FROM THE SWATH OF THE MIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2293, 10 February 1898, Page 50

FROM THE SWATH OF THE MIST.

A TALE OF 'i HE FRONTIER.

BY GUY A. KGROLEFIELD. Thpy can do it steal and steel, boys, A3 before. rlhbi.r lhbi. calm you, Babi Lunder, 'iiieie's> no lougor need to wonder A!, tlie outcome of your blunder, Or be sore. For Hie l'Athan f.otn the Border, Though he come to be the waider Oi ouv fug, cjn't change thu oilier Of our war. Tbo R<sd Subahdar came into the mess ! room, sainted, and stood stolid and erect to ; report :—": — " Two more horses dead ; ten or twelve too emaciated to live loag ; five sowars and a follower hit, and ons knifed at j bis post on the south salient. Tne men feel i weaiy, but. can count ail the enemy surviving. A Ghazi found in the serai curing the tight. Chaeu given, with no success ; got off unhurt, ffiie firs of the saipers sow veiy hot." A few miriatss later I etood on the wall with the Red Sabahdar pondering the pesc2fal Swath of tbe Mkt, where the erej fog hung in a carve on the liver in the vall-jy below. What would I not have given that my men could count the Pathaap, even to the tune of the «caoke puff* that roee wir,h persisted t irregularity trom tbe hillsides, or that the gallant Goidons ndgbt show even on the farthest ridge. It was a fine morning, but I had ceased to hope for a reappearance of the friendly helio which ha.d disappeared two days --previously from the Chfegru Kotul. AU that was to be looked for now came from the Swath of tbe Mh.t. The road from All Things lay beneath, and ii was from its shadow that the Ocatzus emerged to attack us. The Red Subahdar asked after M-'.-dows, whom I had left in charge of a rtluctant hofcpital orderly ; and v/hon I said that hs had been rambling in the night and I expected to have trouble soon, he forgot his Btafi<-i3, and remembering only hia own unselfish duty, almost ordered me to lake a snatch of sleep, I was tLe only Englishman left except Meadows ; and, apart altogether from my implicit faith ia every man cf the native troops — even to Nnt>ar Singh, who waa in trouble fcr insubordination Lut a month Bjnceß j ncei — it was with a, mifegivicg that I would not see the light again until roused by the cut of an Afghan knife that I lay down on a stretcher ia tko mess rcom opposite Meadows, insensible and in a lather of persplratiofl. I must have slept aod slept, for I awoke to tbe old-time music of tviM firing and tbe little bcgl«r roatily blowiag a broken alarm ; while a burly figure, wbfch I took to be thti Red Su&abday, rasbed past in the dark and brought me to my senses with a 6hs»rp knock o& the arm from a heavy scabbard wbioh us waa drawing free of his legs. 11a shouted a hoarse cures as he passed, and a •white-robed figure Had from the darkness through the doorway. The Red Sobahdar tors after is into tbe moonlight. My eyes stiil rested on the doorway when a patbor and sofc rustle behind made me turn, arc! before I could distinguish anything a rude hand forced rue with a ewirgiDg blow back on my pillow, and a huge Ghazi sprarg eff !to the door like a cheetah. Only haif-awake and baif-oazad I sao up and stared, and only jumped oat of bed and followed on hearing the sound of fighting in the serai. There the tight was a familiar one. Hordes of white-garbed Orekzus swarmed up to th<3 breastwork, over which a number ! had corno, Aa if their own trnculence had I needed vrhettirg, a dozen Ghazis cursed tbe miscreants to their work, and the rncffl'd sboutiag under the white g^sara of the long i kniv? ■ was fiendish in tne exrxtme. The sowaia had two stiven- pounders and a | machine gun in action, and also poured a, I heavy rifle fire from the fort, and those ia the serai wsrs plying the bayonet and fighting desperately all along tbe wall. The moon, glancing from a hazy halo out of a bank of mist, added effect to the scene, and ths uproar was indescribable. I Without any arms, and dressed partly ia I pyj irnas, I took command. The Ked Subi ahdar saluted, and m*de a rush at a Ghszi who was just mom ing the breastwork, with SO knives as a background. Their blades clashed ; the Red Subahdar recovered, and making another cut brought the Ghazi down into the compound in a heap, cloven to the shoulder blades. Again the Rsd Subahdar's blade swung, and an Orakzai doubled over it and fell limp to the ground. His awaited avenger came not, and the Red Subahdar jumped on io the stones, and, brandishing bis sabre, skipped along to the thickest of the fight. Again and again, the seven-pounder had furrowed the crowd and the trough had filled in, bnfc now the seething waves of fanaticism came mora feebly, the fores of the tide waa spent, and before the Red Subahdar and hi 3 company the onslaught ebbed. !

Away down the aide of the hill the tribe;-* men fled and vanished in the Swath of the Mis!\ For some rims tbe sowars on the forb continued to fire irregularly into the nJglit as each one fancied ho saw a stray cloth. Then the firing gave place to the groans and conversation o£ the wounded and other sounds. The Red Subahdar told me to turn in again, as it was " jasfc a little nothing, and the sahib needed sleep " ; that the wounded were safe, and the dead ako were with Allah. Going for a coat I was met by Latif Ram, the hospital orderly, gesticulating wildly, aad saying that the " fever sahib " was aw&ke. I ran in quickly, with the orderly at my heela, struck a light, and saw Meadows propped on his hands like a skeleton, and staring like an empty skull at a short Afghan knife that lay on the table. Terror was in his eyes, and, like a horae Btanding in a squadron of his disembowelled comrades, he shook with fear. I could see he had taken a very bad turn, and was about to say something to soothe him when he collapsed, and lay with a stony gaze of unspeakable dismay fixed on the knife, his jaw fallen, his mouth foaming, and his whole frame shaking. The eight waa a ghastly one. Black shadows husg round the walls; and near my bed, where the moon shot an oblong patch through a skylight, lay tbe body of a Rirnchunder who had fallen through with a garnet at his heart, a stiff hand and twisted fk gers pointing whence he came. I feared Meadow 3 was dying, and, forgetting tbe situation, approached to feel his puke, telling Latif Ri.ni to bring the Red Subahdar and some more. At the firet touch his body became rigifl, and his eyes turned up from the kaife. It; was aa awful rncmeui;, a moment I would cot know again for all the world. Then just as suddenly, a3 if electrified by my touch, he sal; up, gripped my wrist, sprang out of bad and began to grapple with me, i shouting curses on the Gordons and myself. He was as Etrong as an ox, and in a moment we rolled on the floor. Meadow* on top. The light was extinguished, and I saw a blade flash in Meadows'* hand, while the other, cild aad claaaxay, gripped my throat. With a frantic efr jrt I threw off his light aad dwindled frame, and dispoised the weapon, which fell from his band. "We strugg'ed on, and the table was overturned with a cold ring of eteel as the other knifa fell on the stGns ftaor. The poor madman, being entangled with me, was biting and ibiimicg furiously, and, though unable to save myself altogether, I felt hia span of strength failing, and by-acd-bye lie fel?, quite nr.struag, on the floor. I was almost as bad as he, aad sank exhausted on the side of the bed. Never had I known anything so alto/ofpther horrible. My blood shivered as I sat aad thought of the utter horror of tha situation — here with a barrier of the enemy between me and anywhere. Latif Ram came in with the R^d Subahdar and sorafc mcwro, and we got a light and lifted tbe poor shivering fellow on to the etralcher. I feifc it was hardly worth the candle to waka him comfortable for a few minutes of life. The Bad Subshdar could see what had happ^oed ; Latit Ram could guess ; the rest were content that the Red Subahdar and Latif Ram \ should know. The "fever , sj-hib," they thought, could go with the dead to-morrow. We covered Meadows with a blanket, and poured o fe»v drops of brandy ioto his mouth. I Latif Rim righted the table, and put the light upon it ; and Meadows, still showing fvox in his eyes, motioned feably towards the knives, wh;"ch lay together on the floor, ancf whimpered in a husky broken whisper: "You see? — jou see, Henaiker 1 Isn't it — plain, — quite — plain 1 S^e the knife 1— seel — st-G 1 " he continued clmost eagerly. " Jast — becau?e I fclepfc. They've — been — here." I looked at the knives. The English one was broken in two and the Afghan lay across it. What evil spirit had brought it thus I know not ; probably the same that gave the gho3t of Meadows comprehension to draw a forebndiig from the circumstance. « it — =ftill — be— like— that. Yes,— it— wils," he said, with emphatic determination. He was growing qnite excited over it, and excitement woultt be fatal even if he were not already on the edge of the death nullah. Latif R^m took the ksivea away, and he grew calm*r, find with a littJe water on hia lips closed hia eyes and dropped off. into sleep, insensibility, or death — I knew cot \*hich — still murmuring in rebuke it seemed at my laxHy : " Jcist — baciase — I — slept." Taiejrs were straightened up a little, and tbe Red Subahdar and I sat to watch. He said he had tbe wai3tband of one of the G-bsz's, and it would be his life's work to kill the other who hsd dared to toave hia knife near the sahib's bed. Tb*n he left, and went to see that the defence of the fort vp.s being properly maintained. So I passed a long sleepless night, Meadows lyicg like a log In bed, breathing heavily, but JiGVftr giving a sign of rallying. When moraing cirne the Rad Sabahdar had the stolidity, the native soldier's owa pluck and endurance, to stand in the doorw&y, sa?ute, and report. A miserable reportit was, ending : Three knifed in the compound, and would the sahib t&ka rest. Infallible as the dawn itself the tribesmen came up from the Swath of tbe Mist, scattered along rhe ridge?, and disposed themselves to "snipe," more numberless than, ever. Ice uld not rest. I began to love it — the thing en the stretcher— ss I had done when. it was a man like myself, and longed for it to live. I loved it for being white and for many other reasons ; and although I could nofc hope for it to pull through after all this, I would not leave ifc. The help of the men was of no use ; it was no concsrn of theirs, and they bad enough elsewhere. About an hour after daylight Meadows opened his eyes and looked shallowly- at me. I moistened his lips, and he whispered that he mnat g3t np and count the tribesmen ; they were sure to come and take the fort if ho went to sleep. I tried to persuade him to lie still, but it was no good. He 3umped out of the stretcher and walked up and down on the cold floor, talking nonsense and killing himself. Time after time I called Latif Bam, and we forced him to lie down. Just as often he got oat again and paced up and dowa, his knees knocking and his steps tottering like those p£ a new-bom lamb. £>

talked to him, argued, and expostulated. Ever the same demented cry, and hs went on pacing tho room, now cursing in a hundred tongues the poor Gordons, now myself. My head was dizzy with exhausliGtt, and every time the demon of unrest cast a shadow past aa ha stepped between me and the doorway I felt that I was becoming insane, like himself. Twica he fell exhausted against the wall, and ws lifted him into bed, but in a moment be was out again, raving mad when we threatened to tie him down, and cursing me for not counting the Pathans. The firing outside was very heavy, but I was too weak to go out, and was beginning to feel myself under the first influence of fever.

"For God's sake be qaiet and sifc down I" I roared as Meadows drowned the words of the Red Sabahdar at the door in his demoniac yella. " For God's sake ? " he faltered querulously. " Oh I—aro1 — aro you sere it's for Him 2 " I assured him that it was, and I never felt more devout in my life.

•' Oh I then — I — will," he said reverently, and sat on the floor, silent and motionless as the fever would allow, for five minutes.

The Red Subahdar said that tbe havildarmajor was shot, and another horde was comißg out of the Swath of the Mist.

My head reeled. Tbe Rad Subahdar, confideat and resolute as ever, strode eff into the serai to defend it to the end. Then Meadows started up again, tottered past me, and cursed the Gordons. Then I forgot. When I awoke I was still in the mess room, feeling tired ; more tired than I ever believed a man could feel — too tired to keep my eyes open. A surgeon -captain asked me how I fait, and I swooned away agaiD. Next time I woks a man I bad known was standing by my bed. It was Meadows, a captain, and whole. And 1 1 — knew not what I was ; nor caied. I was but a shell.

A wsek later I heard the tale from the captain of the gsllani Gordons, who now manned the fortr. The Gordons came out of the Swath of tbe Mist, whe»c9 all of good or evil comas, to see the Orakzais rushing the fort in thousands. The Gordons drove them out. Every man was killed. The Red Snbabdar lay in the serai entangled in a heap of dead. Among thorn was a huge Ghazi with a short Afghan knifs in his back, from the bilt of which the fingers of the R-sd Subahdar were barely loosed. Iv the mess room Latif Rani had just broken the fever ia the poor head of Meadows, gone out, and died.

Meadows's foreboding was fulfilled, and the vow of the Rsd Subabdar bad been awfully carried out. Next Sunday Meadows and I attended cherch parade with tho gallant Gordons ia the ssrai, and a fortnight later marched into the Swath of the Mist down to headquarters.