King Solomon's Mines
will come with the second regiment, that which follows thee, so that if
ye are destroyed, as it might happen, there may yet be a king left to
fight for; and with me shall come Macumazahn the wise.”
“It is well, O king,” said Infadoos, apparently contemplating the
certainty of the complete annihilation of his regiment with perfect
calmness. Truly, these Kukuanas are a wonderful people. Death has no
terrors for them when it is incurred in the course of duty.
“And whilst the eyes of the multitude of Twala’s soldiers are thus
fixed upon the fight,” went on Ignosi, “behold, one-third of the men
who are left alive to us (i.e. about 6,000) shall creep along the right
horn of the hill and fall upon the left flank of Twala’s force, and
one-third shall creep along the left horn and fall upon Twala’s right
flank. And when I see that the horns are ready to toss Twala, then will
I, with the men who remain to me, charge home in Twala’s face, and if
fortune goes with us the day will be ours, and before Night drives her
black oxen from the mountains to the mountains we shall sit in peace at
Loo. And now let us eat and make ready; and, Infadoos, do thou prepare,
that the plan be carried out without fail; and stay, let my white
father Bougwan go with the right horn, that his shining eye may give
courage to the captains.”
The arrangements for attack thus briefly indicated were set in motion
with a rapidity that spoke well for the perfection of the Kukuana
military system. Within little more than an hour rations had been
served out and devoured, the divisions were formed, the scheme of
onslaught was explained to the leaders, and the whole force, numbering
about 18,000 men, was ready to move, with the exception of a guard left
in charge of the wounded.
Presently Good came up to Sir Henry and myself.
“Good-bye, you fellows,” he said; “I am off with the right wing
according to orders; and so I have come to shake hands, in case we
should not meet again, you know,” he added significantly.
We shook hands in silence, and not without the exhibition of as much
emotion as Anglo-Saxons are wont to show.
“It is a queer business,” said Sir Henry, his deep voice shaking a
little, “and I confess I never expect to see to-morrow’s sun. So far as
I can make out, the Greys, with whom I am to go, are to fight until
they are wiped out in order to enable the wings to slip round unawares
and outflank Twala. Well, so be it; at any rate, it will be a man’s
death. Good-bye, old fellow. God bless you! I hope you will pull
through and live to collar the diamonds; but if you do, take my advice
and don’t have anything more to do with Pretenders!”
In another second Good had wrung us both by the hand and gone; and then
Infadoos came up and led off Sir Henry to his place in the forefront of
the Greys, whilst, with many misgivings, I departed with Ignosi to my
station in the second attacking regiment.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE LAST STAND OF THE GREYS
In a few more minutes the regiments destined to carry out the flanking
movements had tramped off in silence, keeping carefully to the lee of
the rising ground in order to conceal their advance from the keen eyes
of Twala’s scouts.
Half an hour or more was allowed to elapse between the setting out of
the horns or wings of the army before any stir was made by the Greys
and their supporting regiment, known as the Buffaloes, which formed its
chest, and were destined to bear the brunt of the battle.
Both of these regiments were almost perfectly fresh, and of full
strength, the Greys having been in reserve in the morning, and having
lost but a small number of men in sweeping back that part of the attack
which had proved successful in breaking the line of defence, on the
occasion when I charged with them and was stunned for my pains. As for
the Buffaloes, they had formed the third line of defence on the left,
and since the attacking force at that point had not succeeded in
breaking through the second, they had scarcely come into action at all.
Infadoos, who was a wary old general, and knew the absolute importance
of keeping up the spirits of his men on the eve of such a desperate
encounter, employed the pause in addressing his own regiment, the
Greys, in poetical language: explaining to them the honour that they
were receiving in being put thus in the forefront of the battle, and in
having the great white warrior from the Stars to fight with them in
their ranks; and promising large rewards of cattle and promotion to all
who survived in the event of Ignosi’s arms being successful.
I looked down the long lines of waving black plumes and stern faces
beneath them, and sighed to think that within one short hour most, if
not all, of those magnificent veteran warriors, not a man of whom was
under forty years of age, would be laid dead or dying in the dust. It
could not be otherwise; they were being condemned, with that wise
recklessness of human life which marks the great general, and often
saves his forces and attains his ends, to certain slaughter, in order
to give their cause and the remainder of the army a chance of success.
They were foredoomed to die, and they knew the truth. It was to be
their task to engage regiment after regiment of Twala’s army on the
narrow strip of green beneath us, till they were exterminated or till
the wings found a favourable opportunity for their onslaught. And yet
they never hesitated, nor could I detect a sign of fear upon the face
of a single warrior. There they were—going to certain death, about to
quit the blessed light of day for ever, and yet able to contemplate
their doom without a tremor. Even at that moment I could not help
contrasting their state of mind with my own, which was far from
comfortable, and breathing a sigh of envy and admiration. Never before
had I seen such an absolute devotion to the idea of duty, and such a
complete indifference to its bitter fruits.
