Part 13

So far they had made no use of the aeroplane which had been seen by Carruthers, and we did not wish them to know of ours, until necessary. Then an accident took place which might have upset our plans considerably: my two trained aeronauts were standing together talking, when a shell burst near them; killing one, wounding the other, and completely smashing one of the aircraft. It was the first shell, from a battery that had taken up a position to try and force us from our entrenchments. As soon as this was reported to me, I rode over to see whether something could be done, but, alas, the damaged machine was beyond repair, even if we had had anyone to fly in it. I must confess that the sight of the other standing there all ready for use made me feel despondent, especially as a few minutes later we saw the Bornian machine rise in the air from behind their line.

I sat there impotent, and watched the accursed thing come flying towards, and then over us. She could make her observations and we could do nothing to prevent her. I rode a little way back still looking at the machine, and then from behind me I heard a cheer, a wild exhilarating sound which caused me to turn again quickly. Our own aeroplane was just rising from the ground. I stared in astonishment. I had no idea that anyone could fly amongst my officers, whoever it was should reap a rich reward. Then one of my aides-de-camp came towards me at a gallop.

"Who is on that?" I asked with a wave of my hand to the ascending machine.

"Monsieur Carruthers, your Majesty."

Rupert! and I never knew that he could fly. It did not surprise me, however, it was just the kind of thing which he would enjoy.

My heart beat rapidly as I watched his machine ascending higher and higher; what did he intend to do? I was not left long in doubt, for he soon started in pursuit of the Bornian. They disappeared into the clouds which rolled low over the hills behind us. The Bornian evidently knew that he was being pursued, for in a little while they reappeared again, like birds at first, but every minute growing bigger. It was a race, in which the Bornian was leading. I think that nearly every man was watching with open-mouthed astonishment. I turned my head for an instant and lost touch with them; I no longer knew which was which. My agitation must have passed to my horse, for he began to plunge, tearing at the bit.

A great cry from the soldiery, and I looked up. My God! one of them was falling horribly--like a great wounded eagle--the other kept on its way towards the enemy's lines.

I almost broke down then, I know that I covered my face with my hands and groaned; my old friend, my dear old pal, had gone. Those around me kept silent in sympathy, for they knew how strong had been the bond between their King and the English lord.

I did not look any more, but motioned to some one to find out all he could of the catastrophe. This was no time for private grief. Carruthers had given his life for me, and now we must fight to preserve our own.

There was a depressed feeling among the troops, the failure of our aeroplanes had dampened them, I think they regarded it as a bad omen. I turned to give an order, and saw on my aide's face a look of supreme astonishment.

"Look, your Majesty, he's coming back."

I looked. What an extraordinary thing, for what reason would he return? And then the men began to shout, wildly, and I knew the reason: it was our machine that was returning; it had been the Bornian who had come to the ground.

It was as if the sun had suddenly shone out, on every face there was a smile, and gone, for ever, the feeling of depression.

It was one of the happiest moments of my life when Carruthers came to report on his trip over Viritz. I felt inclined literally to hug him, but had to be content with his salute.

His report was satisfactory.

All that day the artillery fire was kept up with but small loss to us, and night fell.

I had instructed the gunners to cease firing, to make it appear as though some of them had been put out of action, and so little by little our fire had slackened. So far the forts had not spoken.

Anyone on the look out that night would have seen three rockets soar into the sky over Karena; they were very important, but the enemy did not know that such was the case. As it was, they conveyed a message to General von Quarovitch.

And then morning came, and with it the attack. A tremendous bombardment for some two hours, which did little damage, as our men had literally dug themselves in, and then the infantry advanced; a feeble fire met them until within a few hundred yards, and then they were simply swept away. No human beings could have withstood that rain of fire, and they fled back, while all the time our cavalry hung upon their flanks creating further panic among them.

Again their artillery opened fire, and this time our forts came into action; the roar of their big guns must have awakened the Bornians to the terrible position, especially as they must have heard, about that time, that Quarovitch had cut right across their communications with some fifteen thousand men. He had carried out his part with consummate skill, and was then entrenched in a strong position south of Melanov.

I think General von Brote, realising his position, thought that his only chance lay in breaking through on the Karena road. Perhaps he imagined that we were in less force than we were. I don't know, but anyhow he tried the impossible.

