CHAPTER XXXII
A huddled mass of fugitives--men, women, children, horses, cattle--crowded together in the dry bed of a river, seeking shelter amongst rocks and boulders and under shelving banks, subjected continually to a hurricane of shot and shell, choked by the fumes of the exploding Lyddite, poisoned by the stench of blood, saturated all through with the indescribable odour of death. Somewhere in its midst, caged like a rat, but still sulkily defiant, the peasant general fingered his switch as he looked this way and that and saw no further chance of escape. In the distance, calmly waiting the inevitable end, the little man with the weather-beaten face and the grey moustaches listened to the never-ceasing roar of his cannon demanding insistently the word of surrender that must needs come.
Saxonstowe, lying on a waterproof sheet on the floor of his tent, was writing on a board propped up in front of him. All that he wrote was by way of expressing his wonder, over and over again, that Cronje should hold out so long against the hell of fire which was playing in and around his last refuge. He was trying to realise what must be going on in the river bed, and the thought made him sick. Near him, writing on an upturned box, was another special correspondent who shared the tent with him; outside, polishing tin pannikins because he had nothing else to do, was a Cockney lad whom these two had picked up in Ladysmith and had attached as body-servant. He was always willing and always cheerful, and had a trick of singing snatches of popular songs in a desultory and disconnected way. His raucous voice came to them under the booming of the guns.
/p ‘Ow, ’ee’s little but ’ee’s wise, ’Ee’s a terror for ’is size, An’ ’ee does not hadvertise: Do yer, Bobs?’ p/
‘What a voice that chap has!’ said Saxonstowe’s companion. ‘It’s like a wheel that hasn’t been oiled for months!’
/p ‘Will yer kindly put a penny in my little tambourine, For a gentleman in khaki ordered sou-outh?’ p/
chanted the polisher of tin pans.
‘They have a saying in Yorkshire,’ remarked Saxonstowe, ‘to the effect that it’s a poor heart that never rejoices.’
‘This chap must have a good ’un, then,’ said the other. Give us a pipeful of tobacco, will you, Saxonstowe? Lord! will those guns never stop?’
/p ‘For the colonel’s lady and Judy O’Grady, Are sisters hunder their skins,’ p/
sang the henchman.
‘Will our vocalist never stop?’ said Saxonstowe, handing over his pouch. ‘He seems as unconcerned as if he were on a Bank Holiday.’
/p ‘We wos as ’appy as could be, that dye, Dahn at the Welsh ’Arp, which is ’Endon--’ p/
The raucous voice broke off suddenly; the close-cropped Cockney head showed at the open flap of the tent.
‘Beg pardon, sir,’ said the Cockney voice, ‘but I fink there’s somethin’ ’appened, sir--guns is dyin’ orf, sir.’
Saxonstowe and his fellow scribe sprang to their feet. The roar of the cannon was dying gradually away, and it suddenly gave place to a strange and an awful silence.
Saxonstowe walked hither and thither about the bed of the river, turning his head jerkily to right and left.
‘It’s a shambles!--a shambles!--a shambles!’ he kept repeating. He shook his head and then his body as if he wanted to shake off the impression that was fast stamping itself ineffaceably upon him. ‘A shambles!’ he said again.
He pulled himself together and looked around him. It seemed to him that earth and sky were blotted out in blood and fire, and that the smell of death had wrapped him so closely that he would never breathe freely again. Dead and dying men were everywhere. Near him rose a pile of what appeared to be freshly slaughtered meat--it was merely the result of the bursting of a Lyddite shell amongst a span of oxen. Near him, too, stood a girl, young, not uncomely, with a bullet-wound showing in her white bosom from which she had just torn the bodice away; at his feet, amongst the boulders, were twisted, strange, grotesque shapes that had once been human bodies.
‘There’s a chap here that looks like an Englishman,’ said a voice behind him.
Saxonstowe turned, and found the man who shared his tent standing at his elbow, and pointed to a body stretched out a yard or two away--the body of a well-formed man who had fallen on his side, shot through the heart. He lay as if asleep, his face half hidden in his arm-pit; near him, within reach of the nerveless fingers that had torn out a divot of turf in his last moment’s spasmodic feeling for something to clutch at, lay his rifle: round his rough serge jacket was clasped a bandolier well stored with cartridges. His broad-brimmed hat had fallen off, and half his face, very white and statuesque in death, caught the sunlight that straggled fitfully through the smoke-clouds which still curled over the bed of the river.
