Through Three Campaigns: A Story of Chitral, Tirah and Ashanti, G. A. Henty [free e novels .txt] 📗

the gun tower, and it was found that the enemy had heaped faggots against the walls. These, being constructed partly of wood, gradually caught fire.

Mr. Robertson, with some of the levies, horse keepers, and servants, at once set to work to extinguish the flames; but the conflagration was too much for them. The troops in reserve were then sent to aid them. The work was dangerous and difficult, the flames raged fiercely, and the enemy kept up a tremendous fire from behind the walls of the summer house. Nevertheless the men worked their hardest, throwing down earth and water on the fire.

Many were wounded at the work. The fire was so fierce that large holes had to be knocked through the lower stories of the tower, through which to attack the flames; and it was not until ten o'clock that the efforts of the besieged were crowned with success, and all was again quiet. Nothing could have exceeded the bravery and devotion shown by the native levies, the non-combatants, officers' servants, water carriers, syces, and even the Chitralis.

Great precautions were taken to prevent similar attempts to fire any of the towers. Earth was brought up, and water stored. The water carriers slept with the great leathern bags which they carried, full; and a special fire picket was organized. When, on the evening of the 15th, the enemy again tried to fire the gun tower, they were repulsed without difficulty. On the following night a determined attack in force was made, on all sides of the fort; but was defeated with much loss.

The enemy now began to make a great noise, with drums and pipes, in the summer house. This lasted continuously for several days, and one of the natives, who was aware that the enemy had started tunnelling, guessed that this stir might possibly be made to drown the noise of the mining. Men were put on to listen and, at midnight, the sentry in the gun tower reported that he heard the noise and, next morning, the sound was distinctly audible within a few feet of the tower.

It was evident that there was no time to be lost and, at four o'clock in the afternoon, Lieutenant Harley and a hundred men issued from the fort, at the garden gate, and rushed at the summer house. It was held by forty of the enemy, who fired a volley, and fled after some sharp hand-to-hand fighting. The head of the mine was found to be in the summer house, and the tunnel was full of Chitralis.

Harley stationed his men in the summer house to repel any attack and, with five sepoys, jumped down into the mine. The Chitralis, about thirty in number, came swarming out but, after a fierce fight, they were bayoneted. The mine was then cleared, and gunpowder placed in position.

Two Chitralis, who had lain quiet at the other end of the tunnel, tried to make their escape in the turmoil. One of the sepoys fired, and must have hit a bag of gunpowder; for immediately there was a violent explosion, and the mine was blown up, from end to end. Harley was knocked over, and the Sikhs who were with him had their hair and clothes singed; but none of the party were otherwise hurt.

All this time, the sepoys in the summer house had been subject to a heavy fusillade from a breastwork, close by, and from the loopholed walls in the garden; while from all the distant sangars and hills a continuous fire was opened, the natives evidently believing that the garrison were making a last and desperate sortie.

The work done, Harley and his men hurried back to the fort, having been out of it an hour and ten minutes. Of the hundred that went out twenty-two were hit, nine mortally. In and around the summer house, thirty-five of the enemy were bayoneted, and a dozen more shot. That evening the garrison began to drive a couple of counter mines, to intercept any other mines that the enemy might attempt to make.

On the 18th the enemy were very quiet and, in the middle of the night, a man approached the fort and called out that Sher Afzul had fled, and that the relieving force was near at hand. Lieutenant Gurdon was sent out to reconnoitre, and he found that the whole place was deserted. The next afternoon, Colonel Kelly's force arrived.

Chapter 5: Promoted.

As he was not now in uniform, Lisle kept carefully out of sight when General Gatacre's force marched in, which it did very shortly after Colonel Kelly's arrival. This was probably unnecessary caution for, in addition to Mr. Robertson, there were two or three other civilians in the garrison; but he was desirous of escaping observation until General Low, who would arrive next day, should have heard of his escapade.

At mess, however, several officers of General Gatacre's force dined with the regiment; who had exerted themselves to the utmost to provide a banquet for their guests. Most of these had, at one time or other, been cantoned with the Pioneers. Two or three of the junior officers were introduced to the newcomers, among them Lisle.

"This gentleman," the colonel said, "is Mr. Lisle Bullen, son of the late Captain Bullen; who you have doubtless heard was killed, some little time ago, while storming a hill fort. He is at present acting as temporary lieutenant of my regiment."

The officers looked with some surprise at Lisle's still darkened face.

"I see you are surprised, gentlemen," the colonel said, "but there is a tale that hangs to that colour. I will relate it to you after dinner; but I may say that Bullen is not a half caste, as you might think, but of pure English blood."

At this moment dinner was announced. A temporary mess tent had been erected. It was open at the sides, and composed of many-coloured cloths. The party sat down under this. There was no cloth, and the dinner was served on a miscellaneous variety of dishes, for the most part of tin. Each guest brought his own knife, fork, and stool. It was a merry party and, after the table had been cleared, the colonel said:

"In the first place, Maneisty, you must give us the story of your doings; of which we have, at the present, heard only the barest outline."

"It is rather a long story, colonel."

