John Ames, Native Commissioner Part 17

"There are about thirty of them," he said, "but they've got no guns-- only k.n.o.bkerries and some axes. On the face of the latest news I believe they mean mischief. Now, chaps, we'll startle 'em some. They won't know there's a whole crowd of you here. They'll think there's only me and Selwyn to deal with. Who've got guns?"

Seven answered in the affirmative.

"All right. Now then. You, Carb.u.t.t and Harris, get to that front window in t'other room--don't let 'em see you, though. I'll go out in front and _indaba_ them. Selwyn 'll stand in the doorway lighting his pipe--and when I sing out, 'Let go,' blaze away into the foremost of them. I shall want some men to go outside at the back of the house, though."

All volunteered.

"No. You three'll do"--indicating the policeman and two others.

"Directly you hear the first shot fired, whip round to the front and blaze into them for all you're worth. See the plan?"

"Rather, and an A1 plan it is," said Moseley, who was one of the rearguard, slipping a couple of heavy buckshot cartridges into his shot-gun.

Those for behind scrambled through the back windows--the other two were already in position, one armed with a Winchester, the other with a Lee-Metford. Hardly had they done so than the natives emerged from the spa.r.s.e bush in front.

There was nothing warlike in their aspect; indeed, to all appearance, they might have been a gang of boys travelling round to look for work in the mines. They halted about fifty yards from the house, and Jekyll, in pursuance of his plan, strolled about a dozen to meet them. Then he called for a couple of them to come up.

Who were they, he asked, and where going? They were looking for work, the spokesman answered. Could the _'Nkose_ take any of them on? Jekyll observed that perhaps he could do with two or three. Selwyn, the English a.s.sistant, was standing in the doorway, carelessly lighting his pipe. Others now began stealing up towards the two spokesmen. The savages little knew into what a trap their treachery was leading them.

Then a shout arose from among them:--

"_Tyay' Amakiwa_!" [Strike down the whites.]

But, simultaneously with the rush made upon Jekyll, and for which the words were the signal, the rifles of the two men at the window crashed forth in one report. The two foremost Matabele dropped dead, while the three men stationed behind the house were in position at once, and simply raked the whole crowd. Again and again the magazine rifles spoke, and between them and Moseley's buckshot the result was that a little more than half the treacherous a.s.sailants were running for dear life and for the nearest bush; while Jekyll, who had not stirred throughout, stood re-lighting his pipe as if nothing had happened.

"Sharp work, chaps," he said, as they all came out to see the result.

"We've taught them how to fight the devil with fire--eh?"

The transformation was marvellous in its rapidity. The place which, five minutes before, had been the scene of a peaceful gathering, was now one of slaughter. More than one there present, who had never witnessed death by violence, gazing upon the stark, bleeding corpses, looked uncomfortable.

"Here's one who isn't dead," said Jekyll. "Let's see if he'll give away anything." And, bending down, Jekyll began to talk fluently in Sindabele. But the wounded man, a big, evil-looking savage, answered never a word. He had a bullet through him, and a couple of grains of heavy buckshot, and was bleeding profusely. The wonder was he was still alive. To all of Jekyll's questions he answered nothing.

"I sy. 'E's a bloomin' impident black beggar, I _don't_ think," said the c.o.c.kney, giving the prostrate native a push with his foot that was more than half a kick. "Wish I 'ad my bloomin' pick-'andle 'ere."

"Oh, shut up, Higgins, and leave the n.i.g.g.e.r alone," said the man who had first taken exception to the swaggering cad's bounce. "We don't do things that way here."

"'Ere, I sy, I'd like to know what I've done. Cawn't a chep mike a bloomin' blanked n.i.g.g.e.r awnswer a question when a gentleman arsts 'im one--hy?"

But whether this feat was practicable or not was destined to remain unrecorded, for at that moment came the crash of a volley poured from the line of bush wherein the discomfited barbarians had disappeared, and the vicious hum of missiles overhead and around, knocking chips of plaster from the walls of the house. Two men staggered, only wounded though, among them the police trooper, who was shot in the leg.

"Get inside, sharp," sang out Jekyll, himself hauling in one of the wounded. "Stand ready. They'll charge directly."

Hurriedly, yet without panic, the men regained the shelter of the house.

At the same time a cloud of savages, who had wormed their way up through the long gra.s.s, rose on the edge of the bush, and again poured in their fire. Again the bullets whizzed overhead, some penetrating the plaster wail, but no one was. .h.i.t. Those within had already flown to the windows, and were returning the fire with a will. Several were seen to fall. The rest dropped down into cover again. Clearly they had no stomach for charging that determined few under cover.

"That's all right," said Jekyll. "This is all part of the scheme.

These jokers have got on their war-gear. The first lot were an advance guard. I say, Selwyn, where would you and I have been now but for our friend here giving us the office? We'd have been quietly knocked on the head--eh?"