‘Looks like an Englishman,’ repeated the special correspondent. ‘Look at his hands, too--he hasn’t handled a rifle very long, I’m thinking.’
Saxonstowe glanced at the body with perfunctory interest--there were so many dead men lying all about him. Something in the dead man’s face woke a chord in his memory: he went nearer and bent over him. His brain was sick and dizzy with the horrors of the blood and the stink of the slaughter. He stood up again, and winked his eyes rapidly.
‘No, no!’ he heard himself saying. ‘No! It can’t be--of course it can’t be. What should Lucian be doing here? Of course it’s not he--it’s mere imagination--mere im-ag-in-a-tion!’
‘Here, hold up, old chap!’ said his companion, pulling out a flask. ‘Take a nip of that. Better? Hallo--what’s going on there?’
He stepped on a boulder and gazed in the direction of a wagon round which some commotion was evident. Saxonstowe, without another glance at the dead man, stepped up beside him.
He saw a roughly built, rugged-faced man, wrapped in a much-worn overcoat that had grown green with age, stepping out across the plain, swishing at the herbage with a switch which jerked nervously in his hand. At his side strode a muscular-looking woman, hard of feature, brown of skin--a peasant wife in a faded skirt and a crumpled sun-bonnet. Near them marched a tall British officer in khaki; other Boers and British, a group of curious contrasts, hedged them round.
‘That’s Cronje,’ said the special correspondent, as he stepped down from the boulder. ‘Well, it’s over, thank God!’
The conquered was on his way to the conqueror.
LONDON AND GLASGOW: COLLINS’ CLEAR-TYPE PRESS.
* * * * *
COLLINS’ POPULAR NOVELS
BY FOREMOST WRITERS OF THE DAY
FULL CLOTH 3/6 LIBRARY BINDING
_Complete List of Titles_
/* 4. These Charming People.....MICHAEL ARLEN 5. Piracy.....MICHAEL ARLEN 6. The Romantic Lady.....MICHAEL ARLEN 30. The Green Hat.....MICHAEL ARLEN 70. May Fair.....MICHAEL ARLEN 139. Claire and Circumstances.....E. MARIA ALBANESI 176. The Moon Thro’ Glass.....E. MARIA ALBANESI 85. The Splendour of Asia.....L. ADAMS BECK 27. The Treasure of Ho.....L. ADAMS BECK 37. The Way of Stars.....L. ADAMS BECK 117. The Decoy.....J. D. BERESFORD 86. The Tapestry.....J. D. BERESFORD 87. Unity.....J. D. BERESFORD 88. Love’s Pilgrim.....J. D. BERESFORD 24. The Monkey Puzzle.....J. D. BERESFORD 39. That Kind of Man.....J. D. BERESFORD 138. All or Nothing.....J. D. BERESFORD 118. Wild Grapes.....PHYLLIS BOTTOME 89. The Belated Reckoning.....PHYLLIS BOTTOME 36. Old Wine.....PHYLLIS BOTTOME 69. The Kingfisher.....PHYLLIS BOTTOME 150. Strange Fruit.....PHYLLIS BOTTOME 64. Experience.....CATHERINE COTTON 96. A Gay Lover.....RUTHERFORD CROCKETT 97. Safety Last.....RUTHERFORD CROCKETT 1. The Return.....WALTER DE LA MARE 3. Memoirs of a Midget.....WALTER DE LA MARE 135. Brighton Beach.....MRS. HENRY DUDENEY 162. Fair Lady.....MAY EDGINTON 167. Life Isn’t so Bad.....MAY EDGINTON 14. The Foolish Lovers.....ST. JOHN ERVINE 129. The Wayward Man.....ST. JOHN ERVINE 166. Martin Pippin.....ELEANOR FARJEON 170. Kaleidoscope.....ELEANOR FARJEON */
* * * * *
COLLINS’ POPULAR NOVELS
_Complete List of 3/6 Titles--continued_
