Through Three Campaigns: A Story of Chitral, Tirah and Ashanti Page 5

  Chapter 5: Promoted.

  As he was not now in uniform, Lisle kept carefully out of sightwhen General Gatacre's force marched in, which it did very shortlyafter Colonel Kelly's arrival. This was probably unnecessarycaution for, in addition to Mr. Robertson, there were two or threeother civilians in the garrison; but he was desirous of escapingobservation until General Low, who would arrive next day, shouldhave heard of his escapade.

  At mess, however, several officers of General Gatacre's force dinedwith the regiment; who had exerted themselves to the utmost toprovide a banquet for their guests. Most of these had, at one timeor other, been cantoned with the Pioneers. Two or three of thejunior officers were introduced to the newcomers, among them Lisle.

  "This gentleman," the colonel said, "is Mr. Lisle Bullen, son ofthe late Captain Bullen; who you have doubtless heard was killed,some little time ago, while storming a hill fort. He is at presentacting as temporary lieutenant of my regiment."

  The officers looked with some surprise at Lisle's still darkenedface.

  "I see you are surprised, gentlemen," the colonel said, "but thereis a tale that hangs to that colour. I will relate it to you afterdinner; but I may say that Bullen is not a half caste, as you mightthink, but of pure English blood."

  At this moment dinner was announced. A temporary mess tent had beenerected. It was open at the sides, and composed of many-colouredcloths. The party sat down under this. There was no cloth, and thedinner was served on a miscellaneous variety of dishes, for themost part of tin. Each guest brought his own knife, fork, andstool. It was a merry party and, after the table had been cleared,the colonel said:

  "In the first place, Maneisty, you must give us the story of yourdoings; of which we have, at the present, heard only the barestoutline."

  "It is rather a long story, colonel."

  "We have nothing else to talk about, here. We have seen nonewspapers for a long time, and know nothing of what is going onoutside; and therefore can't argue about it, or express opinions asto whether or not the government have, as usual, blundered.Therefore, the more detail you tell us, the better pleased we shallbe."

  "As you know, the first army corps, fourteen thousand strong, wereordered early in March to concentrate; so that when the news camethat the garrison of Chitral were in serious danger, the manoeuvreswere being carried out, but it was not until late in the day thatthe troops were able to move forward. The brigade marched toJellala without tents, taking with them supplies sufficient fortwenty days. The next morning the 2nd and 3rd Brigade went on toDargai. The weather was cold and wet, and the roads soft.

  "It had been given out that the 1st Brigade were to go by theShakot Pass. This was only a ruse to deceive the enemy, and keepthem from concentrating on the Malakand. Subsequently an officerrode up the Shakot Pass, and found it to be much more difficultthan the Malakand, and more strongly fortified. Orders were sent,in the middle of the night, for the 1st Brigade to proceed at onceto Dargai. Early in the morning a reconnaissance was made byGeneral Blood, and a large body of the enemy were seen. It wasevident that the passage of the pass was to be disputed.

  "Starting from Dargai, the pass went through a gradually narrowingvalley for about two miles; then bending to the northeast for amile and a half, the hills on the west rising precipitously to agreat height. On reaching the bend, the pass was strongly held onthe west side.

  "The 4th Sikhs went out on the flank. The Guides Infantry weredirected to ascend the highest point of the western hill and, fromthis, to enfilade the enemy. It was a most arduous task, as theyhad to ascend the highest peak of the range, some fifteen hundredfeet. Here several sangars had been erected by the enemy, whohurled down rocks and stones.

  "In the meantime the main force advanced, and could make out thegeneral position of the enemy. They occupied the whole of the crestof the western hill, having constructed numerous sangars down itsside, each commanding the one below it. The greater part of theirforce was more than halfway down the hill, at the point where itdescended precipitously into the valley. It was only at this pointthat the western side of the pass was held.

  "Three batteries were sent up on this side. These attacked positionafter position on the eastern slope, and their fire was so accuratethat it effectually prevented the enemy on the eastern side fromconcentrating.

  "When the advance began, it was evident that little could be doneuntil the Guides had secured the position they had been ordered totake. It was soon seen that they were very seriously outnumbered.The Gordon Highlanders had moved up the crest of the western hill,at the point where it touched the valley. The Scottish Borderershad hastened up the centre spur; the 60th Rifles were ordered upthe slope, farther back in the line; while the Bedfordshire and37th Dogras rounded the point on which the Gordon Highlanders beganthe ascent and, turning to the left, climbed the hill from thenorthern side. The 15th Sikhs were held in reserve.

