A BATTLE WITH AFGHANS.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7868, 20 May 1891, Page 2

A BATTLE WITH AFGHANS.

By Rudyabd Kipling.

[The following graphic accent of a battle with Afghans occurs iv a, story entitled The Druraa of the Fore and Aft, by Budyard Kipling*] Three days later the Brigadier arranged a battle according to the rules of war and the peculiarity of the Afghan temperament.. The enemy were massing in inconvenient strength among the hills, and the moving of many green standards warned him that the tribes were up in aid of the Afghan regular troops. A squadron and a half of Bengal Lancers represented the available cavalry, and two screw-gune, borrowed from a column thirty miles away, the artillery at th General's disposal. "If they stand, as I've a very strong notion that they will, I fancy we shall see an infantry fight that will be worth watching," said the Brigadier. " We'll do it in style. Each regiment shall be played into action by Its band, and we'll hold the cavalry in reserve." ♦'For all the reserve?" somebody asked.

"For all the reserve; because we're going to crumple them up,'* said the Brigadier, who was an extraordinary Brigadier, and did not believe in the value of a reserve when dealing with Asiatics. And, Indeed, when you come to think of it, had the British army waited for reserves in all its little affairs, the boundaries of our Empire would have stopped at Brighton beach. That battle was to be a glorious battle. The three regiments debouching from three separate gorges,.after duly crown* Ing the heights above, were to converge from the centre, left, and right, upon what we will call the Afghan army, then, stationed towards the lower extremity of a fiat-bottomed valley. Thus it will be seen that three sides of the valley practically belonged to the English, while the fourth was strictly Afghan property. In the event of defeat the Atghans had the rocky hills to fly to, where the fire from the guerilla aid would oorerttwar retreat. In the Sα W B&me tribes would theit weight to the rout of the British. The screw-guns were to shell the head of each Afghan rush' that was made to close formation, and the cavalry, held in reserve in the right valley, were to gently SinSJe the break up which woul* follow on the combined attack, ine Hrfffadier sitting upon a rock overlooking Fhi'valley woufd watch the battle u£ rolled at his feet. The Fore and Aft would debouch from the central gorge, the Gurkhas from the left, and the' Highlanders from the right, for the reason that the left flank of the enemy seemed as though it required the most hammering. It was not every day that an Afghan force would take ground in the open, and the Brigadier was revolved to make the most of it. •" If we only had a few more men, he said plaintively, ** we could surround the creatures and crumple *«m up thoroughly. As it is, Fm afraid we can only cut them up as they run. It's a great pity." The Fore and Aft had enjoyed unbrokea peace for five daye, and were beginning, In spite of dysentery, to recover their nerve. But they were not happy, for they did not know the work in hand, and had they known, would not have known how to do it. Throughout those five days, In which old soldiers might have taught them the craft of the game, they discussed together their misadventures in the past—how such an one was alive at dawn and dead ere the dusk, and with what shrieks and struggles such another had given up his soul under the Afghan knife. Death was a new and horrible thing to the sons of merchants, who were need to die decently of zymotic disease ; and their careful conversation in barracks had done nothing to make them look upon it with less dread.

Very early in the dawn the bugles began to blow, and the Fore and Aft, filled with, a misguided enthusiasm, turned out without waiting for a cup of coffee and a biscuit; and were rewarded by being kept under arms in the cold while the other regiments leisurely prepared for the fray. All the world Knows that it is 01 taking the breeks off a Highlander. It is much iller to try and make him stir unless he is convinced of toe necessity for haste. The ;Ebre and Ale waited, leaning upon their rifles and listening to- the protests of their empty stomachs. The Colonel