/* 120. Deep Currents.....A. FIELDING 173. Lucian the Dreamer.....J. S. FLETCHER 33. The Crater.....ROBERT GORE-BROWNE 172. An Imperfect Lover.....ROBERT GORE-BROWNE 67. My Lady of the Chimney Corner.....DR. ALEXANDER IRVINE 68. The Souls of Poor Folk.....DR. ALEXANDER IRVINE 98. Told by an Idiot.....ROSE MACAULAY 99. Mystery at Geneva.....ROSE MACAULAY 100. Potterism.....ROSE MACAULAY 8. Dangerous Ages.....ROSE MACAULAY 7. Orphan Island.....ROSE MACAULAY 52. Crewe Train.....ROSE MACAULAY 149. Keeping Up Appearances.....ROSE MACAULAY 134. Patrol.....PHILIP MACDONALD 121. Soldier Born.....CONAL O’RIORDAN 11. Adam of Dublin.....CONAL O’RIORDAN 12. Adam and Caroline.....CONAL O’RIORDAN 35. In London.....CONAL O’RIORDAN 43. Married Life.....CONAL O’RIORDAN 153. Soldier of Waterloo.....CONAL O’RIORDAN 9. Sayonara.....JOHN PARIS 10. Kimono.....JOHN PARIS 33. Banzai.....JOHN PARIS 163. A Man Beguiled.....RALPH RODD 122. The Bride’s Prelude.....MRS. ALFRED SIDGWICK 103. London Mixture.....MRS. ALFRED SIDGWICK 104. Humming Bird.....MRS. ALFRED SIDGWICK 53. Sack and Sugar.....MRS. ALFRED SIDGWICK 63. None-Go-By.....MRS. ALFRED SIDGWICK 161. Come-by-Chance.....MRS. ALFRED SIDGWICK 95. Haroun of London.....KATHARINE TYNAN 145. The Respectable.....Lady KATHARINE TYNAN 171. Lover of Women.....KATHARINE TYNAN 119. Greenlow.....ROMER WILSON 42. The Death of Society.....ROMER WILSON 130. Irene in the Centre.....HANNAH YATES 158. Dim Star.....HANNAH YATES */
* * * * *
COLLINS’ POPULAR NOVELS
BY FOREMOST WRITERS OF THE DAY
FULL CLOTH 3/6 LIBRARY BINDING
_Detective Novels_
/* 155. The Instrument of Destiny.....J. D. BERESFORD 147. The Silk Stocking Murders.....A. BERKELEY 143. The Slip Carriage Mystery.....LYNN BROCK 108. The Big Four.....AGATHA CHRISTIE 40. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.....AGATHA CHRISTIE 137. The Mystery of the Blue Train.....AGATHA CHRISTIE 148. The Man from the River.....G. D. H. AND M. COLE 174. Superintendent Wilson’s Holiday.....G. D. H. AND M. COLE 105. Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy.....FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS 44. Inspector French and the Cheyne Mystery.....FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS 51. The Groote Park Murder.....FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS 133. The Dalehouse Murder.....FRANCIS EVERTON 142. The Net Around Joan Ingilby.....A. FIELDING 19. The Diamonds.....J. S. FLETCHER 144. The Golden Venture.....J. S. FLETCHER 141. The Time-Worn Town.....A. FIELDING 152. The Ravenswood Mystery.....J. S. FLETCHER 132. Queen of Clubs.....HULBERT FOOTNER 127. The Murder of an M.P......ROBERT GORE-BROWNE 156. The Murder of Mrs. Davenport.....ANTHONY GILBERT 128. The Tragedy at Freyne.....ANTHONY GILBERT 164. The White Crow.....PHILIP MACDONALD 177. The Rasp.....PHILIP MACDONALD 168. Without Judge or Jury.....RALPH RODD */
* * * * *
COLLINS’ POPULAR NOVELS
BY FOREMOST WRITERS OF THE DAY
FULL CLOTH 3/6 LIBRARY BINDING
_Wild West Novels_
/* 123. The Desert Girl.....ROBERT AMES BENNET 124. The Two-Gun Girl.....ROBERT AMES BENNET 136. The Cow Country Killers.....ROBERT AMES BENNET 151. Ken of the Cow Country.....ROBERT AMES BENNET 165. Deep Canyon.....ROBERT AMES BENNET 178. The Mystery of the Four Abreast.....COURTNEY RYLEY COOPER 154. Bird of Freedom.....HUGH PENDEXTER 140. The Boss of the Double E.....FRANK C. ROBERTSON 157. The Boss of the Ten Mile Basin.....FRANK C. ROBERTSON 146. The Boss of the Flying M.....FRANK C. ROBERTSON 175. The Hidden Cabin.....FRANK C. ROBERTSON 179. The Far Horizon.....FRANK C. ROBERTSON 131. The Corral Riders.....CHARLES WESLEY SANDERS 169. The Crimson Trail.....CHARLES WESLEY SANDERS 126. Hashknife of the Canyon Trail.....W. C. TUTTLE 111. Hashknife of the Double Bar 8.....W. C. TUTTLE 112. Hashknife Lends a Hand.....W. C. TUTTLE 82. Sun-Dog Loot.....W. C. TUTTLE 83. Rustlers’ Roost.....W. C. TUTTLE 84. The Dead-Line.....W. C. TUTTLE */
