“And I don’t expect it of him, you may be sure. I am going to carry out my original plan, and surprise the fort to-night.”
“But that would be disobeying orders!”
“What do I care for orders? It’s a plot to rob me of my last chance of distinction while I’m here. Dare you look me in the face and say it isn’t? Porter and Haigh and the rest hate me like poison, and all toady the Chief, so it’s no wonder that he tries to push them on, and not me. But I won’t stand it.”
“Then you must attack with only your own men—not mine.”
“What! are you afraid?” There was an unpleasant smile on Ferrers’ face. “Then you shall stay in command here, and I’ll take over your men for the occasion.”
“No, you won’t. They are under my orders, not yours.”
Ferrers flung an ugly word at him, but could not alter his determination, and all might have been well if Colin had not felt moved to improve the occasion. “Don’t think I don’t sympathise with you,” he said. “I know how hard it must be, but I can assure you Keeling means well by you. After all, it is only keeping our men on outpost duty for a day or two, and having the fight then.”
“No,” said Ferrers earnestly—his mood seemed to have changed—“that’s not all. I know the place too well to think we can guard all its outlets. Shir Hussein and his men will simply make themselves scarce, and we shall lose them. Colin, I’m going to put the glass to my blind eye.” Colin moved uneasily. “Isn’t it Keeling’s boast that he commands men, not machines—that he can trust his officers to disobey an order if circumstances make it desirable?” Colin gave a doubtful assent, and Ferrers went on, “I call upon you to second me. If you are afraid of the responsibility, stay behind here; but unless you are bent upon my death, you will let me have your men. We shall never have such an opportunity again. By to-morrow morning Shir Hussein will have heard you are here, and the chance of a surprise will be over. To-night he knows nothing; there is no watch kept. I have the powder and the fuse all ready for blowing in the gate, and once inside, we shall have them at our mercy. Dare you risk the responsibility and come?”
“I do. We will come,” said Colin, carried away by his friend’s unusual earnestness, and Ferrers went out well pleased. His preparations were in such a forward state that they had not suffered from his temporary withdrawal, and at the appointed time all was ready for the night-march. It was his intention to reach the fort about an hour before dawn, and this part of his plans was carried out admirably. After posting Colin and the larger portion of his force in readiness to rush forward as soon as the smoke cleared away, Ferrers himself went forward with one of the native officers to place the powder-bag against the gate. It was impossible to follow their movements with the eye, but as Colin gazed into the darkness, there came a crash, a glare, a blinding explosion, shouts of dismay. He gave the word to the eager men behind him, and they rushed forward with a cheer. But before they were half-way across the space which separated them from the fort gate, Colin became aware that bullets were whistling round him, that men behind him were falling. Could it be that the men left in reserve with their carbines loaded to keep down any fire that might be opened from the wall were firing too low? No, the bullets came from before, not from behind. As Colin realised this, he tripped over something and fell into a hole, and was followed by several of his men. Before they could extricate themselves, there was a tremendous rush from in front, and a band of swordsmen, cutting and slashing with their heavy tulwars, threw themselves upon the disordered force. The men behind durst not fire, for fear of hitting their comrades; Colin, struggling vehemently to his feet at last, was cut down and trampled upon; and if a wild figure, with face streaming with blood, and hair partially burnt off, had not burst into the fray, scarcely one of the storming-party would have escaped. But Ferrers, who had been flung senseless to a distance when the burst of firing from the wall—which proved that it was he and not Shir Hussein who was surprised—had exploded the gunpowder he was carrying and killed his companion, was able to rally his force, and even press the enemy’s swordsmen back to the gate. There was no prospect now of pushing in after them; all he could do was to send orders to the men held in reserve to fire at any flash of a matchlock from the wall, while he extricated Colin’s body from the hole torn in the ground by the explosion, and his men carried off their wounded comrades. The dead must be left behind—disgrace unprecedented in the history of the Khemistan Horse. To retire on the reserve, then to retreat slowly, with frequent halts to drive back the pursuers, to the spot where the horses had been left, and to return with sorely diminished numbers to Shah Nawaz, was all that could be done. Had Shir Hussein chosen to follow up his advantage there would have been little hope of defending the place successfully; but the tradition of the invincibility of the regiment stood it in good stead in this dark hour, and Ferrers was able to despatch a messenger to Alibad, and then turn to and help the native hospital assistant who was doing his best for Colin’s ghastly wounds.
The news of the repulse created great excitement at Alibad; and as soon as Dr Tarleton had sent off another messenger to Major Keeling, he summoned Lady Haigh and Penelope and as many other non-combatants as could be accommodated there to take refuge in the gaol, while he armed his volunteers and appointed them their stations. But all fear of an attack was at an end on the following morning, when Major Keeling and his force swept like a tornado through the town, flushed with victory over the Nalapuri invaders, and burning to avenge the most serious check which the Khemistan Horse had met with since its first formation. Kīlin Sahib had roared like a bull, the messenger said, when he heard the news, and his face was black towards the officers who sought to dissuade him from setting out at once for Shah Nawaz. The men had had a severe fight and a long march, they reminded him; to which he replied that the Khemistan Horse had often met with hard knocks before, but had never retired. He was prevailed upon at last to allow the force a night’s rest; but before daylight he was parading the men, and selecting the freshest and best mounted to accompany him, while the others were to escort the prisoners and spoil to Alibad, and remain to guard the town. Sir Dugald was sent on ahead to pick up two of his field-pieces, and he rejoined the force with them as it passed through Alibad, bound first for Shah Nawaz, and then for Shir Hussein’s stronghold.