"We have nothing else to talk about, here. We have seen no newspapers for a long time, and know nothing of what is going on outside; and therefore can't argue about it, or express opinions as to whether or not the government have, as usual, blundered. Therefore, the more detail you tell us, the better pleased we shall be."

"As you know, the first army corps, fourteen thousand strong, were ordered early in March to concentrate; so that when the news came that the garrison of Chitral were in serious danger, the manoeuvres were being carried out, but it was not until late in the day that the troops were able to move forward. The brigade marched to Jellala without tents, taking with them supplies sufficient for twenty days. The next morning the 2nd and 3rd Brigade went on to Dargai. The weather was cold and wet, and the roads soft.

"It had been given out that the 1st Brigade were to go by the Shakot Pass. This was only a ruse to deceive the enemy, and keep them from concentrating on the Malakand. Subsequently an officer rode up the Shakot Pass, and found it to be much more difficult than the Malakand, and more strongly fortified. Orders were sent, in the middle of the night, for the 1st Brigade to proceed at once to Dargai. Early in the morning a reconnaissance was made by General Blood, and a large body of the enemy were seen. It was evident that the passage of the pass was to be disputed.

"Starting from Dargai, the pass went through a gradually narrowing valley for about two miles; then bending to the northeast for a mile and a half, the hills on the west rising precipitously to a great height. On reaching the bend, the pass was strongly held on the west side.

"The 4th Sikhs went out on the flank. The Guides Infantry were directed to ascend the highest point of the western hill and, from this, to enfilade the enemy. It was a most arduous task, as they had to ascend the highest peak of the range, some fifteen hundred feet. Here several sangars had been erected by the enemy, who hurled down rocks and stones.

"In the meantime the main force advanced, and could make out the general position of the enemy. They occupied the whole of the crest of the western hill, having constructed numerous sangars down its side, each commanding the one below it. The greater part of their force was more than halfway down the hill, at the point where it descended precipitously into the valley. It was only at this point that the western side of the pass was held.

"Three batteries were sent up on this side. These attacked position after position on the eastern slope, and their fire was so accurate that it effectually prevented the enemy on the eastern side from concentrating.

"When the advance began, it was evident that little could be done until the Guides had secured the position they had been ordered to take. It was soon seen that they were very seriously outnumbered. The Gordon Highlanders had moved up the crest of the western hill, at the point where it touched the valley. The Scottish Borderers had hastened up the centre spur; the 60th Rifles were ordered up the slope, farther back in the line; while the Bedfordshire and 37th Dogras rounded the point on which the Gordon Highlanders began the ascent and, turning to the left, climbed the hill from the northern side. The 15th Sikhs were held in reserve.

"The brunt of the fighting fell upon the Gordon Highlanders and the Borderers. Making as they did a direct attack, they met with a sturdy resistance. Several of the sangars were carried by hand-to-hand fighting; indeed, had the advance not been so well covered by the fire of our guns, it is doubtful whether the position could have been captured.

"It was one of the finest scenes I ever saw. The hillside was literally covered with fire. We could see the two Scotch regiments pushing on, and attacking the sangars by rushes; while above them the shells from the guns and fire from the Maxims prevented the holders of the upper sangars from coming down to the assistance of those below. The moment the attacking troops reached the top, the enemy fled down the western slopes. The action began at 8:30 A.M., and concluded at 2 P.M. The enemy's loss was admitted, by themselves, to be about five hundred; ours was only eleven killed, and eight officers and thirty-nine men wounded.

"The 1st Brigade remained at the top of the pass, while its baggage mules moved up. The path was so bad that only a few mules reached the top that night. It was afterwards found that, if we had taken the path, we should have suffered most severely; as it was discovered that the walls of the sangars had been perforated with lateral slits, commanding every turn.

"On the following day the 1st Brigade descended into the Swat Valley. Its place on the pass was taken by the 2nd. As soon as the 1st Brigade got free of the pass, they were fired upon by the enemy, who had taken up a position on the Amandarra.

"The mountain battery was at once brought into action, and began shelling the sangars. Under its cover the Bedfordshires moved forward, and drove the enemy from their position. Here they fought with extreme obstinacy. The 37th Dogras carried a spur to the left, and sent back news that a great body of the enemy were advancing. A squadron of the Guides cavalry charged them, killing about thirty, and putting the rest to flight.

"The transport was now being gradually pushed up, and the brigade encamped at Khar, at half-past seven. As the enemy were in great force on the surrounding hills, a night attack was expected, and the troops lay down with fixed bayonets.

"The capture of these passes spread great consternation through the Swat valleys, as the tribes had always believed that they were impregnable, and boasted that an enemy had never entered their territory. They had fought with desperate bravery to defeat us; although we had no quarrel with them, and merely wished to get through their country to reach Chitral. Curiously enough, they had a strong belief in our magnanimity, and several of their wounded actually came into camp to be attended to by our surgeons.

"On the 5th of April the 1st Brigade remained all day in camp, the 2nd Brigade going on seven or eight miles farther. Early on the morning of the 7th, a party went down the river to make a bridge.