did bis best to remedy the defaultof lining as soon «c it was borne in upon him that the affair would not commence at once, and so w«H did he anoeaed thai the coffee -was juet ready when—tka ia*n moved off, their band leading. Even then gteMfcad been a mistake in time, and tie Fore and Aft came oat into the valley t«« minute* before the proper hoar. Their band wheeled to the right after reaching tho open, and retired behind a little rocky knoll still playing while the regiment went past. It was not a pleasant sight that opened on the uninstructed view, for the lower end of the valley appeared to be filled by an army in position—real and actual regiments attired in red coats this there was no doubt —firing Martini-Henry bullets which put up the ground a hundred yards in front of the leading company. Over that pock-marked ground the regiment had to pass, and it opened the ball with a general and profound courtesy to the piping pickets; ducking in perfect time, as chough it had been prazed on a rod? Being half-capable of thinking for itself, it fired a volley by the aimple process of pitching its rifle into its shoulder and pulling the trigger. The bullets may have accounted for some of the watchers on the hill side, but they certainly did not affect the mass of enemy in front, while the noise of the rifles drowned any orders that might have been given. " Good God!" said the Brigadier, sitting on the rock high above ail. " That regiment has spoilt the whole show. Hurry up the others, and let the screwguns get off." Bat the screw-guns in working round the heights had stumbled upon a wasp's nest of a hill fort which they incontinently shelled at eight hundred yards to the discomfort of the occupants, who were unaccustomed to weapons of devilish precision. The Fore and Aft continued to go forward but with shortened stride. Where were the other regiment*, and why did these niggers use Martinis? They took open order instinctively, lying down and firing at random, rushing a few paces forward and lying down again, according to the regulations. Once in this formation, each man felt himself desperately I alone, aad edged in towards his fellow for comfort's sake. Then the crack of his neighbour's rifle at his ear led him to fire as rapidly as he could—ag&in for the sake of the comfort of the noise. The reward was not long delayed. Five volleys plunged the files in banked smoke inpenetrable to the eye, and the bullets began to take ground twenty or thirty yards in front of the firers, as the weight of the bayouet dragged down and to the right, arms wearied with holding the kick of the leaping Martini. The company commanders peered helplessly through the smoke, the more nervous mechanically trying to fan it away with their helmets.

"High and to the left!" bawled a captain until he was hoarse. "No good! Cease firing, and let it drift away a bit." Three or four times the bugles shrieked the order, and when it was obeyed the Fore and Aft looked that their foe should be lying before them in mown swathes of men. A light wind drove the smoke to leeward, and showed the enemy still in position and apparently unaffected. A quarter of a ton of lead had been buried a furlong in front of them, as the ragged earth attested.

That was not demoralising. The Afghans were waiting for the mad riot to lie down, and were firing quietly into the heart of the smoke. A private of the Fore and Aft spun up his company shrieking with agony, another was Kicking the earth and gasping, and a third, ripped through the lower intestines by a jagged bullet, was calling aloud on his comrades to put him ont of his pain. These were the casualties, and they were not soothing to hear or see. The smoke cleared to a dull haze.

Then the foe began to shout with a great shouting, and a mass—a black mass—detached itself from the main body, and rolled over the ground at horrid speed. It was composed of, perhaps, three hundred men, who would about and fire and slash if the rush of their fifty comrades who were determined to die carried home. The fifty were Ghazis, half-maddened with drugs, and wholly mad with religious fanaticism. When they rushed the British fire ceased, and in the lull the order was given to close ranks and meet them with the bayonet. Any one who knew the business could have told the Fore and Aft that the only way of dealing with a Ghazi rush is by volleys at long ranges; because a man who means to ale, who desires to die, who will gain Heaven by dying, must Iα nine cases out of ten "kill a man who has a lingering prejudice in favour of life it he can close with the latter. Where they should have dosed and gone forward, the Fore and Aft opened out and skirmished, and where they should hare opened out and fired, they closed and waited.

