BROUGHT TO BAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 2042, 23 September 1874, Page 4

BROUGHT TO BAY.

(Cassell's Magazine.)

Perhaps you you may laugh, but, nevertheless, ifc is perfectly true ; and this is how ib happened.

As you may be quite sure, being only nineteen, I was most tremendously a_xious to get my commission, and when at last I was gazetted to the 204 th Fpot, I did not give my tailor much rest till my uniform and the paraphernalia of my outfit were sent home.

I dare say, to the old and sage, it is very ridiculous ; but to me it was glorious, that first putting on of military garments. The bedroom door was locked : I was quite alone. There was a tall chevai glass by the bedside, and what was there to prevent me from strutting about, as scarlet in the face almost as my tightly-buttoned tunic ? Ifc did not fit me perfectly, I knew ; but having it altered would necessitate its being taken away, and that idea was insupportable. So I kept my things just as they were, and in the hot stage of scarlet fever in which I then was, the fact of my regiment being ordered out to China did not give me much uneasiness ; for even in a Chinese war there did not Beem much cause for discomfort, since I believed that the British could chase the barbarians by the thousand.

I witl not trouble you with the account of our long journey out, and our landing in the Celestial Empire. Let it suffice when I tell you that upon our arrival it was to find hostilities in full progress, and, boy as I was, I had to take my turn with the rest, smelt powder, heard the whizz of bullets, and saw my smart uniferm soiled with mud and filth.

It was hot work in both senses of the word. Now we were wading in a river-bed or creek, with the blazing sun above us, and the rank, steamy heat riaiug from the slime ; now we were stormiDg a mud fort, or chasing the enemy over the swampy rice-fieldß, or through cane brakes ; while the next day, perhaps, we were accompanying some looting expedi ion.

At last, after making pretty good progress up the country, we stormed a town, which I I will call here Ling-Po. It had been a pretty tough job, for the mud walls had been held by a strong party of Braves. However, at last, the day was ours : the Braves were supposed to be diiven out, and we had taken possession, the men distributing themselves pretty well over the place, ond I was along with half a-dozen of the bandsmen, who were on their way to the place choseu for headquarters, there to deposit their instruments previous to go ng upon ambulance duty : the helping of the wounded being, as you are aware, the duty of the bandsmen in "time of war.

We were indifferently armed, the bandsmen having only those short, Roman looking swords— very blunt ones, too— aud though I had my sword and a revolver, I had received a nasty thrust through the right arm from the spear of a Brave— a hurt which neceassitated the wounded limb being carried in a sling, and made me feel more sick and faint thau I cared to own amongst men who would have looked upon my injury as a mere .cratch.

The town was evidently a lar^e, densely populated place, full of crooked lanes, streets, and blind alleys, among which we kept wandering for quite an hour before we were compelled to own that we had lost our way. "If yell be kind enough to take the lade, Mr Grey, we'll folly ye," said one of the bandsmen, turning suddenly round upon me, and scratching his puzzled pate. " I'm ready enough to lead, Dennis," but I'm about done up for want ( f a little water. I was thinking of asking you to carry me." "I'm thinking, sor, that we may just as as well sit down in the shade aud wait, for the head quarthers ia jist as likely to come to us as we are to get to it. A big place like thia would puzzle a map maker." gi" l thought I'd tell you, sir, that there's a couple of Chinese been following us for the last five minutes," said another of the men, ** and 'taint aa if we had rifles."

I -looked uneasily back down the long, narrow, sun glared street, but there was not a 6oul visible. All was still as death, save for a distant shot or two, which seemed to

come from quite another part of the town, and to indicate that the fighting was not entirely at an end. The houses on either band were closely shuttered, and presented the most blank of aspects, and though we scanned the windows above, not a watching face was visible.

1 cuikl nofc help owning that, should we be attacked by some detached body of the Braves, bur chan -es would be very small ; and I Bhould have Lamed myself for want of care, had not the difficulty of fioding one's way through such a wilderness become more and more evident at each stride we took.

" It's ray belafe, sor, thafc Corporal Smith's lading us intirely wrong," said the Irishman, speaking again.

" Lead yourself, then," said the corporal, gruffly, as he tucked his large ophicleide beneath his arm, and paused to wipe the perspiration from his forehead.

" I tell you what, sir," said another man (our beat cornet playei), "we had better make a dash for it ; I don't like the look of this at all. Will you order a retreat ?"

" Why, what's wrong ?" said I testily, for all the time there was a dizzy sensation in my head, and the street looked misty before my eyes.

" We are being dodged, sir, and no mistake ; and if we take refuse in one of these houses, we shall perhaps only be burned out."

Trying to rouse myself, I hurriedly took a glance at our position, We were evidently in one of the lower parts of the town ; and the street whereiu we were was one of the narrowest I had seen since in the country. Every here and there alleys ian off at right angles, but each apparently ended in a cul-de-sac, and to enter one of them might have been like running into a gin, from which there was no means of extricating ourselves. To make matters worse, too, there was, at one end of the street, the glint of arms ; and a moment after, four or five Braves showed themselves for a moment, aud then disappeared.

Fortunately, the peril that threatened our little part> seemed to cle ir my head from the misty sensation ; and I tried to devise some plan for immediate execution.