  "The brunt of the fighting fell upon the Gordon Highlanders and theBorderers. Making as they did a direct attack, they met with asturdy resistance. Several of the sangars were carried byhand-to-hand fighting; indeed, had the advance not been so wellcovered by the fire of our guns, it is doubtful whether theposition could have been captured.

  "It was one of the finest scenes I ever saw. The hillside wasliterally covered with fire. We could see the two Scotch regimentspushing on, and attacking the sangars by rushes; while above themthe shells from the guns and fire from the Maxims prevented theholders of the upper sangars from coming down to the assistance ofthose below. The moment the attacking troops reached the top, theenemy fled down the western slopes. The action began at 8:30 A.M.,and concluded at 2 P.M. The enemy's loss was admitted, bythemselves, to be about five hundred; ours was only eleven killed,and eight officers and thirty-nine men wounded.

  "The 1st Brigade remained at the top of the pass, while its baggagemules moved up. The path was so bad that only a few mules reachedthe top that night. It was afterwards found that, if we had takenthe path, we should have suffered most severely; as it wasdiscovered that the walls of the sangars had been perforated withlateral slits, commanding every turn.

  "On the following day the 1st Brigade descended into the SwatValley. Its place on the pass was taken by the 2nd. As soon as the1st Brigade got free of the pass, they were fired upon by theenemy, who had taken up a position on the Amandarra.

  "The mountain battery was at once brought into action, and beganshelling the sangars. Under its cover the Bedfordshires movedforward, and drove the enemy from their position. Here they foughtwith extreme obstinacy. The 37th Dogras carried a spur to the left,and sent back news that a great body of the enemy were advancing. Asquadron of the Guides cavalry charged them, killing about thirty,and putting the rest to flight.

  "The transport was now being gradually pushed up, and the brigadeencamped at Khar, at half-past seven. As the enemy were in greatforce on the surrounding hills, a night attack was expected, andthe troops lay down with fixed bayonets.

  "The capture of these passes spread great consternation through theSwat valleys, as the tribes had always believed that they wereimpregnable, and boasted that an enemy had never entered theirterritory. They had fought with desperate bravery to defeat us;although we had no quarrel with them, and merely wished to getthrough their country to reach Chitral. Curiously enough, they hada strong belief in our magnanimity, and several of their woundedactually came into camp to be attended to by our surgeons.

  "On the 5th of April the 1st Brigade remained all day in camp, the2nd Brigade going on seven or eight miles farther. Early on themorning of the 7th, a party went down the river to make a bridge. Aheavy fire was opened upon them, and the whole of the 2nd Brigadeand the 15th Sikhs from the 1st Brigade went out in support.

  "While the 11th Bengal Lancers were searching for a ford, they cameunder a heavy fire from a village at the foot of a knoll, 600 yardsfrom the river. A mountain battery quickly silenced this fire, andtwo squadrons of Bengal Lancers and one of the Guides, crossing theford, pursu
ed the enemy five or six miles, and cut off about ahundred of them. Opposite the village they discovered another ford,where two could pass at once and, the next day, the rest of thebrigade followed them. The people of the Swat Valley speedilyaccommodated themselves to the situation, and brought in sheep,fowls, and other things for sale.

  "On the 9th, headquarters joined the 2nd Brigade at Chakdara, andthe 3rd Brigade encamped on the south side of the river. On the11th the headquarters and the 2nd Brigade arrived at the PanjkoraRiver. A bridge had to be built across this but, on the 13th, justas it was finished, a flood came down and washed it away.

  "A party were sent across at daybreak to burn the villages; whichhad, during the night, been firing on the advance guard of the 2ndBrigade. They accomplished their work but, while engaged upon it,were attacked by a very large force. The carrying away of thebridge rendered the position extremely dangerous, and the force wasordered, by signal, to fall back upon the river; while the Brigadecovered their retreat from the opposite bank. The retreating columnwas sorely pressed, although the Maxim guns and the mountainbattery opened fire upon the enemy. Colonel Battye was mortallywounded, and so hotly did the Afridis follow up their attack that acompany of the Guides fixed bayonets, and charged them.

  "As, however, the enemy still persisted in their attack, the forceset to work to entrench themselves. This they managed to do, withthe aid of a Maxim gun of the 11th; which had crossed one of thebranches of the river, and got into a position flanking theentrenchments. All night the enemy kept up a heavy fire. In themorning the force were still unable to pass. However, during theday the 4th Sikhs came across on rafts, and passed the night withthem. The force was much exhausted, for they had been more thanforty-eight hours without a meal.