A man dragged from his blankets halfawake and unfed is never in a pleasant -frame of mind. Nor does his happiness increase when he watches the whites of the eyes of three hundred eix-foot fiends upon whose beards the foam is lying, upon whose tongues is a roar of wrath, and in whose hands are three-foot knives. The Fore and Aft heard the Gurkha bugles bringing that regiment forward at the double, while the neighing of the Highland pipes came from the left. They strove to stay where they were, though the bayonets wavered, down the line like the oars of a ragged boat. Then they felt body to body the amazing physical strength of their foes ; a shriek of pain enied the rush, and the knives fell amid scenes not to be told. The men clubbed together and smote blindly—as often as not at their own fellows. Their front crumpled like paper, and the fifty Ghazis passed on; their backers, now drunk wi:h success, fighting as madly as they. ..-.-„ ~„ Then the rear ranks were bidden to close up, and the subalterns dashed into the stew—alone. Fpr the rear rank had heard the clamour in front, the yells .and the howls of pain, and had seen the dark stale blood that makes afraid. They were not eoingto Stay. It was the rushing of W feh&e°and Deecey, «taltan» Of the last "mpany, faced their death alone in {Sβ ifiefthat their men would follow, •'You've killed mc, you cowards," Bobbed Deecey and dropped, cut from the Shoulder-strap to the centre of she chest, aid afresh detachment of hwimen retreatiug, always retreating, trampled him under foot a* they made for the pass whence they had emerged.

"I kissed her in the kitchen, and I kissed her i» the hell. ChU'uu, chlTua, fellow mc! . Ob Gblly, said the cook, uhe gwine to kiss as Hafia-Halla-Halla— HaUelujah! *

The Gurkhas were pouring through the left gorge and over the heights at the double to the invitation of their regimental quickstep. The black rocks were crowned with dark green spiders as the bugles gave tongue jubilantly ;—»

In the morning I In the morning by the bright . fight! When Gabriel blows Ms trumpet lathe mom* ing!

The Gurkha rear companies tripped and blundered over loose stones. The front files halted for a moment to take stock of the valley and. settle stray bootlaces. Then a happy little sigh of contentment eonghed down the ranks, and It was as though the land smiled, for behold there below was the enemy, and it was to meet them that the Guxkhas had doubled so hastily. There was much enemy. There would be amusement. The little men hitched their knives well to hand, and gaped expectantly at their officers as terriers grin before the stone is cast for them to fetch. The Gurkhas' ground sloped downward to the ralley, and they enjoyed a fair view of the proceeding*. They sat upon the boulders w> watch, for their officers were not going to waste their wind.in assisting to repulse a Ghazi rush more than half a mile away. Let the white troops look to their own front. " Hi! yi I" said the Sub»dar-Major, who was sweating profusely; ,**l>a«n fools yonder, stand dose order! This clpseorder no time for. This volley-fire time Horrlled, amused and indignant, the Gurkhas beheld the retirement—let Uβ be gentle—of the Pore and Aft with running chorus of oaths and commentaries. . "They run I The white troops rani" Colonel Sahib, may we also do a little running? " murmured Runhir Thappa, the Senior Jemadar. But the Colonel would have none of ifc. "JLet the beggars be cut up a lictle*!' said he wrathfuUy. "Serves, 'em -bright. They'll be prodded into facing round in a minute.*' He looked through his fieldglasses, and caught the glint of an officer's sword.

"Beatinj? 'em with the flat. Damned conscripts 1 How the Ghazis are walking into them!" said he.

The Fore and Aft heading back bore with them their officers. The narrownese of the pass forced the mob