,; They will come upon us suddenly from one of the narrow streets if they mean to attack us," I thought, and, giving the signal to my men, I turned off sharply to the right, aud we walked rapidly in a new direction, in the hope that it might bring us to where Borne of our own men were collected.

That we were in danger I felt sure. My men knew it, too ; but all the same, in a light-hearted, reckless fashion, I could hear them joking together.

" I tell you what," said one, " the band's as good as broken up, if Me don't get haok. What do you say, Dennis ?"

" Spoiled intirely," was the reply ; " and, hedad, I'm glad I haven't got to blow now, for I've no more wind left than would put out one of Widdy Flanaghan's dips, and they were twenty-four to the pound. How are you, corporal ?"

«' Blown," was the gruff reply. Then we went on in silence for a short distance, but only to stop short as we turned a corner, for there was a burst of yells in the distance, and the clangour of a gong, and we become aware of the fact that about thirty Braves were in close pursuit of a couple of our men, who were evidently hard pressed. " Come on 1" I shouted, with my blood seeming to boil; but long before we could reach the spot, we saw the two poor fellows overtaken, and fall pierced with a score of spear-wounds.

" Come back, sir, quick, come back !" exclaimed a voice, and the sword-armed hand of the stout ophicleide-played was laid upon my arm. " It's like rnshiug on death, and— here, quick ! down here," he shouted, hurriedly; those fellows who have been dodging us are closing up."

A glance revealed our position plainly enough: we were between two fires; and, darting down a narrow lane, we hastily pursued its windings.

" Our people must hear the noise soon, and clear the town," whispered the corporal to me, as he forced his arm under mine. " Hold up, sir, you're a bit weak— that's the way. Now then, men, keep together; its our only chance."

The lane seemed as if it would have no end; and all the time there were our enemies yelling and shouting in full pursifc. If we were overtaken, we knew what our fate must be— instant death, or else some horrible torture, for in their eyes we were so many foreign devils.

I looked back twice, each time to see the fierce faces of the yelling mob panting in pursuit, and once I grew giddy with dread; but I was pressing on the next moment, my heart leaping with joy as Corporal Smith exclaimed —

" Hold up, sir, we'll stand by you to a man; and, iook! there's the end of it at last."

The end of the lane was indeed there; hut, to our horror, we saw that it was blocked up by the ruins of a couple of houses, evidently too near the wall, which had been knocked down by our boat-guns.

"It's all up now, my boys," said the Irishman, with a howl; "but let's die game for the honour of the ould ridgtnent. 1 11 give 'em a call though, anyhow," he exclaimed, " it may bring help-," and as we faced round, he put his cornet to his lips and blew a loud rallying call; and there, in the face even of a horrible death, so great waa the force of habit, that the other five bandsmen involuntarily raised their instruments to their lips.

" Here, what a fool I am !" roartd Smith lowering his huge bell-mouthed brass piece the next moment, for the Chinamen were within half-a-dozen yards, and rushing at us with lowered spears. " Quick, my boys ! a man apiece first. Fire, sir, fire I" I had already taken aim at the nearest man with my revolver, and was in the act of drawing the trigger, when, as Smith lowered the great ophicleide, the foremost Braves saw ita huge belching mouth directed full upon them, stopped short, yelling now with horror — turned, and in a moment there was a regular stampede, the frightened wretches trampling one another in their hurry to escape.

"Bedad!" shrieked Dennis, "the' devils are afraid of the wind insthruments. Blow, me boys, blow! Give 'em the big notes, corporal : let at 'em, Tom, with the thrumbone. Hurray, then! Don't be afra'd. Let go with the clarinet, Tim: that'll give 'em the toothache. Arrah, if ouly Micky Blanc was here wid the pipes I"

I have heard men learning, and I have heard the practice in the b-nd-room; but never before, 1 am .confidont, did such a roaring bray issue from the mouths of instruments of brass as was now sent after the retreating Braves.

" Fire again, me bojs!" shouted Dennis, as he saw in the distance some half-dozen

men pause, as if to see how many had been slain by the fearful weapon that put them to flight. " A big one this time, corporal!" Phump ! — phump ! — phump ! — phump ! went the ophicleide; the trombone grunted, snorted, and cut and slashed in all directions, high and low, sending forth volley after volley of minima and semibreves worthy of the pedal pipes of a large organ; while the other instruments brayed, roared, howled, and made such discords as would have sent a professor mad. But it was not in vain, for this second discbarge had the effect of sending the last tail flying round the corner, and thon the place seemed once more to swim round me, and I fainted.

When I recovered it was to find that my men had carried me by some means over the ruins, and that a company of another regiment had just marched up.

" Better, Grey ?" said the captain, kindly. " They tell me you've had a narrow escape. I suppose there are hundreds of the enemy about yet. I say, there, where are you going, my man ? It's not safe for you to get back thero. Come down !"

"Iv you plase, sor, he's lift the grate gun on the other side," said a voice; and as I saw the grinning face of Dennis, I recalled the whole scene.

" Back directly, sir. I've left my instrument," said Corporal Smith.

The captain nodded, and after a minute's climbing, Smith returned in triumph with the great brass piece, which became from that day a trophy in the regiment ; and, as I said at the beginning, you may laugh, but it is perfectly true ; and that was how it happened.