Fix Bay'nets Part 22

"All right," cried Roberts from below; and, peering down through a tangle of overhanging bushes, Bracy saw his leader standing breast-high in foaming water, holding on by a branch and looking up at him.

"I fell. Unprepared. You can all slide down. Lower yourselves as far as you can, and then let go."

The distance was about thirty feet, and the descent not perpendicular.

"You go next," said Bracy to one of the men. "You can't hurt, it's only into water."

"Let me, sir," cried Gedge.

"Silence," said Bracy sternly, and he watched anxiously as the man he had spoken to set his teeth, made his way to the edge of the rock, lowered himself by holding on to some of the bushes through which Roberts had suddenly fallen, and then let go.

Hush--splas.h.!.+ and Bracy saw him standing in the water opposite to his Captain.

"Next, Gedge," said Bracy.

Gedge sprang forward as if his leg were uninjured, lowered himself down till his head was out of sight of those behind, and then, muttering the words of the old school game, "Here comes my s.h.i.+p full sail, c.o.c.k warning!" he let go, glided down, made his splash, and the next minute was standing beyond Roberts, holding on, for the pressure of the rus.h.i.+ng water was great. The others followed rapidly, Bracy last, and feeling as if he had suddenly plunged into liquid ice, so intensely cold was the water, which reached nearly to his chin. He glanced outward to get a dim peep of the river they were about to try and cross, and another chill ran through him, for it was like standing face to face with death, the surface eastward being one race of swirling and rus.h.i.+ng foam, dotted here and there by ma.s.ses of rock. There was a few moments' anxious pause, and, above the hissing rush of the water, the echoing crack, crack, crack of the enemies' jezails reached their ears, but sounding smothered and far away. Then Roberts spoke:

"You can swim, Drummond?"

"Yes, in smooth water," was the reply. "I don't know about cascades."

"You've got to, my lad," said Roberts shortly. "What about your men?

You can, I know, Gedge."

"Yes, sir."

"You others?"

"I can swim a few strokes, sir," said one.

"Never was no water, sir, where I was," replied the other.

"A few strokes!" cried Roberts fiercely. "No water! Shame on you, lads! No one who calls himself a man ought, to be in a position to say such a thing. Well, we'll do our best. Don't cling, or you'll drown us as well."

"I can get one on 'em across like a shot, sir," cried Gedge excitedly.

"Silence!" cried Roberts.

"But I done drowning-man resky, sir, in Victory Park lots o' times."

"Then rescue the drowning-man with the injured leg--yourself," said Roberts, smiling--"if it comes to the worst. Draw swords, gentlemen.

I'll lead. You take hold of my sword, my lad, and take fast grip of Mr Drummond's hand. Drummond, hold out your sword to Gedge. Gedge, take Mr Bracy's hand. Bracy, you can extend your sword to the last. We may be able to wade. If not we must go with the stream, and trust to the rocks. Each man who reaches a shallow can help the rest. Ready?

Forward!"

CHAPTER TEN.

A NICE WALK.

"Halt!" cried Roberts in a low tone of voice; for, as he gave the order to advance for the attempt to ford the river, a fresh burst of firing arose from what seemed to be nearer, and he hesitated to lead his companions out into the rus.h.i.+ng flood and beyond the shelter of the overhanging trees.

"It is like exposing ourselves to being shot down while perfectly helpless, old fellow," he said, with his lips close to Bracy's ear.

"But we can't stay here: they'll track us to where you fell, and see the broken branches overhead. What then?" said Bracy.

"Right; we shall be easy marks for the brutes. Now, then, forward!"

Without hesitation this time, and with his following linked in accordance with his orders, Roberts began to wade, facing the rus.h.i.+ng water and leaning towards it as it pressed against his breast, to divide it, forming a little wave which rushed by to right and left. Step followed step taken sidewise, and at the third he and the private following him stood out clear of the overhanging growth, so that he could see plainly the task that was before him.

It was enough to startle the strongest man, for there were about fifty yards of a rus.h.i.+ng torrent to stem, as it swept icily cold along the river's rocky bed, and already the pressure seemed greater than he could bear, while he felt that if the water rose higher he would be perfectly helpless to sustain its force. But a sharp glance upward and downward showed him spots where the water foamed and leaped, and there he knew that the stream must be shallower; in fact, in two places he kept on catching sight of patches of black rock which were bared again and again. Setting his teeth hard, and making the first of these his goal, he stepped on cautiously, this choice of direction, being diagonally up-stream, necessarily increasing the distance to be traversed, but lessening the pressure upon the little linked-together line of men.

"We shall never do it," thought Bracy as, in his turn, he waded out into the open stream, his arms well extended and his companions on either side gazing up-stream with a peculiar strained look about their eyes.

But there was no sign of flinching, no hesitation; every man was full of determination, the three privates feeling strengthened by being linked with and thus sharing the danger with their officers; while Roberts, as leader, felt, however oppressed by the sense of all that depended upon him, invigorated by the knowledge that he must reach that shallow place.

Once he had his men there, they could pause for a few minutes' rest before making the next step.

