The Kopje Garrison Part 47

"Search for him, my lads; he can't have been taken prisoner," said the major. "It's getting lighter now."

"Poor fellow! I hope he hasn't got it," said d.i.c.kenson to himself as he nursed a numbed arm nearly broken by a drive made with a rifle-b.u.t.t.

Lennox was called, and d.i.c.kenson's eyes dilated and then seemed to contract, for there was no reply.

"Mr Lennox.-Who saw Mr Lennox last?"

There was no answer for some seconds, and then from where the wounded lay a feeble voice said, "I saw him running round one of the wagons, sir, just in the thick of the fight."

"He must be down," said the major sadly. "Look for him, my lads; he is somewhere on the ground we came along, lying perhaps amongst the Boers."

d.i.c.kenson groaned-perhaps it was from pain, for his injury throbbed, pangs running right up into the shoulder-joint, and then up the left side of his neck.

"Oh! don't say poor old Drew's down," he said to himself. "Just, too, when I was growling at him for not coming to look me up when I was hurt."

No one did say he was down but the young lieutenant's imagination, and he sat down on a rock and began watching the men coming and going after bringing in wounded men.

"Who said he saw Mr Lennox last?" cried Captain Edwards.

"I did," said the wounded man in a feeble, whining voice.

"Who's that?" said the major, stepping towards the man, who lay with his face disfigured by a smear of blood.

"I did, sir. Dodging round one of the wagons somewhere. It was where the Boers stood a bit, and I got hurt."

"Could you point out the place?"

"No, sir; it was all dark, and I'm hurt," said the man faintly.

"Give him some water," said the captain. "Your hurts shall be seen to soon, my lad. Cheer up, all of you; the major has sent for the ambulance-wagons, so you'll ride home."

"Hooray, and thanks, sir!" said the worst wounded man, and then he fainted.

Just then, as the first orange-tipped clouds were appearing far on high, four men were seen approaching, carrying a wounded man slung in Sergeant James's sash; and as soon as he caught sight of the injured man's face Major Robson hurried to meet the party.

"Roby! Tut, tut, tut!" he cried. "This is bad work. Not dead, sergeant?"

"No, sir; but he has it badly. Bullet at the top of his forehead; hit him full, and ploughed up through scalp; but as far as I can make out the bone's not broken."

"Lay him down, sergeant. How long will it be," he muttered, "before we get the doctor here? Where did you find him?"

"Lying out yonder all alone, beyond those rocks, sir," replied the sergeant.

"Water-bandage," said the major, and both were brought, and the best that could be done under the circ.u.mstances was effected by the major and Sergeant James, while the sufferer resisted strongly, every now and then muttering impatiently. Then irritably telling those who tended him to let him go to sleep, he closed his eyes, but only to open them again and stare vacantly, just as d.i.c.kenson, who had been away for another look round on his own account, came up and bent over him.

"Poor fellow!" muttered d.i.c.kenson sadly, and he laid his hand sympathetically upon that of the wounded captain.

"I don't think it's very serious," said the major. "Look here, d.i.c.kenson; we have no time to spare. Take enough men, and set half to round up all the bullocks and sheep you can see, while the others load up three or four wagons with what provisions you can find. Send off each wagon directly straight for camp, and the cattle too, while we gather and blow up all the ammunition and fire the wagons left. It will not be very long before the enemy will be coming back. Hurry."

d.i.c.kenson was turning to go when the major arrested him.

"Any news of Lennox?" he said.

"None, sir," said the lieutenant sadly.

But his words were nearly drowned by an angry cry from Roby: "The coward! The cur! He shall be cashiered for this."

"Go on, d.i.c.kenson," said the major; "the poor fellow's off his head. He doesn't mean you."

The lieutenant hurried away, and for the next half-hour the men worked like slaves, laying the wounded Boers well away from the laager, and their own injured men out on the side nearest Groenfontein; while d.i.c.kenson, in the most business-like manner, helped by Sergeant James, sent off a large drove of oxen, the big, heavy, lumbering animals herding together and trudging steadily away after a wagon with its regular span laden heavily with mealies, straight for Groenfontein. For a few Kaffirs turned up after the firing was over, evidently with ideas of loot, and ready to be impressed for foreloper, driver, or herdsmen to the big drove of beasts.

A few horses were rounded up as well, and followed the oxen; while, as fast as they could be got ready, three more provision-wagons were despatched, the whole making a long broken convoy on its way to the British camp.

By this time the men, working under the orders of Captain Edwards and the major, had got the Boers' ammunition-wagons together in one place behind a ma.s.s of rocks, on the farther side of the kopje, away from the wounded. Then the weapons that could be found were piled amongst the wagons in another place; and the troops were still working hard when the major bade them cease.

"We can do no more," he said; "we have no time. But oughtn't the ambulance-wagons to be here by now? The enemy can't be long; they're bound to attack. Ah, d.i.c.kenson, have you got all off?"

"All I could, sir, in the time."

"That's right. I want your men here. You'll be ready to help to get off the wounded as soon as the wagons come?"

d.i.c.kenson nodded, with his head averted from the speaker and his eyes wandering over the injured men.

"No news of Lennox?" he asked.

"None. I can't understand where the poor fellow is, unless he was carried off in the rush of the Boers' retreat. A thorough search has been made. Here, get up on the highest part of the kopje with your gla.s.s, and see if you can make out anything of the enemy."

The lieutenant was in the act of opening the case of his field-gla.s.s, when from where the wounded lay came another angry burst of exclamations from Roby, incoherent for the most part, but d.i.c.kenson heard plainly, "Coward-cowardly hound! To leave a man like that."

d.i.c.kenson turned a quick, inquiring look at the major.

"Delirium," said the latter sharply. "I don't know what the poor fellow has on his brain. Oh, if the ambulance fellows would only come! There, my dear boy, off with you and use that gla.s.s."

Chapter Twenty Four.

The Sergeant in his Element.

d.i.c.kenson dashed off and climbed the low kopje, zigzagging among rough stone walls, rifle-pits, and other shelter, and noting that, if the Boers came upon them before they could retreat, there was a strong position for the men from which they could keep the enemy at bay; and, soldier-like, he began calculating as to whether it would not have been wiser to decide on holding the place instead of hurrying back to Groenfontein, with the certainty of having to defend themselves and fight desperately on the way, small body as they were, to escape being surrounded and cut off.

To his great satisfaction, though, upon reaching the highest part of the mound and using his gla.s.s, there were only a few straggling parties of men dotting the open veldt, where everything stood out bright and clear in the light of the early morning. Some were mounted, others walking, and in two places there was a drove of horses, and all going in the direction of the next laager held by the Boers.

He stood with his gla.s.s steadied against a big stone and looked long, searching the veldt to right and left and looking vainly for the main body of the enemy retreating; but they were out of reach of his vision, or hidden amongst the bushes farther on. But even if the foremost had readied their friends, these latter were not riding out as yet to make reprisals, and, as far as he could judge, there was no risk of an attack for some time to come.

For a moment a feeling of satisfaction pervaded him, but the next his heart sank; and he lowered his gla.s.s to begin looking round the kopje where here and there lay the men who had fallen during the surprise.