“I—I—reckon I am all right,” gasped Gilbert, struggling to his feet. “But I don’t want to get quite so close to the lightning again.”
“No, nor I,” answered the captain, who had been just in front of Ben.
After this the whole party lost no time in making their way to the shelter of the rocks. At the best the protection here was not very good, but it was better than nothing, and nobody thought of complaining.
For fully an hour and a half the rain continued to come down in torrents until everybody was soaked to the skin. As it was warm, this was no great inconvenience so long as they kept out of the fierce wind which was blowing.
“It looks to me as if this storm was going to last all night,” said Ben, and his surmise proved correct. For a while the wind let up a little, but at midnight it came as hard as ever, with another burst of lightning that kept everybody from going to sleep. Making a fire was out of the question, and the soldiers, including the officers, had to eat their rations cold.
“There is no fun in being a soldier in such weather as this,” observed Gilbert, as he and Ben crouched under the shelter of a small overhanging rock. “It knocks the glory sky high.”
“Well, we’ve got to take the fat with the lean, as the saying goes, Gilbert. War was never meant to be a parlor play.”
“I wish our command would advance. I’m tired of lying around this vicinity.”
“So am I. But I reckon General Kuroki won’t advance until he gets support from the other armies in the field. He can’t face the whole of General Kuropatkin’s force alone.”
Towards daybreak the storm began to subside, and by sunrise only a few scattering drops came down, while the wind died out entirely. The soldiers scurried around to get the driest wood they could find, and lost no time in preparing a hot breakfast, which was more than welcomed by all.