  "Working day and night, in forty-eight hours another bridge wasconstructed, on the suspension system, with telegraph wires. Untilit was finished, communication was maintained with the other bankby means of a skin raft, handled by two active boatmen.

  "We had only one more fight, and that was a slight one. Then thenews reached us that the position of Chitral was serious, andGeneral Gatacre was hurried forward with our force."

  "You had some tough fighting," the colonel said, "but the number ofyour casualties would seem to show that ours was the stiffer task.At the same time we must admit that, if you hadn't been detainedfor six or seven days at that river, you would have beaten us inthe race."

  "Yes, we were all mad, as you may well imagine, at being detainedso long there. Our only hope was that your small force would not beable to fight its way through, until our advance took the spiritout of the natives. Certainly they fought very pluckily, in theirattacks upon the force that had crossed; and that action came veryclose to being a serious disaster.

  "The flood that washed away our bridge upset all our calculations.I almost wonder that the natives, when they found that we could notcross the river, did not hurry up to the assistance of the forcethat was opposing you. If they had done so, it would have been veryawkward."

  "It would have gone very hard with us, for they are splendidskirmishers and, if we had not had guns with us to effectuallyprevent them from concentrating anywhere, and had had to dependupon rifle fire alone, I have some doubts whether our little forcewould have been able to make its way through the defiles."

  "Well, it has been a good undertaking, altogether; and I hope thatthe punishment that has been inflicted will keep the tribes quietfor some years."

  "They will probably be quiet," the officer said, "till troublebreaks out in some other quarter, and then they will be swarmingout like bees."

  "It is their nature to be troublesome," the colonel said. "They areborn fighters, and there is no doubt that the fact that most ofthem have got rifles has puffed them up with the idea that, whilethey could before hold their passes against all intruders, it wouldbe now quite impossible for us to force our way in, when they couldpick us off at twelve hundred paces.

  "I wish we could get hold of some of the rascally traders whosupply them with rifles of this kind. I would hang them withoutmercy. Of course, a few of the rifles have been stolen; but thatwould not account in any way for the numbers they have in theirhands. A law ought to be passed, making it punishable by death forany trader to sell a musket to a native; not only on the frontier,but throughout India. The custom-house officers should be forced tosearch for them in every ship that arrives; the arms and ammunitionshould be confiscated; and the people to whom they are consignedshould be fined ten pounds on every rifle, unless it could beproved that the consignment was made to some of the native princes,who had desired them for the troops raised as subsidiary forces toour own."

  The colonel then related Lisle's story in the campaign, whichcreated unbounded surprise among the guests.

  "It was a marvellous undertaking for a young fellow to plan andcarry out," one of them said. "There are few men who could havekept up the character; fewer still who would have attempted it,even to take part in a campaign. I am sure, colonel, that we allhope your application for a commission for him will be granted; forhe certainly deserves it, if ever a fellow did."

  There was a general murmur of assent and, shortly afterwards, themeeting broke up; for it was already a very late hour.

  The rest of the campaign was uneventful. Lisle speedily fell backinto the life he had led before the campaign began, except that henow acted as an officer. He already knew so much of the work thathe had no difficulty, whatever, in picking up the rest of hisduties. He was greatly pleased that the colonel said nothing moreto Gholam Singh, and the native officers of his company and, by thetime the regiment marched back to Peshawar, he was as efficient asother officers of his rank.

  He had, after his father's death, written down to his agents atCalcutta; and had received a thousand rupees of the sum standing tohis account, in their hands. He was therefore able to pay his shareof the mess expenses; which were indeed very small for, with theexception of fowls and milk, it was impossible to buy anything toadd to the rations given to them.

  The march down was a pleasant one. There was no longer any occasionfor speed. The snow had melted in the passes, the men were in highspirits at the success that had attended their advance, and thefact that they had been the first to arrive to the rescue of thegarrison of Chitral.

  A month after they reached Peshawar, Lisle was sent for by ColonelKelly.

  "I am pleased, indeed, to be able to inform you that my urgentrecommendation of you has received attention, and that you havebeen gazetted as lieutenant, dating from the day of our arrival atChitral. I congratulate you most heartily."

  "I am indeed most delighted, sir. I certainly owe my promotionentirely to your kindness."

  "Certainly not, Lisle; you well deserve it. I am sorry to say thatyou will have to leave us; for you are gazetted to the 103rdPunjabi Regiment, who are stationed at Rawalpindi."