A few miles east of the Karena road, there was a break in the hills, and it was this way that General von Brote thought to turn our flank. I cannot understand his reasoning, for he must have known that it was extremely unlikely that we should have left such a way open, especially as it was cavalry country; but I can only suppose that he still did not realise that we were thoroughly prepared.

I have said it was cavalry country, so it was, right up to the break, and on the other side towards Yungben, but the break itself was rather an extraordinary piece of ground.

Right across the whole width, which at the greatest was some three miles, were strewn immense boulders, some singly, others arranged in heaps for some hundred yards, only in the centre was there a space of about half a mile free from them. Instead of the boulders a narrow stream ran across. It was a stream which watered the plains round Yungben, twisting and winding in a most weird fashion. In time of rain, it sometimes flooded the fields around, but now it ran steadily and calmly, little dreaming, if streams can dream, of the horrible sights it was to see before many hours had passed, or of the dead bodies of man and beast with which its clear waters were to be choked.

In order to make this break as impregnable as I could, without showing any great signs, I had constructed a low, barbed wire entanglement on the Yungben side of the stream; this entanglement, although low, was fifty yards wide; behind that again, I had rifle pits dug, but instead of banking up the earth it was scattered over the ground. Besides this I had placed a battery of horse artillery on either flank, while the line of boulders was also guarded with entanglements and maxims; altogether we had some three thousand troops guarding that spot. The guns, and the men, were concealed behind bushes and small trees, as well as the masses of rock, some hundred men only being on view.

Against this defence, there were some five thousand of the enemy. Relying upon the reports of their scouts, who had been misled by the small number of our men to be seen, their cavalry swept forward. They were too far from their supports, their artillery was unable to come into action, on account of their forward movement. They swept on blindly, trusting to sweep away the little force opposed to them. Our men opened fire at two thousand yards, they did some damage but not enough even to make them think; they rode on and on, the nearer they got, the more men they lost.

They were within one hundred yards of the stream, when the rest of our infantry came into action. It must have been appalling, although even then they struggled to get to close quarters, but the stream held them, the entanglements held them, and all the while death was poured from the barrels of our rifles and maxim guns; what was left of them turned and fled. Their artillery opened, but, before they could get the range, our batteries replied, and we had our ranges marked. They retired. It will never be known how many men they lost, for the remnant of that force was engulfed in the ruin that had overtaken the main bodies.

Our right wing advanced, joining the two thousand men who had been posted on the Villatov road. General von Brote massed his guns and men on the Karena road; our left advanced. He hurled regiment after regiment at our front, they were mown down by the hundred. As night fell he retreated to Viritz, and our whole line advanced. His cavalry on the left wing, at Nardal, were called in. There they rested for the night, but with earliest dawn our attack commenced. Hemmed in on all sides, they fought like lions, but it was unavailing. Then they tried to retreat still farther, and Quarovitch held them. It was the end. Without a single chance of success, they fought on, although three times I sent a white flag with a message to Brote, asking him to refrain from further useless bloodshed. He was resolved to die rather than surrender. He did die, and then what was left of his army threw down their weapons.

Of the thirty-five thousand men who had entered Rudarlia through Melanov, only seventeen thousand surrendered, the rest had been killed, wounded, or were already prisoners.

Their surprise, to which they had evidently looked to end the war quickly, had failed utterly. Our northern frontier was now safe, and I could throw most of our men to the relief of Avilinoff. We had lost altogether some four thousand men in killed and wounded. I left eleven thousand to clear up the scattered Bornians, and guard the frontier and prisoners, the other twenty-five thousand I hurried south. Many of them had not been in the firing line at all, so they were perfectly fresh, and brim-full of enthusiasm and eagerness to come to grips with the foe.

In order to avoid any delay--which would have been almost inevitable had we returned through Karena--I, with my aides, motored through Romlitz to Agrade. There I stayed for only one day. Scutane was delighted to hear that the extra troops were on the way down, as he said that Avilinoff had been rather hard pressed at Milova, but that now he was in a good position to defend that place. Accordingly, I left for Avilinoff's head-quarters immediately.

It was evident that the enemy had counted on the success of their northern attack, as they had not hastened, rather luckily for us, for Avilinoff's army was sadly outnumbered, both in men and guns.