into solid formation, and the rear-rank delivered some sort ofe wavering .volley. The Ghazis drew off, tor they did tu>% know what reeervee the geree aighfc fclde. Moreover It wae aew wke to ah** white mea too far. ftflf.WiM wolvea re'tara te cover, satisfied with the slaughter that they had dona, and only stopping to alash as the wounded on the ground. A quarter of a mile had the Fore and Alt retreated, and now jamaaed in the naaa, wm quivering wlch pain, shaken and demoralised with fear, while the officers, maddened beyond control, emote the men with the hilts and flats of their swords. "Gob back I Get back, you cowards— you women! Bight about face—column of companies, form, you hound*!" shouted the Colonel, and the subalterns a wore aloud. But the regiment wanted to goto go anywhere out of the range of tboso merciless knives. It swayed to and fro irresolutely with shouts and outcries, while from the right the Gurkhas dropped volley after volley of cripplestopper Snider bullet* at long range into tbe mob of the Ghazis returning to their own troops. The Fore and Aft band, though protected from direct fire by the roctv kuoll under which it had sat down, fled at the first rush. Jak|n and Lew would have fled also, but their short legs ltft them fifty yard* in the rear, and by the time the band had mixed with the regiment, they were painfully aware that they would have to close in alone and unsupported. " Get back to that rook," gasped J akin. " They won't see ua there.:' And they returned to the scattered instruments of the band; their hearts nearly bursting their ribs. 44 Here's a nice show for us, said Jaktn, throwing himself full length qn the eround. v, A bloouain' fine sho<v for British infantry I Oh the devils ! They've gone an' left us alone here! Wot'll we do ? Lew took possession of a cast-off water bottle which naturally was full of canteen rum, anddranic till he coughed again, " Drink, ,, said he shortly. come back In a minute or two —you see." Jakia drank, but there was no sign of the regiment's return. They could bear a dull clamour from tbe head of the valley of retreat, and saw the Ghazie slink back, quickening their pace as the Gurkhas fired at them.

" We're all that's left of the band, an we'll be cut up as sure as death," said Jakin.

" I'll die game, then," said Lew thickly, fumbling with his tiny drummer's sword. The drink was working on his brain as it was on Jakin's.

"'Old on! I know something better than fighting." said Jakin, stung by the splendour of a sudden thought due chiefly to rum. "Tip our oloomln' cowards yonder the word to come back. The Pathan beggars are well away. Come 00, Lew I Wβ won't get hurt. Take the fife an , give we the drum. The Old Step for all your bloomin' guts are worth 1 There's a few of oxv men coming back now. fetand up, ye drunken little defaulter. By your right—quick march I" He slipped the drum-sling over his shoulder, thrust the flfe into Lew's hand, and the two boys marched out of the coyer of the rock Into the open, making a hideous hash of the first bars of the " British Grenadiers."

Aβ Lew had said, a few of the Fore and AfD were coming back sullenly and ehamefactdly under the stimulus of blows and abuse; their coats showed at the head of the valley, and behind them were wavering bayonets. But between this shattered liae and the enemy, who with Afghan suspicion feared that the hasty retreat meapt an ambush, and had not moved therefore, lay half a mile of a level ground dotted only by the wounded. The tune settled into full swing and the boys kept shoulder to shoulder, Jakin bauging the drum as one possessed. The one fife made a thin and pitiful squeaking, but the tune carried far, even to the Gurkhas. " Come on, you dorgsl jauttered Jakin to himself. " Are we to play for hever ?" Lew was staring straight in front of him and marching more stiffly than ever he had done on parade. And in bitter mockery of the distant mob, the old tune of the Old Line shrilled and rattled.

Some talk of Alexander, And some of Hercuto; Of Hector and Lyeander, And suoh great names as thml There was a far off clapping of hands from the Gurkhas, and a roar from the Highlanders In the distance, but never a shot was fired by British or Afghan. The two little red dots moved forward in the open parallel to the enemy's front. But* f all the world's great heroes, There's none th»tca» compare, Witk a tow-row-row-row-row-row, To the British Grenadier 1 The meu of the Fore and Aft were gathering thick at the entrance into the plain. The Brigadier on the heights far above was speecnloss with rage. Still no movement from the enemy. The day stayed to watch the children. Jakin halted and beat the long roll of the assembly, while the flfe squealed despairingly, .' . _ "Right-about face! Hold up, Lew, you're drunk," said Jakin. They wheeled and marched back ;— ThoM heroes of antiquity Ne'er saw a cannon ball, Nor knew the force o' powder. " Here they come 1" said Jakin. "Qo on Lew." To scare their foes withal! The Fore and Aft were pouring out of the valley. What officers had said to men in that time of shame and - humiliation will never be known ; for neither officers nor men speak of it now. " They are coming anew I shouted a priest among the Afghans. "Do not kill the boys I Take them alive and they shall be of our faith." But the first volley had been fired, and Lew dropped on his face, Jakin stood for a minute, spun round and collapsed, aa the Fore and Aft came forward, the maledictioas of their officers in their ears, and in their hearts the shame of open shame. Half the men had seen the drummers die, and they made no sign. They did not even shout. They doubled out straight across the plain In open order, and they did not fire.

