The Far Pavilions - Mary Margaret Kaye [620]
He did not see the attacking party reach their objective. But Nakshband Khan had done so, for the waste ground of the Kulla-Fi-Arangi lay directly in view of the house where he had taken refuge, and the Sirdar, peering from an upper window of that house, saw them vault over the low mud wall that enclosed it, and charging up the slope, drive the enemy before them: ‘The Afghans running like sheep before wolves, said the Sirdar, describing it later.
But Ash had seen them come back, walking now, for they brought three wounded men with them, but moving swiftly and confidently like soldiers who have acquitted themselves well and won a victory, though all of them must have known that it could only be a temporary one.
The sowar who had been the first to fall had managed to drag himself back to the barracks with a broken leg, but the second man was dead, and two of his comrades stopped to retrieve his weapon and carry the body into a near-by godown before following the others into the barracks where Wally waited under the arch, his stained sabre in his hand, to see them all safely in before the doors were closed behind them and they returned to the Residency.
The firing that had ceased during the attack on the Kulla-Fi-Arangi broke out again with renewed fury as Kelly hurried back to the wounded, while Cavagnari reeled into the dining-room and called for a glass of water: and when it came remembered that, war or no war, the Mohammedans who had fought with him were keeping the Ramadan fast, and put it down untouched. Jenkyns, the civilian, who had no such scruples, drank thirstily, and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand said hoarsely: ‘What were our losses, Wally?’
‘One dead and four wounded – two of them not too badly. Paras Ram's leg is smashed, but he says that if the Doctor-Sahib will put a splint on it and prop him up at a window, he can still shoot.’
‘That's the spirit,’ approved William. ‘We got off pretty lightly when you think of the damage we must have done. We must have killed at least a dozen, and wounded twice as many more when they were scrambling to get back through the entrance or over the far wall. It was like shooting at a row of haystacks. That ought to hold them for a time.’
‘With luck, about fifteen minutes,’ observed Wally.
‘Fif—? But good lord, can't you post a few of your sepoys there to hold it?’
‘With around five hundred rifles and muskets able to draw a bead on them from three different directions, and not a shred of cover? Not a chance, I'm afraid.’
‘Then for God's sake what are we going to do? We can't afford to let them get dug in there.’
‘As soon as they try it we make another sortie and chase them out again. And when they come back, we do so again – and if necessary, again. It's our only hope, and who knows, if we make it expensive enough for them they may get tired of it before we do.’
Wally grinned at him and hurried away, and William said bitterly: ‘You'd almost think he was enjoying it. Do you suppose he doesn't realize -?’
‘He realizes all right,’ said Cavagnari sombrely, ‘probably better than any of us. England will lose a first-rate soldier in that boy. Listen to him now -he's cracking jokes with those men out there. Amal Din tells me that the Guides would do anything that Hamilton-Sahib asked of them, because they know that he would never ask them to do anything that he would not do himself. A good boy and a born leader of men. It's a pity… Ah well, I'd better get back to my loophole.’
He dragged himself from the chair he had slumped into on his return, and stood clutching the back of it, and William said anxiously: ‘Are you sure you are all right, sir? Oughtn't you to lie down?’
Cavagnari gave a crack of laughter. ‘My dear boy! At a time like this? If a jawan with a smashed leg is prepared