* * * * *
COLLINS’ POPULAR NOVELS
BY FOREMOST WRITERS OF THE DAY
2/6
_Complete List of Titles_
/* 129. Ghost Stones.....MICHAEL ARLEN 133. The White in the Black.....E. MARIA ALBANESI 61. Roseanne.....E. MARIA ALBANESI 116. Sally in Her Alley.....E. MARIA ALBANESI 160. Seed Pods.....MRS. HENRY DUDENEY 131. Quince Alley.....MRS. HENRY DUDENEY 132. Beanstalk.....MRS. HENRY DUDENEY 103. The Finger Post.....MRS. HENRY DUDENEY 169. Trilby.....GEORGE DU MAURIER 134. The Allbright Family.....ARCHIBALD MARSHALL 56. Big Peter.....ARCHIBALD MARSHALL 74. Pippin.....ARCHIBALD MARSHALL 99. The Graftons.....ARCHIBALD MARSHALL 110. Anthony Dare.....ARCHIBALD MARSHALL 127. The Education of Anthony Dare.....ARCHIBALD MARSHALL 159. That Island.....ARCHIBALD MARSHALL 163. Woman’s Way.....RALPH RODD 166. The Whipping Girl.....RALPH RODD 137. Treasure Island.....ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 138. The Black Arrow.....ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 139. Catriona.....ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 140. Kidnapped.....ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 141. The Master of Ballantrae.....ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 142. The Dynamiter.....ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 157. Prince Otto.....ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 165. New Arabian Nights.....ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 168. Island Nights’ Entertainments.....ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 135. Men Like Gods.....H. G. WELLS */
* * * * *
COLLINS’ POPULAR NOVELS
BY FOREMOST WRITERS OF THE DAY
2/6
_Complete List of Titles--continued_
/* 136. God, the Invisible King.....H. G. WELLS 16. The Passionate Friends.....H. G. WELLS 18. Tales of the Unexpected.....H. G. WELLS 21. The Research Magnificent.....H. G. WELLS 27. The First Men in the Moon.....H. G. WELLS 33. Tales of Life and Adventure.....H. G. WELLS 38. Marriage.....H. G. WELLS 43. In the Days of the Comet.....H. G. WELLS 51. Tales of Wonder.....H. G. WELLS 59. The Food of the Gods.....H. G. WELLS 68. Tono-Bungay.....H. G. WELLS 72. The History of Mr. Polly.....H. G. WELLS 75. Kipps.....H. G. WELLS 79. Love and Mr. Lewisham.....H. G. WELLS 89. The War in the Air.....H. G. WELLS 92. The World Set Free.....H. G. WELLS 106. A Modern Utopia.....H. G. WELLS 109. The Sleeper Awakes.....H. G. WELLS 111. The Invisible Man.....H. G. WELLS 118. The New Machiavelli.....H. G. WELLS 122. The Secret Places of the Heart.....H. G. WELLS 153. Mr Britling.....H. G. WELLS 156. The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman.....H. G. WELLS 154. More Salty.....CHARLES WESTRON 112. Cold Harbour.....FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG 130. The Black Diamond.....FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG 25. The Young Physician.....FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG 81. Pilgrim’s Rest.....FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG 91. Woodsmoke.....FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG 123. The Dark Tower.....FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG 105. The Crescent Moor.....FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG */