THE BURST OF THE STORM.
Standing on the parapet of our bastion roof, Edwards and I gazed out into the blackness which preceded dawn. Across the town, we saw presently a pale glimmer in the eastern sky. Day was breaking. We watched the light gradually spreading upwards; then, turning, we looked westward, where the outline of a low range of hills, a little more than a mile away, bounded the view. Each portion of that outline remains engraven on my memory, although, since that day, I have never set eyes on it.
The fitful light appeared to me to be continually altering the shapes of the rounded hill-tops. Want of sleep, I imagined, had upset my powers of vision; for the more I looked the more I became convinced that the outline kept changing. Edwards also had noticed the phenomenon.
"It is an extraordinary thing," said he, "but those hills over there look as if they were moving."
"Just what I was thinking," said I; "I did not like to mention it, because I thought you would say that I had got the jumps."
"I tell you what it is," said Edwards, shading his eyes with both hands, "there are people walking about up there. Look. Do you see them?"
Before I could reply, a bright flash shot out from the hill-side, followed by a volume of smoke and then a loud report; and simultaneously a weird shrieking noise rent the air. We saw the shell fall short of the town by a hundred yards or more, and, exploding on impact with the hard sand, send up a column of dust.
Never did sleeping town receive a ruder awakening; and Edwards and I, rushing down to see what could be done, encountered Ali Khan hastening to meet us.
"What is it that has happened?" he shouted.
"They have surprised the town," I answered, "and are shooting with their foreign guns. We must prevent the people being seized with a panic. Send messengers in all directions to warn everyone to seek cover close beneath the western walls, or in their underground chambers, and wait till the fire slackens. Order the matchlock-men to be prepared to hasten to their posts as soon as the enemy advances to the attack; and despatch Haroun, with the horsemen and those who fight on camels, immediately, by the Bussorah gate, to ride round and attack any who come down from the hills."
Ali Khan was calm and unruffled, issuing his orders rapidly, and disdaining to notice our suggestion that there was still time for him to hoist the white flag and submit. Then came a fearful moment, when a shell, bursting in the principal street of the town, produced the panic which we had hoped to allay. Wild shrieks and yells went up on all sides, and the women and children and the majority of the men rushed madly about in every direction. Edwards and I dashed into their midst, and literally drove them in herds beneath the shelter of the wall. It was then that we saw Haroun, marshalling his horsemen, ready to leave the town; and his men, as they passed us, cursed us freely for belonging to a people who had invented such diabolical instruments of warfare. Haroun, however, forced them to restrain their feelings, otherwise their spears would doubtless have made short work of us.
Seeing the horsemen and camelmen leaving the town the inhabitants imagined that flight had been ordered, and soon long streams of fugitives were pressing on the heels of Haroun's horses, through the Bussorah gate, and out into the desert. But a small body of the enemy's horsemen had already swept round to that side of the town, and was menacing the fugitives, who, seeing their predicament, turned and fled back to the gate. Haroun by this time was out in the open, and was soon engaged with the hostile force. I had run across to the eastern wall to order the Bussorah gate to be closed, and I had an excellent view of the sharp little cavalry skirmish then in progress. I remember thinking at the time what a picturesque sight it was, and I could hardly believe that what I witnessed was real warfare. Now one side fled, and the other pursued, their spears glittering in the sun, and their loose cloaks flying in the wind. Now, opening out and circling widely, the pursued turned and swiftly bore down on their pursuers, who, as if following the rules of a game, allowed themselves to be chased. Again the positions of the combatants were reversed; and it was not until I had watched the evolutions for some little time that I became aware that each side was manœuvring for a purpose. Then I understood that Haroun was striving to lure the enemy towards the spot where the men on the camels sat ready to discharge their matchlocks; while the enemy appeared to be endeavouring to draw our horsemen towards the hills, behind which the whole army was doubtless concealed.
As far as I could judge, in these preliminaries neither party was particularly anxious to close with the other, but as both were equally well mounted, and to all appearance equally skilled in the art of manœuvring, it may not have been possible for the one to overtake the other. At length I observed that Haroun allowed himself to be drawn farther and farther into the plain, until, after a while, the curious struggle was being carried on midway between the town and the enemy's guns. So far, the fire from the guns had done very little real damage. A second shell had landed in the town very soon after the first one, but the gunners husbanded their ammunition with care, only firing at long intervals, and generally ranging short. This was a great relief, and reassured the people, who had now got over their first alarm, and were busily employed in throwing up retrenchments within the town. Edwards had formed a hospital in the palace, and had the few people who had been wounded carried in and attended to; while Ali Khan and I superintended the work going on from positions on the parapets, whence we could also watch the progress of the fight outside.
How many guns the enemy had in reserve we could not say, but so far he had only brought three into action, and these soon found their fire masked by the horsemen in their front. For some hours, therefore, the guns remained silent, and it was quite evident that Haroun had grasped the situation, and was holding his opponents to the ground which intervened between the guns and the town. Hour after hour passed in this way, but towards sundown we heard a mighty shout go up from the direction of the hills, and before it died away we saw Haroun's foes in full flight, with Haroun's men straining every nerve to outstrip them. Fondly we hoped that our gallant friend's opportunity had come, and I trembled with excitement as I watched the stern chase. Inch by inch our men gained on the enemy, until they were almost within striking distance, when suddenly, as we watched, we saw, to our horror, a fresh body of horsemen issue from a gap in the hills by the side of the guns, and descend with fury on Haroun's flank. At that very moment the long-silent guns belched forth a salvo at the town, two of the three shells falling among the houses, and causing hideous destruction, though fortunately no casualties among the people. Concerned with the havoc wrought by the shells, we lost sight of Haroun, and when we again looked out on the plain, no trace of any horsemen was to be seen.
Satisfied with their work, the guns did not fire again that night; and when darkness had set in, a messenger came from the Amir of Hayil, offering terms to Adiba, but such terms as no self-respecting chief could accept. The town was to surrender unconditionally; the Governor's property to be confiscated and he himself deposed; his two European guests to be handed over forthwith to the Amir; and all the horses and camels to be given up. The Governor was to be allowed until daybreak to accept or reject the terms; and if he refused to accept them, then at sunrise all the Amir's guns would play on the town until it was levelled to the ground, and no quarter would be given either to the Governor or the inhabitants. The message concluded by stating that the Amir's force consisted of no less than ten cannon and eight thousand soldiers. The messenger did not wait for an answer, which was perhaps fortunate, as Ali Khan was so incensed by the Amir's high-handedness, that his reply probably would have been a most insulting one. As it was, he decided to send no reply, and to occupy the night in the further strengthening of the defences of the town.
While we were debating how best to continue the work, who should arrive but Haroun, cool and collected, and even smiling, but dishevelled, begrimed, and bloodstained. His long day of manœuvring had been entirely satisfactory, and in the end he had reaped a brilliant victory—far more brilliant than he had ever dreamed of. There was no time now, he said, to describe what had occurred, for he had come to warn the Governor that the situation was critical, and that something must be done at once; but he could tell us this much of his fight, that not one of the enemy's horsemen whom we had seen pursuing him at dusk was now alive.
"The name of Haroun," said the Governor, with emotion, "will be for ever in the mouths of Adiba."
"Alas," said Haroun, "it is already too late. I have come to tell you that your people are quitting the town. As I brought my men back, I encountered hundreds of the townsmen in the desert, and though I did all in my power to persuade them to return, they mocked at me, and continued their flight in the direction of Bussorah. When, having left my men at a little distance, I came to the Bussorah gate, I found it so densely thronged with people passing through, that I was forced to obtain entrance by the Baghdad gate."
Ali Khan, with a look of intense anger on his face, sprang to his feet, and said that he would go and see for himself what was happening. We followed him as he strode rapidly out of the palace, and the deserted streets through which we passed soon confirmed what Haroun had told us. Reaching the Bussorah gate, we were just in time to see the last of the panic-stricken people crushing through. They were making no noise, and were evidently in a condition of abject fear, intent only on escape from the town. Ali Khan and Haroun, getting among the crowd, alternately cursed them as cowards and cajoled them to return, but their threats and their persuasions were of no avail. No mortal man could have stemmed the tide, so great had proved the moral effect of a few shells on a people ignorant of modern arms.
