Through Three Campaigns: A Story of Chitral, Tirah and Ashanti

"Well, Mr. Bullen, if you volunteer to try, I shall, of course, be very glad to accept the offer; especially as, if you keep tight hold of the wire, the stream will only send you back to this bank."

As soon as it was known that Lisle was about to attempt to swim the river, several volunteers came forward; and from these he selected one of the Sikh soldiers, not only because he was a tall and powerful man, but because he could give him orders in Punjabi. As soon as night came on, the preparations were completed. A length of wire, that would be sufficient to cross the river, was laid out on the bank from the spot that seemed to offer most advantages for a bridge. In this way, as they swam out the line would go with them, and they would be swept across the river by its pull, until they touched the bank opposite to where the other end of the line was secured.

Lisle took off his tunic, putties, and boots; and the Sikh also stripped himself to his loincloth, in which he placed his bayonet. Lisle unloaded his revolver and put it into his waistband, at the same time placing in his pocket a packet of twenty cartridges, in a waterproof box.

"You would swim better without those things, Bullen."

"No doubt, sir; but I want to have some means of defence, when I get across the stream. Some of the enemy may be lurking there, now."

"Before you start I will get the Maxim to work, and sweep the opposite bank. When you get ashore fasten the end of the wire to a tree, and then give a shout; we will stretch it tight on this side, and I will send a half company over, without delay. That ought to be enough to enable you to retain your footing, until we join you."

When all was ready, Lisle fastened the end of the wire round his body. The Sikh was to take hold a yard or two below him, and aid him as he swam. Then they stepped into the water, and struck out.

They had swum only twenty yards, when the Sikh cried out, "I have cramp, sahib! I can swim no longer!" and he let go his hold of the wire.

Rapidly, Lisle thought over the position. It was very important to get the wire across. Now that the Sikh had gone, he felt that it would pull him under; on the other hand, the brave fellow had volunteered to go with him, and he could not see him drown before his eyes. He accordingly slipped the loop of the wire over his head, and struck out with the stream.

So rapid had been the course of his thoughts that the man was still within some fifteen yards of him. He could see him faintly struggling and, swimming with long, steady strokes, soon overtook him.

"Put your arm on my shoulder," he said; "I will soon get you ashore."

The Sikh did as he was told, and Lisle turned to make for the shore they had left. To his dismay, however, he found that the centre current was carrying him to the opposite side. As soon as he found this to be the case, he ceased his efforts and allowed himself to float down. Doubtless the Ashantis would be on the watch, and any movement in the water would catch their eyes.

He could hear their voices on the bank and, occasionally, a shot was fired over his head. He felt sure, however, that he was still unseen; and determined to float quietly, till the course of the current changed, and brought him back to the side from which he started. He felt the Sikh's grasp relaxing, and threw his arms round the man's neck.

A quarter of an hour passed and then, to his dismay, he saw that he was close to the bush, on the wrong side of the river. He himself was getting rapidly weaker, and he felt that he could not support the weight of the soldier much farther. Accordingly he grasped a branch that overhung the river, pulled himself in to the shore, and there lay at the edge of the mud.

When he recovered his breath, he began to calculate his chances. The bush overhead seemed very thick, and he resolved to shelter there for a time. Occasionally he could hear the sound of voices close by, and was sure that the Ashantis were in force there.

His companions would, he was sure, regard him as dead when, on pulling on the wire, they found that it was loose; and after the failure of this attempt to establish a bridge, would probably start on their return march, without delay. He had, therefore, only himself to rely upon, beyond what assistance he could get from the Sikh, when the latter regained consciousness.

He poured a little spirits into the man's mouth, and presently had the satisfaction of seeing him move. Waiting until the movement became more decided, he said:

"You must lie still; we are across on the Ashanti side. They don't know we are here and, when you are able to move, we will crawl down some little distance and hide in the bushes. We must hide in the morning, for I am sure that I could not swim back to the other side, and certainly you could not do so. We are in a tight place, but I trust that we shall be able to get out of it."

"Do not encumber yourself with me," the Sikh said. "I know you have risked your life to save me, but you must not do so again. What is the life of a soldier to that of an officer?"

"I could not get across, even if I were alone. At any rate, I am not going to desert you, now. Let us keep quiet for an hour, then we shall be able to move on."

An hour passed silently, and then Lisle asked:

"How are you feeling, now?"

"I feel strong again, sahib."

"Very well then, let us crawl on."

Chapter 15: A Narrow Escape

Keeping in the mud close to the bank, and feeling their way in the dense growth produced by the overhanging bushes, they crawled forward. Sometimes the water came up to the bank, and they had to swim; but as a rule they were able to keep on the mud, which was so deep that they sank far into it, their heads alone showing above it. In two hours they had gone a mile, and both were thoroughly exhausted.