“Behold your king!” ended old Infadoos, pointing to Ignosi; “go fight
and fall for him, as is the duty of brave men, and cursed and shameful
for ever be the name of him who shrinks from death for his king, or who
turns his back to the foe. Behold your king, chiefs, captains, and
soldiers! Now do your homage to the sacred Snake, and then follow on,
that Incubu and I may show you a road to the heart of Twala’s host.”
There was a moment’s pause, then suddenly a murmur arose from the
serried phalanxes before us, a sound like the distant whisper of the
sea, caused by the gentle tapping of the handles of six thousand spears
against their holders’ shields. Slowly it swelled, till its growing
volume deepened and widened into a roar of rolling noise, that echoed
like thunder against the mountains, and filled the air with heavy waves
of sound. Then it decreased, and by faint degrees died away into
nothing, and suddenly out crashed the royal salute.
Ignosi, I thought to myself, might well be a proud man that day, for no
Roman emperor ever had such a salutation from gladiators “about to
die.”
Ignosi acknowledged this magnificent act of homage by lifting his
battle-axe, and then the Greys filed off in a triple-line formation,
each line containing about one thousand fighting men, exclusive of
officers. When the last companies had advanced some five hundred yards,
Ignosi put himself at the head of the Buffaloes, which regiment was
drawn up in a similar three-fold formation, and gave the word to march,
and off we went, I, needless to say, uttering the most heartfelt
prayers that I might emerge from that entertainment with a whole skin.
Many a queer position have I found myself in, but never before in one
quite so unpleasant as the present, or one in which my chance of coming
off safe was smaller.
By the time that we reached the edge of the plateau the Greys were
already half-way down the slope ending in the tongue of grass land that
ran up into the bend of the mountain, something as the frog of a
horse’s foot runs up into the shoe. The excitement in Twala’s camp on
the plain beyond was very great, and regiment after regiment was
starting forward at a long swinging trot in order to reach the root of
the tongue of land before the attacking force could emerge into the
plain of Loo.
This tongue, which was some four hundred yards in depth, even at its
root or widest part was not more than six hundred and fifty paces
across, while at its tip it scarcely measured ninety. The Greys, who,
in passing down the side of the hill and on to the tip of the tongue,
had formed into a column, on reaching the spot where it broadened out
again, reassumed their triple-line formation, and halted dead.
Then we—that is, the Buffaloes—moved down the tip of the tongue and
took our stand in reserve, about one hundred yards behind the last line
of the Greys, and on slightly higher ground. Meanwhile we had leisure
to observe Twala’s entire force, which evidently had been reinforced
since the morning attack, and could not now, notwithstanding their
losses, number less than forty thousand, moving swiftly up towards us.
But as they drew near the root of the tongue they hesitated, having
discovered that only one regiment could advance into the gorge at a
time, and that there, some seventy yards from the mouth of it,
unassailable except in front, on account of the high walls of
boulder-strewn ground on each side, stood the famous regiment of Greys,
the pride and glory of the Kukuana army, ready to hold the way against
their power as the three Romans once held the bridge against thousands.
They hesitated, and finally stopped their advance; there was no
eagerness to cross spears with these three grim ranks of warriors who
stood so firm and ready. Presently, however, a tall general, wearing
the customary head-dress of nodding ostrich plumes, appeared, attended
by a group of chiefs and orderlies, being, I thought, none other than
Twala himself. He gave an order, and the first regiment, raising a
shout, charged up towards the Greys, who remained perfectly still and
silent till the attacking troops were within forty yards, and a volley
of _tollas_, or throwing-knives, came rattling among their ranks.
Then suddenly with a bound and a roar, they sprang forward with
uplifted spears, and the regiment met in deadly strife. Next second the
roll of the meeting shields came to our ears like the sound of thunder,
and the plain seemed to be alive with flashes of light reflected from
the shimmering spears. To and fro swung the surging mass of struggling,
stabbing humanity, but not for long. Suddenly the attacking lines began
to grow thinner, and then with a slow, long heave the Greys passed over
them, just as a great wave heaves up its bulk and passes over a sunken
ridge. It was done; that regiment was completely destroyed, but the
Greys had but two lines left now; a third of their number were dead.
Closing up shoulder to shoulder, once more they halted in silence and
awaited attack; and I was rejoiced to catch sight of Sir Henry’s yellow
beard as he moved to and fro arranging the ranks. So he was yet alive!
Meanwhile we moved on to the ground of the encounter, which was
cumbered by about four thousand prostrate human beings, dead, dying,
and wounded, and literally stained red with blood. Ignosi issued an
order, which was rapidly passed down the ranks, to the effect that none
of the enemy’s wounded were to be killed, and so far as we could see
this command was scrupulously carried out. It would have been a
shocking sight, if we had found time to think of such things.
But now a second regiment, distinguished by white plumes, kilts, and
shields, was moving to the attack of the two thousand remaining Greys,
who stood waiting in the same ominous silence as before, till the foe