On he pressed, left shoulder forward, against the rus.h.i.+ng waters; feeling moment by moment that the slightest drag from the next man must make him lose his footing, to be swept downward, with the result that if the links of the chain were not broken asunder there would be pluck, pluck, pluck, one after the other, and they would be all swept down the torrent.

Had he allowed his imagination free way, he would have let it picture the result--so many ghastly figures, battered out of recognition, found somewhere, miles away perhaps, among the blocks of stone in the shallows of the defile. But the stern man within him kept the mastery; and he went on a few inches at a time, edging his way along, with the water deepening, so that he was ready to pause. But he felt that hesitation would be fatal; and, pressing on, his left foot went down lower than ever, making him withdraw it and try to take a longer stride.

"It's all over," he thought, in his desperation; but even as the thought flashed through his brain he found that he reached bottom again, having pa.s.sed a narrow gully, and his next and next, strides were into shallower water; while, toiling hard, he was in a minute only waist-deep, dragging his companions after him, and aiding them, so that they all stood together a third of the way across, with the rus.h.i.+ng stream only knee-deep.

"Five minutes for faking breath," he cried, "and then on again for that white patch where the water is foaming."

No one else spoke, but all stood panting and not gazing up-stream or at the farther sh.o.r.e, with its rocks, trees, and ample cover, but throwing the pressure of every nerve, as it were, into their hearing, and listening for sounds of the enemy only to be heard above the roar of the water. For the firing had ceased, and one and all felt that this meant an advance on the part of the hill-men, who would be sweeping the wooded valley right to the river-bank, ready at any moment to open fire again; while now it would be upon the unprotected group part of the way towards mid-stream.

"Forward!" cried Roberts; and, with their grip tightening, the little party followed their Captain as he once more edged off to the left, performing his former evolution, and, to his delight, finding that the stone-bestrewn polished bottom never once deepened after the first few steps, which took him waist-deep, and kept about the same level, the result being that the next halt was made where the river was roughest, tossing in waves churned up as it was by the ma.s.ses of rock in its way, a group lying just below the surface, with the water deepening behind them, so that the party had once more to stand breast-high, but in an eddy, the rocks above taking off the pressure which in the shallows had threatened to sweep them away.

The water was numbing, and the leader felt that their pause before recommencing their efforts must be very short; but he was face to face with the most difficult part of their transit, for it was only too plain that this last portion ran swift and deep, the bold, steady rush suggesting a power which he knew instinctively that he would not be able to stem, and he looked downward now to see what was below in the only too probable event of their being swept away.

As he turned to gaze upward again he caught Bracy's eyes fixed upon him inquiringly; but he paid no heed, though he did not for the moment read them aright, the idea being that his brother officer was mutely asking him if he thought he could do it.

He grasped Bracy's meaning the next minute, for he heard that which had reached Bracy's ears. It was a shout from the woody bank they had left, as if one of the enemy had made a discovery, followed by answering cries, and all knew now that their foes were close upon their track, and that at any moment they might be discovered and fire be opened upon them.

"Forward!" cried Roberts, and once more he set off, to be again agreeably surprised, for the water did not deepen in the least as he moved from out of the eddy, being still about breast-deep, with very little variation, the bottom being swept clear of stones and literally ground smooth by the constant pa.s.sage over it of the fragments borne down from the glaciers in the north. But before many steps had been taken, and the little chain was extended to its extreme limit, Roberts knew that disaster was imminent. For it was impossible to stand against the dense, heavy rush of water, bear against it as he would.

He shouted back to his companions to bear against the pressure, and strove his best, but all in vain. At one and the same moment the double calamity came: there was a shot from out of the patch of forest they had left, and the leader was lifted from his feet. Then pluck, pluck, pluck, as if mighty hands had seized them, the men in turn were s.n.a.t.c.hed from their positions, and with a scattered fire opened upon them from among the trees, they were being swept rapidly down-stream.

Roberts shouted an order or two, and discipline prevailed for a s.p.a.ce, the links of the chain remaining unbroken; but even the greatest training could not hold it together for long at such a time, and the non-swimmers were the first to go under and quit their hold, rolling over with the tremendous rush of the stream, and rising again, to s.n.a.t.c.h wildly at the nearest object, and in two cases to hamper the unfortunate who was within reach.

"_Sauve qui peut_," muttered Bracy a's he glided along, with his sword hanging from his wrist by the knot; but his actions contradicted his thoughts, for instead of trying to save himself he turned to the help of Drummond, to whom one of the men was clinging desperately, and the very next minute he felt a hand clutch at his collar and grip him fast.

The rattle of firing was in his ears, and then the thundering of the water, as he was forced below the surface into the darkness; but he did not lose his presence of mind. He let himself go under, and then, with a few vigorous strokes, rose to the surface, with the man clinging to him behind, and wrenched himself round in his effort to get free. He was only partially successful, though; and, panting heavily, he swam with his burden, just catching sight of Drummond in a similar position to himself, many yards lower down the stream.

"Let go," he shouted to the man. "Let go, and I'll save you."

But the man's nerve was gone, and he only clung the tighter and made a drowning-man's effort to throw his legs about his officer's.