"We will lie here till day breaks," Lisle said; "as soon as it is dawn, we will choose some spot where the bushes are thickest, and shelter there. I am in hopes, now, that we are beyond the Ashantis. I dare say that we shall be able to get a peep through the bushes and, if we find the coast clear, we will make our way into the forest. There we may be able to gather something to eat, which we shall want, tomorrow; and it will certainly be more comfortable than this bed of mud. We must get rid of some of that before we leave."

"It would be better to allow it to dry on you, sahib. Our white undergarments would betray us at once, if any Ashantis came upon us. For my part, my colour is not so very different from theirs."

"Yes, perhaps that would be better. I must rub some over my face, as well."

"I do not care, for myself, sahib; we Sikhs are not afraid to die; but after your goodness to me, I would do anything to save you."

"What is your name?"

"Pertab, sahib."

"Well, Pertab, I think that as we have proceeded so far, we shall pull through, somehow. You have your bayonet, and I have my revolver, which I will wash and load before we get out of this. We shall be a match, then, for any three or four men we may come across. At any rate, I shall shoot myself if I see that there is no other way of escape. It would be a thousand times better to die, than be taken captive and tortured to death."

"Good, sahib! I will use my bayonet, myself; but I don't think there will be any occasion for that."

"I shall certainly die fighting. I would rather not be taken alive, Pertab; and shall certainly fight till I am killed, or can take my own life."

"Do you think that the troops will be marched away, sahib?"

"I feel sure that they will. They have only got provisions enough to take them back to camp; and as, when they pull the wire in, they will find that we have gone, they will feel quite sure that we have been drowned.

"No; we must quite make up our minds that we have got to look after ourselves. Fortunately, the Ashantis will not be able to cross the river to harass them in their retreat; unless, indeed, they know of some ford by which they can get over."

As soon as daylight began, the Sikh went down into the water and washed the mud from himself, and Lisle cleaned and loaded his pistol. Then they waited until it was broad daylight and, as they heard no sounds to indicate that any Ashantis were near, Lisle climbed up as noiselessly as he could to the bushes, and looked cautiously round. There were none of the enemy in sight. He therefore called to the Sikh to join him and, together, they made their way into the forest behind.

"The first thing to ascertain," Lisle said, "is whether the enemy are still here, and to find out for certain whether our friends have left. If they stay where they were, we can swim the river and join them; if they have retreated, and the Ashantis are still here, we shall know that there is no ford. If, however, we find that the Ashantis have gone, we shall be sure that they crossed at some ford, and will be swarming round our men; in which case it will be impossible for us to join them, and we must make our way as best we can."

They kept close to the edge of the forest, the soldier occasionally using his bayonet to cut away the thorny creepers that blocked their course. After an hour's walking, Lisle said:

"That is the spot where the troops were, last night. I can see no signs of them now.

"Now for the Ashantis."

They took the greatest pains to avoid making a noise, until they stepped out opposite the point from which they had started, the evening before. They saw no signs of the enemy.

"This is bad," Lisle said. "I can have no doubt that they have crossed the river, somewhere, and are swarming in the forest opposite. However, now that we know that they have gone, we can look out for something to eat."

For three hours they wandered about, and were fortunate enough to find a deserted village, where they gathered some bananas and pineapples. Of these they made a hearty meal; and then, each carrying a few bananas, they returned to the river and swam across, finding no difficulty in doing so now that they were unencumbered by the wire. They had not been long across before they heard the sound of heavy firing, some two or three miles away.

"It is as I thought," Lisle said. "The Ashantis have crossed the river, somewhere, and are now attacking the convoy. They will not, of course, overpower it; but they will continue to follow it up till they get near camp, and there is little chance of our being able to rejoin them before that."

Travelling on, they more than once heard the sound of parties of the enemy, running forward at the top of their speed. Evidently news had been sent round, and the inhabitants of many villages now poured in, to share in the attack upon the white men.

"It is useless for us to think of going farther, at present," Lisle said. "They will be mustering thickly all round our force, and I expect we shall have some stiff fighting to do, before we get back to camp–I mean the column, of course; as for ourselves, the matter is quite uncertain. We may be sure, however, that they won't be making any search in the bush and, as even in the Ashanti country you cannot go through the bush, unless you cut a path, it will be sheer accident if they come across us. At any rate, we may as well move slowly on, doing a little cutting only when the path seems deserted. If we keep some forty or fifty yards from it, so as to be able to hear any parties going along, and to make sure that they are moving in our direction, that is all we can do.

"Of course, everything will depend upon the result of the fight with the column. There is no doubt that they are going to be attacked in great force; which, as far as it goes, is all the better for us. If it were only a question of sniping by a small body of men, the colonel would no doubt push steadily on, contenting himself with firing occasional volleys into the bush; but if he is attacked by so strong a body as there appears to be round him, he will halt and give them battle. If so, we may be pretty sure that he will send them flying into the bush; and they won't stop running till they get back to the river. In that case, when we have allowed them all to pass we can go boldly on, and overtake the column at their halting place, this evening.