“Right and left,” he said sharply; “cover the advance as they fall back.”
A low hissing sound accompanied a quick movement, and then, after delivering a couple more thrusts, Gedge whispered:
“In with you, nurse.”
“You first, boy,” she answered, as she thrust fiercely again, a sharp cry following her delivery.
“I don’t go afore a woman,” said Gedge bluntly, as he delivered point once more.
“Nor I before my patient,” said Mrs Gee, following his example, and feeling the bayonet strike flesh.
“Back, you two, at once,” cried Bracy sternly; and as the strangely assorted couple took a step or two back and darted into the ward, a hedge of bayonets dropped down breast-high, in time to meet the rush of Ghazis who dashed forward with upraised swords.
Then, to the surprise of all, there was the crackle of a little volley, and the faces of the fierce warriors were for a moment illumined, efforts being made to strengthen the position by dragging a charpoy across, planting a second upon the first, and heaping thereon everything that could be seized upon in the darkness. There was a fresh burst of yelling, the Ghazis raging in their disappointment and at the losses that had befallen them, just, too, when they believed that an entry had been made.
The Doctor took advantage of the pause in the attack to order every invalid who could move by his own efforts to seek refuge in the officers’ ward, and with groans and sighs they obeyed, one helping the other, and in many instances having to be helped in turn, while several by slow degrees managed to crawl. A pause in the attack did not give time for all this, the enemy coming fiercely on again before the ward was half clear; but the bristling array of bayonets presented at the narrow doorway kept them from gaining an entrance, each stroke of their tulwars being received on the rifle-barrels, and several going down as deadly thrusts were made.
It was evident enough to Bracy and the Doctor that their defence could not last, much longer. A party of able-bodied men, dividing and taking their duty in turn, might have kept the whole body of the hill-men at bay for an indefinite time; but the efforts of Gedge and Mrs Gee were growing weaker, and at last it was all that the invalids could do to keep their bayonets from being beaten down.