"This." said the Colonel of Gurkhas, softly. •' is the real attack, as it ought to have been delivered, Come on, my child* ren," " Ulu-lu-lu-lu 1" squealed the Gurkhas, and came down with a joyful oUckiog of kukries —those vicious Ghurka knives.

On the right there was no rush. The Highlander*, cannily commending their some tp God (for }t matters as much to a dead man whether he has been . shoe in a Border scuffle or at : Waterloo) opened out and Ared accord* ing to their custom, that is to ear without heat and without intervale, while the screw-gun* haying disposed of the impertinent fort aforementioned, dropped shell after shell into the clusters round the flickering green standards on the heights. " Charging is an unfortunate necessity, ,, murmured the Colour-Sergeaat of toe right company of the Highlanders. "It makes the men sweer so, but I am thinkin* that it will come to a cburrge if these black devils stand much longer. Stewart, man, you're firing into the eye of the sun, and he'll not take auy harm for Government aeamnneetlon. A foot lower and a great deal slower! What are the English doing? They're very quiet there in the centre. Running again ?" The English were not running. They were, hacking and hewing and stabbing, for though one white man is seldom physically a match for an Afghan in a sheepskin or wadded coat, yet, through the pressure of many white men behind, and a certain thirst for revenge In his heart, he becomes capable of doing much with both ends of his rifle. The Fore and Aft held their fire till one bullet could drive thorugh five or six men, and the front of the Afghan force gave on the volley. They then selected their men, and slew them with deep gape and short backing coughs, and groaning* ot leather baits against strained bodies, and realised for the first time than an Afghan attacked is far less formidable than an Afghan attacking ; which fact old soldiers might have told them. - - But they had no old soldiers in their ranks.

The Gurkhas' stall at the bazar wi* the noisiest, for the men were engaged—to a nasty noise as of beef being cut on the block—with the kukri which they preferred to the bayonet; well knowing how the Afghan hates the half-moon blade. Aβ the Afghans warered, the green standards on the moantaias moved down to assist them in a last rally. Which was unwise. The Lancers chafing ia the right gorge had thrice despatched their only subaltern as' galloper to report on the progress of affairs. On {he third occasion be returned, with a ballet graze on his knee, swearing strange oaths in Hindustani, and saying that all things were ready. So that squadron and a half swung round the right of the Highlanders with a wicked whistling of wind in the pennons of its lances, and fell upon the remnant just when, according to all the rules of war.

it should have waited for the foe to more signs of wavering. ao * But ft was a dalney choree. d«#tu deW.d, aad It ended by ihe efiffi lading itself at the kead of the SlfS whjch the Afghans intended to r«t5L? and down the track that the laacae hfi made streamed two companies of tv Highlander., which wa* never inteJSi by the Bn«adler. The new develonm.!: was euccetwtul. - It detached the en«m * from ite base as a sponge in torn from V?* rock, and left him ringed about w?th 5,95 ,9 in that pitiless plain. And M , * l ££* Iβ chased round the bath-tub by the h.*2 of tbe bather, so were the Afghans oh.. 3 tiU they broke into little SetXSfiJ much more difficult to dispose otth* large masses. "^β ivV 8 *? 1 " quoth r he Br 'SadLer. E?er» thing has come as I arranged. We've ji I tuelr base, and now we'll bucket 'em ?! pieces. l 0 A direct hammerinpc was all thaf fk Brigadier had dared to hope for, loilit ing the size of the force at his disS but men who stand or fall by the errorTii their oppouents may be forgiven for tun. ing chauce into design fh e bucketi?: went forward naerrily. The Atoll R forces were upon the rua-the uuTS wearied wolves who snarl and bifce rT» their shoulders. The red Ces ZJ by twos ana threes and, with a ahriVt , rose the lance-butt, like aBS oA U S stormy aea, at the trooper cauteries: for ward cleared his point. The Lancers W between their prey and the ateen huT, for all who could were trying to eS from the valley of death. The bSP lauders gave the fugitives two hundred yard? law, and then "brought them SSS. gasping and choking ere they S reach the protection of the hnnS-i above. The Gurkhas foUowed suit • ba6 the Fore and Aft were kin? ' on their own account, gjj penned a mass of men between t JJ? bayonets and a wall of rock, and r fU.K of the rifles was lighting■ the JJSSd

