the place was left to take its chance, practically undefended, for over and above its original defenders quite a number of the relieving force, whose horses were not up to further calls upon speed and endurance, had remained behind.

"You must have had the very devil of a sc.r.a.p, Peters," one of these was saying. "We could hear you banging away from the time you began, and pushed our gees for all they'd carry; for we reckoned all that shooting meant a big thing and no bally skirmish. The cream of the fun was when we got in among the n.i.g.g.e.rs in the mist. They didn't know we were there till we got cracking away right in their faces, or mostly backs.

_Magtig_! didn't they skip. But--I say though--what old powder magazine was it that you blew up just before we got here? Man! it nearly knocked us all down."

The explanation of Grunberger's ingenious device raised a great laugh, and many were the felicitations showered upon that estimable Teuton.

"I say, Wyndham," another was saying. "What on earth could have possessed you and Fullerton to start tooling your team off into the very teeth of h.e.l.l let loose, in the confiding, childlike way you seem to have done?"

"We didn't know h.e.l.l _was_ let loose, that's the explanation. But Lamont went for us on exactly the same terms."

"Lamont? Is he with you then?"

"I should say so. Why, he's been bossing up the whole show. If it hadn't been for him we'd have gone under long before we got here."

"So? Then you've got a right good man, that's all. I was out with him in '93. He's a tiger in a fight."

"Seems to be," said Wyndham drily. "You'd think he'd had enough of that sort of thing day before yesterday, and this morning, to last him at any rate for a day or two, and now instead of having a quiet smoke and a cool drink, like a rational Christian, he must race off along with your crowd to contract for some more knocks. Silly a.s.s!"

"There's something in it when you put things that way. But--I say.

Who's the lady?"

"Where?" following his glance. "Oh, that's Miss Vidal, Fullerton's sister-in-law."

"So! By Jove! what a fine-looking girl. Oh! oh!--Wyndham, you deep-down dog! So that's where the little venture in charioteering came in, eh? I see."

"Shut up, Selby, and don't be a silly a.s.s," answered Wyndham shortly.

"I hate that sort of chaff, you know."

"Oh, all right, old man. Keep your shirt in," was the good-humoured rejoinder.

"I think I'll go and talk to Miss Vidal now," said Wyndham, just a trifle self-consciously. "By Jove! she has been plucky throughout all this."

"So? Well, good luck, old man."

Clare had returned to her post of observation outside, but there was still no sign of the returning pursuit: and now a dire heart-sinking began to take the place of her former resentment. She looked at her watch. They had been away an hour nearly. Surely the work of completing the rout should have been over by that time. They should be returning, and there was one whom she would scold--scold gently--for having gone with them. No. She believed she would not scold him at all. It would be all too sufficing to behold him once more safe and sound.

"Taking a morning const.i.tutional, Miss Vidal? Well, it has turned out a lovely day, hasn't it?" And Wyndham, conscious of the ba.n.a.lity of the remark, felt rather foolish.

She turned, but she was hardly listening to him. Why did they not come back? ran her thoughts. Had they, rendered reckless by success, pursued the fleeing enemy too far? The force which had attacked them was a strong one--strong and daring. What if it had recovered from its first wild panic? What if it had rallied, and shown a sudden change of front to its pursuers? What if the latter had straggled and been cut off in detail by the vengeful savages; all of which reduced to detail meant: What if one of them had?

"What do you think, Mr Wyndham?" she said suddenly. "Why are they so long away?"

Wyndham was no fool, and apart from what he had heard hinted at--albeit always in a kindly and good-natured way--would have had no difficulty in putting two and two together.

"Don't you be anxious, Miss Vidal," he said. "Those men are a hard-bitten lot, and not in the least likely to be led into any b.o.o.by trap."

"You think so?" she queried, speaking quickly.

"I'm sure of it. Ah--Look there. See? I was right. Here they come."

Her face lighted up in a way that cost poor Wyndham something of a pang.

It was even as he had said. Away over the nearly flat landscape figures were moving--hors.e.m.e.n. As they drew nearer it could be seen that they were split up in irregular groups, and were riding leisurely.

"Mr Wyndham, will you do me a very great favour?" she went on, speaking quickly. "Do get me those binoculars some of you were looking through yesterday."

"Certainly I will. Grunberger has a good pair."

He was back at her side in a minute. What horrible presentiment or instinct was it that caused Clare's hands to tremble as she put the gla.s.ses to her eyes, so that she could scarcely see anything through them? With an effort she controlled her excitement. The hors.e.m.e.n were much nearer now, and she could make out they were quite unconcerned, and seemed to be chatting and laughing together. Clearly, then, nothing had gone wrong, and there had been no casualties.

To that extent relieved she brought the gla.s.ses to bear upon group after group, but still they failed to reveal--one.

"Where is he?" she repeated, speaking unconsciously half aloud.

"Let me look, Miss Vidal," said Wyndham, tactfully facing the situation.

Then, as she surrendered the gla.s.ses to him, a rapid, but careful scrutiny convinced him that among those now approaching Lamont was not.

"Don't be anxious, Miss Vidal," he said. "There may be others coming on behind. In fact, there are sure to be."

But as the mounted men drew near, the veldt between them and the farthest line of vision spread undisturbed by other mounted figures-- no--nor did the widest scrutiny in any direction reveal any sight of such. What did it mean?

"Keep yourself in hand, Miss Vidal, whatever you do," said Wyndham concernedly, as he noted how ashy pale the beautiful face had grown.

"I'll find out about this."

In a very short time the whole troop had mustered. The men were in high spirits. They had driven the enemy before them for miles, they reported, and had made still greater holes in their numbers. They had broken up that impi most effectually, and taught the rebels a lesson they wouldn't forget for a long day to come. Lamont? Oh, he had last been seen away on the right flank with about a dozen men riding down the enemy for all they were worth. The mist was rather thick up where they were, which was at the foot of a range of low hills. He'd turn up directly, they held. Turn up! Rather! Of course he would, and report a record bag, too. Lamont was an old campaigner and a knowing one.

There need be no anxiety about him. And then all hands, having attended to their horses, turned to and a.s.sailed their well-earned refreshment with a whole-heartedness that left nothing to be desired.