For Name and Fame; Or, Through Afghan Passes, G. A. Henty [best beach reads .TXT] 📗

After an hour's fighting, there was a sudden roar above the rattle of musketry; followed by another, and another. Simultaneously came the crash of shells. One burst in the house, the other tore through the gate. Still there was no sign of the Cabul regiments.

Eight or ten guns were brought to play on the little garrison. The gate was broken down, and nearly half the force of the house were already killed, or wounded, by the musketry and shell fire. Still they continued the defense Over and over again, the Afghans swarmed up close to the gate; only to fall back again, before the steady fire of the Snider rifles of the Guides. Major Cavagnari went from room to room, encouraging the men; while the other officers and Will Gale, taking rifles which had fallen from the hands of men no longer able to use them, set an example of cool and steady firing to their men.

For four hours the unequal contest continued; then a cry arose, from the men, that the house was on fire. It was but too true. A shell had exploded in the lower part of the house, and had ignited the woodwork; and the fire had already obtained so firm a hold that it was impossible to extinguish it. A few of the men continued their fire from the windows, to the last; while the rest carried their wounded comrades out into the courtyard. As the flames shot out from the lower windows, the yells of the Afghans rose higher and higher; and a fearful storm of lead and iron swept down upon the little band, who were now plainly visible in the light of the flames. Even now the enemy did not dare, although numbering hundreds to one, to come too close upon them, though they flocked up close to the gate.

"Now, lads!" Major Cavagnari exclaimed, "let us rush out, and die fighting hand to hand; better that than to be shot down defenseless, here."

Thus saying he led the way, and charged out upon the crowded foe. There were but Lieutenant Hamilton and eight men to follow him. All the rest had fallen. Doctor Kelly had been shot in the house, while dressing the wound of one of the soldiers. Mr. Jenkyns had fallen outside.

Will Gale had twice been wounded, but was still on his feet and, grasping his musket, he rushed forward with his comrades. A figure sprang out just as he reached the gate and, with a sudden rush, carried him along for some paces. Then he stumbled over a fragment of the wall, and fell just at the corner of the gate--which had swung inward, when burst open by the enemy's shell. Confused and bewildered, he struggled to regain his feet.

"Keep quiet, master!" Yossouf's voice said, in his ear. "It is your only chance of safety."

So saying, he dragged Will into the narrow space between the gate and the wall; then, as he rose to his feet, he wrapped round him a loose Afghan cloak, and pressed a black sheepskin cap far down over his face.

In a minute there was the sound of a fierce struggle, without. The shots of the revolvers of the two English officers rang out, in quick succession, mingled with the loud report of the Afghan muskets. The savage yells rose, high and triumphant. The last of the gallant band, who had for hours defended the embassy, had fallen. Then there was a rush through the gate, as the Afghans swarmed into the courtyard, till the space around the burning house was well-nigh full.

Unperceived, Will Gale and Yossouf stepped from behind the gate and joined the throng and, at once, made their way into the stables, where several of the Budmashes were already engaged in their work of plunder. Yossouf caught up three or four horse rugs, and made them into a loose bundle; and signed to Will to do the same. The young soldier did so, and lifted them on his shoulder, so as to partly hide his face. Then he followed Yossouf into the courtyard again.

Already there was a stream of men with saddles, rugs, muskets, and other plunder making their way out, while others were still thronging in. Joining the former, Will and his guide were soon outside the enclosure At any other time, his disguise would have been noticed, at once; but in the crowd his legs were hidden, and all were too intent upon plunder, and too excited at their success, to notice him.

Once outside the wall, he was comparatively safe. The light thrown over the courtyard, by the blazing house, made the darkness beyond all the more complete. Keeping carefully in shadow, Yossouf led him along to a clump of bushes, in a garden a hundred yards from the house. Stooping here, he pulled out a bundle.

"Here," he said, "is the uniform. Put it on, quickly!"

It was but the work of a minute for Will to attire himself in the uniform of the Afghan soldier. He had still retained the musket, which he had in his hand when Yossouf had leaped upon him; and as he now went on with his guide he had no fear, whatever, of being detected. He still carried the bundle of rugs on his shoulder.

As they walked round towards the lower gate of the Bala-Hissar, they met numbers of villagers and townspeople thronging in. These had waited to hear the issue of the attack before leaving their homes but, now that the arrival of the plunderers from the residency, and the cessation of the fire, told of the successful termination of the assault, they flocked up to join in the rejoicings over the annihilation of the Kaffirs.

Chapter 14: The Advance Upon Cabul.

Throughout the long hours of the night of the 2nd of September, while the roll of musketry and the roar of cannon had gone on, without a moment's pause, just outside the walls of his palace, Yakoob Khan had made no movement, whatever, to protect his guests or fulfil his own solemn promises. Silent and sullen, he had sat in his council chamber.

The disgrace of a broken promise is not one which weighs heavily upon an Afghan's mind, and it is not probable that the thought of his tarnished honor troubled him, in the slightest degree; but he knew that the massacre which was being perpetrated at his door would be avenged, and that the English troops, which had so easily beaten the army which his father had spent so many years in preparing, would be set in movement against Cabul the moment the news reached India. He cannot but have dreaded the consequences. But he apparently feared, even more, to incur the hostility of the Heratee regiment, by interfering to save their victims.