" We cannot hold them, Captain Sahib J" panted a Ressaidar of Lancera «t?J fry the carbine. The taS wastes time. • Wll " They tried the carbine, and BttU the enemy melted away-fled up the hOU by hundreds whon there were oSi twenty bullets to stop them, rfi the heights the screw gune cj finng-they had run out munition—and the Brigadier jrroanM for tbe musketry fire couFdnot smash the retreat, Lon« before the U»t volleys were fired, the Utters were out An force looking for the wounded. The pattle was over, and but for want of freeh troops, the Afghans would have been wiped off the earth. As it vru the? counted tholr dead by hundreds, mi no. where were the dead thicker than in th* track of the Fore and Aft. . ,™

But the regiment did not cheer wlthtka Highlanders, nor did they dance woajftta dances with the Gurkhas among the (S&ad, They looked under their brows at the Colonel as they leaned upoa thjlr tiflea and panted. " Get back to camp, you. Haven't you disgraced yourself euough for one &j| Go and look to the wounded. It's all you're fit for," said the Colonel Yet foe the past hour the Fore and Aft had been doing all that mortal commander could expect. They had lost heavily because they did not know how to set about their business wish proper skill, but they haft borne themselves gallantly. And thlr was their reward.

A young and sprightly Colour-Sergeant who had begun to imagine himself a'hero, offered his water-bottle to a Highlander, whose tongue was blaok with tfiirst. ~**\ drink with no cowards," answered the Highlander huskily, and turolug to a Gurkha, said, "Uya, Johnny! Drink water got It?" The Gurkha grinned and passed his bottle. The Fore and Aft said no word.

They went back to camp when the field of strife had been a little mopped up and made presentable, and the Brigadier, who saw himself a knight in three months, was the only soul who was coin* pllmentary to them.The Colonel was heart-broken and the officers were savage and sullen.

■'Well," said the Brigadier,."they aw young troops of course, and It was itioi unnatural that they should retire in disorder for a bit."

" Oh, my only Aunt Maria I" murmured a junior Staff Officer. " Betire Iα disorder 1 It was a bally run \ " " But they came again as we all know." cooed the Brigadier, the Colonel* ashywhite face before him, " and they behaved as well as could possibly be expected. Bohived beautifully, Indeed. I \fM watching them! It's not a matter Co take ta : heart, Colonel. As eoaja German Qoaeral said of his men, they wanted to be ehooted , over a little, that was all." To htmaelt he said:—" Now they're blooded I cau jdve 'em responsible work. It's as well that they got what they did. leach 'em more than half-a-dozen rifle-flfitattone, that will—later—run along ancu<lte. Poor old CoJonel, though." \ . . All that afternoon the heliograph winked and flickered on the hills, striving to tell the good news to a mountain forty rallea away. And in the evening there arrived, dusty, sweating and sore, a misguided correspondent who hed gone out to assist at a trumpery village-burning and who had read off the message from afar, curglug hv* luck the while. "Let's have the details somehow—as full as ever you please. It's the first time I've ever been left this campaign/ said the correspondent to the Brigadier; and the Brigadier, nothing loath, told him how an Army of Communication had been crumpled up, destroyed and ell bull annihilated by the craft, strategy wisdom and foresight) of the Brigadier. But some say, and among these be the Gurkhas who watched on the hillside, that that battle was won by Jakin and Lew, whose Uttle bodies were borne up just in time to fit two gaps at the head ot tlsa big ditch-grave for the dead under the heights of Jagai.