"We'd have had no show at all," replied the a.s.sistant, who was brimful of pluck and beginning to enjoy the fight. But Jekyll, and two or three others, who were alive to the gravity of the situation, failed to discover an enjoyable side thereto.

The Matabele were evidently in sufficient force to render them over-confident, and, indeed, they were hardly careful to remain under shelter. Squads of twenty and thirty could be seen pouring in to swell the already formidable number, glancing through the bush and long gra.s.s, all in war-gear, with flowing tufts of red or white cowtail, and wearing the _isiqoba_, or ball of feathers, on the forehead. Warriors, defying fate, would spring up, and go through the performance known as "_gwaza_"

making a series of quick leaps in the air, shouting the most bloodcurdling promises with regard to their enemies, and darting stabs, lightning-like, this way and that, as though in hand-to-hand conflict with an imaginary foe. At these the besieged whites, acting on the advice of the more experienced, forebore to fire. The mark was a very uncertain one, and there was not much to be gained by picking off two or three of these boasters. Ammunition was not plentiful. In fact, there was every chance of it giving out.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

THE LONG NIGHT THROUGH.

"Stand by, now. Here they come," warned Jekyll. "Not too soon, and fire low."

For the line of bush was alive with gleaming forms, as fully a hundred warriors darted out, making straight for the store; not in a compact body, but in a scattered line; not erect and in bounds and leaps, but bent low and crouching behind their shields. The while those in the background now opened a tremendous fire upon the building. Fortunately, however, most of the missiles flew high.

Those within, crouching too, with their heads just above the sills of the windows, waited a moment, then, partly rising, fired upon the advancing shields at a hundred yards' distance. Several were seen to go down. Crash! a second volley, then a third. The magazine rifles were doing their duty right n.o.bly. At the fourth volley the charging warriors, dividing into two sections, sheered off at a tangent, and, dropping down in the gra.s.s, crawled away with the silence and rapidity of snakes, offering no mark to draw the defenders' fire.

"Quick! To the back!" cried Jekyll. "Not all, though."

With instinctive unanimity the little garrison divided itself. Those told off to the back of the store arrived there in time to see their enemies swarming up among the low rocky ridge which overlooked their position from the rear.

"By George! that was real strategy, covering the advance of the storming party," said one man, who was an ex-soldier. "Looks as if there were whites among them. Dutch perhaps."

"No fear," returned Jekyll. "The most English-hating Dutchman this country ever produced wouldn't turn n.i.g.g.e.rs on to white men. We'd be much more likely to do it ourselves. Hallo, Selwyn! Not hurt?"

This anxiously, as the young fellow, who had been peering forth watching his chance of a shot, staggered back from the window holding his hands to his head. Then it was seen that his face was streaming with blood.

"N-no; I don't think so," was the answer. "A splinter, I think it is."

"Let's see," said Jekyll. "Ah yes. Here you are"--exhibiting an ugly splinter of wood, which he had simultaneously extracted from the other's forehead. "Only a skin-wound. You're in luck."

"There's some fellow who can shoot, at any rate," remarked Tarrant, as another bullet pinged in through the window. "Oh, I say! Here, quick, some one! Lend me a rifle, for G.o.d's sake"--almost s.n.a.t.c.hing one from the hand of his neighbour, who yielded, too astonished to demur--and blazed at the point from which the last shot had come, just missing. A shout of laughter was the reply, together with a puff of smoke, and a bullet so near as to make Tarrant duck--of course, after it had pa.s.sed.

He again returned this, again missing, but narrowly.

"Here, try, one of you chaps; I'm no shot. For Heaven's sake drop the young beast! It's my infernal boy--Mafuta."

A roar from his auditors greeted this intelligence, once its tenor was grasped.

"Your boy! But you said he was a reliable boy?" cried Jekyll.

"So he is, d.a.m.n him. You may rely upon him doing for one of us yet,"

answered Tarrant. "He can shoot, can Mafuta. And the infernal young scoundrel's practising at me with my own gun and cartridges." And they all roared louder than ever, the besieging Matabele the while deciding that Makiwa was a madder beast than even they had reckoned him.

"Now's your chance, Dibs!" cried Moseley.

For Mafuta it was, sure enough; and now he had sprung up, and whirling and zigzagging to dodge his former master's aim, the young rascal, brandishing the stolen rifle over his head in derision, bounded away to better cover, and gained it too.

"Drinks all round to 'the reliable boy's' health!" shouted some one.

"Right. Help yourselves," answered Jekyll. "Free drinks now, and everything else any one wants. This garrison's in a state of siege.

Only, don't overdo it, for we'll need plenty of straight shooting before we get out of this."

"Good owld Jekyll!" sung out the c.o.c.kney prospector, who, to do him justice, was not deficient in pluck. "I always said 'e was one of the raht sort. 'E's a reel owld corf-drop, 'e is--now mistike abart it."