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

The grim faces of the Sikhs lit up with a smile.

"You paid them out, anyhow," the sergeant said. "I don't think we are very deeply in their debt."

Lisle went back to the campfire. The best that could be found in camp was given to him, and the colonel handed him his own whisky flask. While he ate, he related the story in full.

"Well, it is a fine thing for you to have done," said the colonel; "a most creditable affair. I know that you are a pretty good marcher; but I hardly think that, after a long day's work, you can set out for a march of nearly double the length."

"I have no fear of the march, Colonel. The Sikhs have volunteered to carry a stretcher for me. I shall, of course, not get into it, unless I feel that I cannot go another foot farther; but the mere fact that it is there, and in readiness for me, will help me to keep on. The Sikhs have done just as long a march as I have, and I hope that I shall be able to hold on as long as they can. I should hate to be beaten by a native."

"Ah! But these Sikhs are wonderful fellows; they seem to be made of iron, and march along as erect and freely as they start, when even the Hausas and Yorubas are showing signs that they are almost at the end of their powers. I must say that I consider the Sikhs to be, all round, the best soldiers in the world. They cannot beat Tommy Atkins, when it comes to a charge; but in the matter of marching, and endurance, Tommy has to take a back seat. He will hold on till he fairly breaks down, rather than give in; but he himself, if he has ever campaigned with the Sikhs, would be the first to allow that they can march him off his feet.

"Have you got a spare pair of shoes in your kit, Bullen?"

"Yes."

"Then I should advise you to take those you have on, off; and put on a fresh pair."

"I will take your advice, sir; but I really think that it would be best to follow the custom of the native troops, and march barefooted."

"It would not do," the colonel said, decidedly. "The soles of their feet are like leather. You would get half a dozen thorns in your foot, before you had gone half a mile; and would stub your toes against every root that projected across the path. No, no; stick to your shoes."

Lisle changed his boots, and then went across to the Sikhs; who fell in as they saw him coming.

"You have got everything, sergeant?" he asked.

"Yes; a hundred and thirty rounds of ball cartridge, the two stretchers, and some food and drink for our comrade."

"You have got a good supply of torches, I hope. There may be some small risk in carrying them, but I am convinced that the Ashantis will not venture to return, tonight, whatever they may do tomorrow. With three torches–one at the head, one in the middle of the line, and one in the rear–we should be able to travel through the paths better than if we had to grope our way in the dark."

The little party at once moved off, many of the officers and men gathering round, to wish them good luck and a safe return. Four hours took them to the spot where Lisle had turned into the path. For the last mile he had had three torches burning in front, so that he should not overlook the signs he had made on the trees.

"There it is, sergeant," he said, at last, "two slashes; the other one is on the left, fifty yards on."

They turned off when they came to this.

"Here we are, all right, Pertab!" Lisle said, as they came to the tree.

"Allah be praised!" the man said, faintly. "I seem to have been hearing noises in the wood, for a long time; and when I heard you coming, I was by no means sure that it was not an illusion, like the others."

"Here are twenty of your comrades with me, Pertab, and we shall soon get you into camp."

"I didn't expect you till morning," the wounded man said. "I thought that you would be far too tired to come out and, without you, they could not have found me."

"They would have carried me, had it been necessary; but I managed to hold on pretty well.

"Now, my men, get him upon the stretcher, and let us be off. Pour the contents of that bottle down his throat; that will keep him up, till we get back."

For another four or five miles, Lisle kept along but, to his mortification, he was obliged at last to take to the stretcher. The four Sikhs who carried it made light of his weight. Once or twice, on the way, some dropping shots were fired at the party; but these were speedily silenced by a volley or two from the rifles.

It was four o'clock in the morning when they re-entered camp. The fires were already lighted and, as the party entered, the troops received them with loud cheering; which called all the white officers out from their shelters.

"You have done well, my fine fellows," the colonel said to the Sikhs. "Now, get some food at once, and then lie down for three or four hours' sleep. I shall leave two companies with you; I don't think that, after the thrashing we gave them yesterday, the enemy are likely to trouble us–at any rate, not before the afternoon, and by that time you will have rejoined us."