Again and again during the night, his wisest councilors besought him to call upon the loyal Cabullee regiments to act against the Heratees, but in vain. It is doubtful whether Yakoob was previously informed of the intended massacre, but there is strong reason to believe that he was so. The proofs, however, were not clear and definite. His conduct cost him his throne, and condemned him to remain to the end of his life a dishonored pensioner, and semi-prisoner, in India.

Many eager questions were asked of Will and his companion, as they made their way down to the gate of the Bala-Hissar. Yossouf took upon himself to answer them, and they passed through the gate without the slightest suspicion.

"Which way now?"

"I think it will be safest to go into the city. We might lie hid for a few days in some deserted hut but, sooner or later, our presence there would excite comment. It will be best, I think, to go into the city. In the quarters of the Parsee merchants there are assuredly some who would give you shelter. Domajee--who was the contractor for the supply of the mission--would, I should think, be best to go to. There is little danger, for none will suspect your presence there. His servants are all Hindoos."

"That is the best place, Yossouf. I have been down several times to Domajee, and he is certainly devoted to the English. We can but try him."

The first dawn of morning was breaking, when Will and his faithful friend arrived at the door of the Parsee trader, in the Hindoo quarter of Cabul. The doors were fastened and barred, for it was impossible to say whether the attack upon the mission--which had been heard going on, all night--might not be followed by a fanatic outbreak against the Hindoo and Parsee traders, in the Hindoo quarter. Therefore, there was little sleep that night.

Yossouf knocked gently at the door.

"Who is there?" a voice at once inquired, from within.

"I come on urgent business with Domajee," Yossouf replied. "Open quickly, there are but two of us here."

There was a slight pause, and then the door was opened; and closed, immediately the two visitors had entered. A light was burning in the large anteroom, as they entered it; and several Hindoos--who had been lying, wrapped up in cloths, on the floor--rose to their feet to inspect the newcomers. A moment later the trader, himself, came down the stairs from an apartment above.

"What is it?" he asked.

He did not pause for an answer. The light from the lamp he carried fell upon Will's face, now white as a sheet from loss of blood. With the one word, "Follow," the Parsee turned on his heel, and led the way upstairs.

"Has the mission been captured?" he asked, as they entered an empty room.

"Yes," Will replied, "and I believe that I am the only survivor."

The fatigue of climbing the stairs completed the work caused by prolonged excitement and loss of blood and, as he spoke, he tottered; and would have fallen had not Yossouf seized him and, with the assistance of the Parsee, laid him on a couch. In a few words, Yossouf informed the trader of what had happened; and satisfied him that no suspicion could arise, of the presence of one of the British in his house. As the residency had been burnt down, and the bodies of those who had fallen within it consumed, no one would suspect that one of the five Englishmen there had effected his escape; and it would be supposed that Will's body, like that of Doctor Kelly, had been consumed in the flames.

The Parsee was sure that Cabul would soon be reoccupied by the British and--putting aside his loyalty to them--he felt that his concealment of an English survivor of the massacre would be greatly to his advantage, and would secure for him the custom of the English, upon their arrival at the town.

He first descended the stairs; and warned his Hindoo followers, on no account, whatever, to breathe a word of the entry of strangers there. Then he again returned to the room, where Yossouf was sprinkling water on Will's face, and was endeavoring to recover him to consciousness.

"There is blood on the couch," the trader said. "He is wounded, and is suffering from its loss. See! The sleeve of his coat is soaked with blood, but I see no mark on the cloth."

"No," Yossouf replied; "he has put on that uniform since the fight."

"Go downstairs," the trader said; "my wife and daughter will see to him."

As soon as Yossouf left the room, Domajee's wife and daughter entered, with many exclamations of surprise and alarm. They were at once silenced by the trader, who bid them cut off the wounded man's uniform, and stanch his wounds.

Will had been hit in two places. One ball had passed through the left arm, fortunately without injuring the bone. The other had struck him in the side, had run round his ribs and gone out behind, inflicting an ugly-looking but not serious wound--its course being marked by a blue line on the flesh, behind the two holes of entry and exit.

The wounds were washed and bound up, some cordial was poured between his lips and, ere long, he opened his eyes and looked round, in bewilderment.

"You are safe, and among friends," the Parsee said. "Drink a little more of the cordial, and then go off quietly to sleep. You need have no fear of being discovered, and your friends will be here, ere long."

Four of the Hindoo servants now, at the order of the trader, came upstairs and, lifting the couch, carried Will to a cool and airy chamber, in the upper story of the house. Here a soft bed of rugs and mattresses was prepared, and Will was soon in a quiet sleep, with Yossouf watching by his side.

It was but twenty-four hours after the massacre that a well-mounted native, from Cabul, brought the news over the Shatur-Gardan Pass into the Khurum valley. Thence it was telegraphed to Simla and, in a few hours, all India rang with it. Not an instant was lost in making preparations for avenging the murder of the British mission. On the same day, orders were sent