Between grief and rage at the disloyalty of his subjects, the Governor was, for a time, completely overcome, and was only roused by a stern rebuke from Haroun, whose courage never seemed to forsake him, and who remained unmoved by what had occurred.
"We will go round," said Ali Khan, hopefully, "and see if our captains and their men are not still at their posts. It may be that the fugitives consist only of the women and children, and such of the men who are too old to fight."
"I fear it is not so," said Haroun, "for I met many of the matchlock-men on the road outside, and they told me that it was impossible for anyone to stand another day of the accursed thunderbolts."
Ali Khan, however, was sanguine, and it was not until he had visited several parts of the town, and found the whole place deserted, that he abandoned all hope and returned to the palace. There the same thing met us; the panic had spread during our short absence, even to the servants of the household and the wounded in the hospital; so that there remained with the Governor's wife and child only one faithful man and two women. The others had joined in the flight.
Seeing that our host was now in a state bordering on madness, in that he insisted that our small party should barricade the palace and defend it to the last, Edwards and I determined to take the law into our own hands, and not permit such folly, while there was yet time to get away. So we took Haroun aside, and informed him of the terms that had been offered by the Amir, telling him also that there were still many hours before an answer would be expected. No sooner did he hear what we had to say than he promptly made up his mind how to act, and without replying to us, he went across the room to Ali Khan.
"Lord," said he, in a determined and clear voice, "you are my master, but you are also my friend and my brother. We have all seen you challenge the lion, on many occasions, to single combat, and we are aware of your personal bravery. The lion which you would now fight has claws which no human being can resist, and to engage him single-handed is certain death. Were there any hope of success, I should be the last man to counsel aught but resistance. As it is, I counsel you to accept the fate that has come, and to leave Adiba for a while, if not on your own account, then for the sake of your wife and child. Come, forget your own vanity, which would impel you to display your courage to the last, and remember that there are others to be thought of. All your camels and mares have already left their grazing ground, as before riding in here I despatched an escort to drive them away to the north, and they have been now some hours on the road. My own men, as well as the riding camels with their matchlock-men, are waiting for me at a little distance from the walls. I will go and bring them in, while you prepare your household for departure, and I will escort you to Meshed Ali, where you can remain until such time as Adiba is restored to you."
Ali Khan made no reply, until Haroun, growing impatient, moved towards the door, and said he would fetch his men. Then our host, with a deep-drawn sigh, spoke slowly and sadly.
"So be it, Haroun," he said. "I will go, but only that I may not see my child suffer before my eyes, and with the hope that he may live to wreak revenge on the tyrant of Hayil, and on those cowardly physicians who for years ate of my salt and then betrayed me."
Haroun hurried off, and we remained to assist the Governor to get ready for the journey. That he had no intention of leaving many of his personal belongings for his enemies was evident, and he, his wife, the servants, and ourselves were kept busy carrying his possessions to the courtyard of the palace, until we heard the clatter of Haroun's horses outside. The camels were brought in, loaded up, and sent forward, half a dozen at a time, under small escorts. Most of the horsemen and camelmen were employed for the space of nearly an hour in securing everything of value in the Governor's stores, all being promised extra rewards if Meshed Ali were reached in safety. Then, when the last bale of silk had been hoisted on to a camel's back, we saw the women and the child placed on other camels, and leading our horses out of the stable in the courtyard, we rode through the dark and silent streets to the Baghdad gate. It was a most painful experience, and I pray that I may never assist at a similar one. No word was spoken; but, mingled with the noise of the horses' hoofs, I could hear, as I rode close behind Ali Khan, what were, only too plainly, his suppressed sobs.
As far as I could estimate, it was about eleven o'clock when we left the empty town to its fate, and we had before us six or seven hours of darkness within which to escape. For, until daybreak, the Amir would take no measures against the town, and it was probable that he was already confident of the acceptance of his terms. That he would pursue, Haroun said, was most unlikely, as the capture of Adiba and the sacking of it would keep his army employed for many days.
So it proved; and throughout our long journey we were never troubled by the thought of pursuit.