Through Three Campaigns: A Story of Chitral, Tirah and Ashanti

by G. A. Henty

Colonel Carter was wounded in the head, and handed over the command to Colonel Wilkinson, who was himself slightly wounded at the back of the head. The men fell fast. The seven pounder and the other Maxim were completely isolated, some distance up the path. The existence of the stockade was only discovered as the undergrowth was cut away by the rain of bullets.

The officer commanding D company--which had been the rear guard all this time and, consequently, had not suffered--was in hammock with fever, and Colour Sergeant Mackenzie was in command. At this moment Mackenzie came up, and asked leave to charge the enemy. His proposal was at once sanctioned, and when half of his company had arrived they charged the stockade, other soldiers and officers near joining them. The enemy could not stand this determined attack, evacuated their position, and took to flight.

The force now prepared to retire, and this operation they performed in an orderly manner. Seven European officers had been wounded, and there were ninety casualties. Indeed, if the enemy had not fired too high, the column might have been annihilated.

Orders were sent, to Colonel Carter, telling him to remain where he was till reinforcements should arrive. A telegram was also sent to Captain Hall, instructing him to despatch a company to increase the garrison at Kwisa. In the meantime two companies of the troops on the Prah were ordered to proceed, instantly, to the relief of Kwisa, under the command of Captain Melliss and, to Lisle's satisfaction, some of his company were to form part of the force.

They started at two in the afternoon, but it was four before they got across the Prah; and they could only march ten miles that evening, which they did through a pouring rain. An early start was made, next morning. By eight o'clock they reached Fumsu, which was held by a company of soldiers under Quartermaster Sergeant Thomas; who informed them that all the troops ahead were perilously situated, short of food and ammunition, and crippled with casualties. He tried to dissuade them from going farther, saying:

"You are simply walking into a death trap. It is not fighting, it is murder. I am sure you will never get there, with only a hundred men and all these carriers."

However, orders had to be obeyed. The carriers were so limited in number that only a few days' food could be taken to the Kwisa garrison, if all the cartridges were to go on. A hundred extra rounds were served out to each man, in addition to the hundred he already had; so that there was no risk of running short, and the carriers would be relieved of much of the weight of the reserve, and could therefore carry up a larger amount of provisions. A hasty meal was eaten, and then they stepped forward for the twenty miles' march before them.

During the halt, they found out how the natives signalled. A gun was fired from the forest, the signal was repeated farther on, and continued to the next war camp. An estimate was given of the number and composition of an enemy by the number of guns fired. The force learned, afterwards, that their departure from Prahsu had been signalled in this way to the Adansis; and only the darkness and pouring rain, which delayed the enemy's movements, had saved the column from attack.

When the march was continued, therefore, the greatest precautions were taken against an ambush. A small party of twelve men marched ahead of the advance guard, and fired occasional volleys. Where the undergrowth was unusually thick, scouts moved abreast of them, cutting a way with their sword bayonets. The difficulties were so great that the column moved only three-quarters of a mile an hour. The carriers struggled on, carrying their burdens with surprising cheerfulness, staggering over the slippery mud, and frequently falling. The gun carriers had the worst time of all, for the parts into which these weapons divide are too heavy for single loads; and have to be carried, swung on bamboo poles, by four men--but often, at the acute bends in the path, the whole burden had to be supported by two.

Nevertheless, the column managed to advance. The river Fum was rising, but was still fordable, and they crossed it, with difficulty. It was now necessary to give up scouting, and depend entirely on the volleys of the men in front to discover ambuscades. One or two deserted or thinly populated villages were passed. Then, after two hours of this trying tramp, the advance guard came upon the Fum again; but at this point its volume and width were more than doubled. The river was rising rapidly, and there were no trees that could be cut down, with the sword bayonets, long enough to throw across.