  "I am sorry indeed to hear that, sir; though of course, I couldhardly have expected to remain with you. I shall be awfully sorryto leave. You have all been so kind to me, and I have known you allso long. Still, it is splendid that I have got my commission. Imight have waited three or four years, in England; and then beenspun at the examination."

  Lisle marched down with the regiment to Peshawar. Here he had hisuniforms made, laid in a stock of requisites, and then, after ahearty farewell from his friends, proceeded to join his regiment,which was lying at Rawalpindi. He took with him Robah, whom themajor relinquished in his favour.

  On his arrival at the station, he at once reported himself to thecolonel.

  "Ah! I saw your name in the gazette, a short time since. You musthave lost no time in coming out from England."

  "I was in India when I was gazetted, sir."

  "Well, I am glad that you have joined so speedily; for I am shortof officers, at present. There is a spare tent, which my orderlywill show you. We shall have tiffin in half an hour, when I canintroduce you to the other officers."

  When Lisle entered the mess tent, he was introduc
ed to the otherofficers, one of whom asked him when he had arrived from England.

  "I have never been to England. I was born out here. My father was acaptain in the 32nd Punjabis, and was killed in an attack on a hillfort. That was some months ago, and I remained with the regiment,whose quarters had always been my home, until there should be anopportunity for my being sent down to Calcutta."

  "Well, it is very decent of the War Office to give you acommission; though, of course, it is the right thing to do--but itis not often that they do the right thing. Your regiment did somesharp fighting on their way up to Chitral, but of course you sawnothing of that."

  "Yes; I accompanied the regiment."

  "The deuce you did!" the colonel said. "I wonder you managed to getup with it, or that Colonel Kelly gave you leave. I certainlyshould not, myself, have dreamed of taking a civilian with me onsuch an expedition."

  Lisle nodded.

  "The colonel did not give me leave, sir. With the aid of one of thenative officers, with whom my father was a favourite, I obtained anative uniform; and went through the campaign as a private."

  The officers all looked upon him with astonishment.

  "Do you mean to say that you cooked with them, fought with them,and lived with them, as one of themselves?"

  "That was so, sir; and it was only at the last fight that the truthcame out, for then one of the officers heard me make a remark tomyself, in English. Fortunately, the native officers gave a verygood account of my conduct. I was one of a small party thatdescended a cliff with ropes, and did a good deal towards drivingthe Chitralis out of their position."

  "But how was it that you were not recognized by the soldiers?"

  "I speak the language as well as I speak my own," Lisle saidquietly. "Having lived with the regiment all my life, I learned tospeak it like a native."

  "Well," the colonel said, "it was a plucky thing for you to do. Theidea of disguising yourself in that way was a very happy one; butnot many officers would like to go through such a campaign as aprivate in the Pioneers, or any other Indian regiment.

  "Well, I congratulate myself in having acquired an officer whomust, at any rate, understand a great deal of his work, and who cantalk to the men in their own language; instead of, as I expected, araw lad.

  "How old are you, Mr. Bullen? You look very young."

  "I am only a little past sixteen," Lisle said, with a laugh; "but Idon't suppose the War Office knew that. Colonel Kelly was kindenough to send in a strong recommendation on my behalf; stating, Ibelieve, the fact, that I had disguised myself as a private inorder to go to Chitral with the regiment, and that, as he waspleased to say, I distinguished myself. He at once appointed me,temporarily, as an officer; and as such I remained with the corps,until their return to Peshawar. He also, of course, mentioned thefact that I am the son of Captain Bullen, who lost his life inbravely attacking a hill fort. I don't think he thought itnecessary to mention my age."

  "Well, you have certainly managed very cleverly, Mr. Bullen. I amsure you will be an acquisition to the regiment. I think we can saysafely that you are the youngest officer in the service.

  "Gentlemen, will you drink to the health of our new comrade, whohas already shown that he is of the right sort, and of whom we maybe proud?"

  The next day the colonel received a letter from Colonel Kelly. Itought to have arrived before Lisle himself, but had been delayed bythe post. It spoke in very high terms of his conduct, and then saidthat he was a general favourite in the regiment, and that he wassure that he would do credit to the corps he had joined.

  The next year and a half passed quietly. Lisle was soon as muchliked, in his new regiment, as he had been by the Pioneers. The menwould have done anything for him, for he was always ready to chatwith them, to enter into their little grievances, and to do many akind action.