"We can march on now, sahib."

"No, no," the colonel said; "a thirty-six-mile march, through this bush, is a great deal more than a fair day's march for anyone; and I am not going to see such good men knocked up, by asking too much of them. So just go, and do as I order you. You may be sure that I shall put the deed you have accomplished in my orders of today.

"Well, Mr. Bullen," he said, as he came to the spot where Lisle was sitting, with his shoes and stockings off, rubbing his aching feet, "so you could not outmarch the Sikhs?"

"No, sir, and I did not expect to do so. I went at their head all the way there, and four or five miles back; but should have had to give up, even if I had been told that a big fortune awaited me, if I got in on foot. I should have had to say:

"'Well, then, somebody else may have it; I can go no farther.'"

"Well, you have done uncommonly well, anyhow; uncommonly well. I don't suppose there are five white men in camp who could have done so much. After this you may be sure that, if you have need of an expedition, the Sikhs would follow you through fire and water, if they were allowed to volunteer for the service.

"I should have been glad to recommend you for the Victoria Cross, for your conduct right through the affair; but you have got it. But I fear that, although you would get every credit for your doings, the authorities would consider that it did not come under the head of deeds for which the Victoria Cross is given."

"I am sure I have no desire for another V.C., even if two could be given."

No attack was made on the following day, and it was evident that the Ashantis had taken to heart the lesson that had been given them. Two days later the column marched into the fort, and Colonel Willcocks went out to meet it.

The colonel's reports had been sent in by a runner. As the Sikhs came along, the colonel ordered them to halt and, as Lisle marched up at the head of his company, he made a sign to him to come up.

"Captain Bullen," he said, "I have much pleasure in congratulating you on the manner in which you saved the life of the Sikh soldier, who volunteered to swim that river in flood in order to carry a wire across; and still more for the manner in which you made what I should say was a record march, in this country, to bring in a man who had been wounded, in a fight with a small party of the enemy."

Then he turned to the Sikhs.

"Soldiers," he said, "I cannot praise you too heartily for having volunteered, at the end of a long and exhausting march, to undertake another still longer and more fatiguing, in order to bring in a wounded comrade. It is an act of which you may be proud; but not altogether a surprising one, for we know well that we can depend upon the Sikhs, on all and every occasion."

Lisle had been carried into the fort. His feet were so tender and swollen that he could not possibly walk farther, and he was consequently taken down by the carriers, during the last two days' march. Hallett sauntered up, as soon as he was put into a hospital hut.

"Hillo, Bullen, so you have broken down! A nice example to set to your Hausas, isn't it?"

"I suppose it is," Lisle laughed; "but the Hausas did not march as far as I did."

"No? What were you doing? Scouting half a mile ahead of them, on your own account?"

"Not exactly; I only went the width of a river, and yet, the result of that was that I had to do an extra march of some twenty miles."

"Now you are speaking in riddles, Lisle; and if there is one thing I hate, it is riddles. When a fellow begins to talk in that way, I always change the subject. Why a man should try to puzzle his brain, with such rigmarole things, is more than I can imagine."

"Well, Hallett, I really feel too tired to tell you about the matter. I can assure you that it is no joke, being carried down fifteen miles on a stretcher; so please go and ask somebody else, that's a good fellow."

In a quarter of an hour Hallett returned again, put his eyeglass in his eye, and stood for a couple of minutes without speaking, regarding Lisle furtively.

"Oh, don't be a duffer," the latter said, "and drop that eyeglass. You know perfectly well that you see better, without it, than with it."

"Well, you are a rum chap, Bullen. You are always doing something unexpected. I have been hearing how you and a Sikh started to swim the Ordah, when it was in flood, with a wire; how you were washed away; how you were given up for lost; how, two days later, you returned to camp and went straight out again, with a party of twenty Sikhs, took a little stroll for ten miles into the bush–and of course, as much back–to carry in the Sikh soldier you had had with you, but who had been wounded, and was unable to come with you. I don't know why such luck as this is always falling to your lot, while not a bit of it comes to me."