He had done grand work, his retreats were as orderly as parades, which spoke well for the troops under his command. I found that his army had occupied a strong position extending from Nadir on the left, to Pinofska on the right. So far, not a single Bornian had managed to cross the Loina. Now, however, when the news from the north became known, there was new vigour put into both armies. The Bornians at once realised that their dawdling methods would not succeed, and, also, they were spurred to try and blot out the disaster at Viritz.

The Rudarlians, in their turn, were more resolved than ever to beat back their enemy; success dispelled all the bad effects of a tedious retreat.

Success was an excellent tonic, yet it could not equalise the opposing forces, although every day saw that inequality grow less, as trainload after trainload of fresh troops poured into Agrade and Milova; but the greatest thing for us was the fact that the artillery became more of a strength.

For four days the position underwent no change, in spite of some vigorous attacks, both by night and day. On the fifth day we lost Nadir, through a brilliant flanking attack of the enemy's cavalry. There is no doubt that we were completely surprised, as we had never believed for one minute that they would have attempted the road from Alzar to Drenda, with any considerable force. Our troops, guarding the narrow road through the hills south-east of Nadir, were easily disposed of and taken in the rear; Nadir became untenable. We fell back to Lortrun, a move which considerably weakened our left wing, by lengthening it. However, it now rested safely at the extreme end, for our rear was guarded by the Drenda marshes, across which I knew it was impossible to move troops.

Our position was not satisfactory, so I sent word to Quarovitch to bring every available man to Agrade. By this time the north was quiet and he brought six thousand with him. Two thousand of these were cavalry. The same night that he arrived, he came to meet me, and, with Avilinoff, we worked for some hours on a scheme which I had thought of.

We strengthened our left wing with some twenty thousand men, some straight from Agrade to Vilt, the others, by way of Roltov across the Loina to Lortrun. Five thousand men were sent to hold Butrem and the road to Milova; while another five thousand were dispatched to strengthen the right flank, and entrench from Trun to Atar, and from Trun to the mountains on the west of Pinofska.

While these movements were being carried out, the Bornians were by no means idle, but pushed their attacks strongly. More than once it seemed that our line would be pierced, but, thanks to our artillery, which prevented them from crossing the Loina, we managed to hold our ground.

The fierceness of their attack really stood us in good stead, for it enabled us to carry out our plans without showing our hand.

Under the guise of a forced retirement, we drew back to the new lines we had prepared. From the mountains by Pinofska our line ran in a double curve to Butrem; there it stopped, and both sides of the Loina were left undefended as far as Vilt, from whence our line ran to Lortrun.

Imagining that we were in retreat, and seeking to cut in behind Milova, they hurled their forces across and straddled the Loina; in this way, they, in their turn split their line, but not to their advantage, for in order to advance on the northern bank they were obliged to mass their troops in a narrow strip of land, not wide enough for them to manoeuvre in properly.

When they had crossed, and were engaged in a fierce attack on Vilt, our forces moved out from Lortrun. By sheer weight of numbers we regained Nadir and the Drenda road.

We entrenched ourselves well along the Nadir-Vilt road, and for two days repulsed every attack made by the Bornians. Then, when they had exhausted themselves in vain, we in our turn advanced, doubling their right wing back upon itself, by a series of brilliant bayonet charges, which drove them headlong from their trenches. Then, while they were in disorder, our cavalry got to work. I had collected a large force in Nadir, and fresh, with high spirits, they were irresistible, sweeping all before them. At the same time, we allowed Pinofska to go, retiring eastward to defend Agrade and leaving open the road to Kelbna.

It was apparently too tempting a bait to be refused, and they weakened their centre to reinforce their left. It was only owing to this that we dared to drive their right in the way we did, and that was eminently satisfactory; for, driven back on themselves in hopeless confusion, they united with their other forces south of Butrem, not in a strong line capable of defence, but in an indescribable state of tangle. In many places along the Loina, their forces would be trying to cross the river at the same time, but in different directions. We drove them from Farnov, and then the remnant of their right wing fell back to try and defend their communications with Lorif.

We captured a tremendous mass of war material, guns and prisoners, as it was impossible, owing to the rapidity of our movements, for the forces on the northern bank of the Loina to recross and get away in time.

The crumpling of their right wing necessitated the drawing in of their left, so they did not progress far beyond Pinofska; and little by little we drove them back from there until we reoccupied our old lines across the Kelbna road.

We now had an undoubted superiority in all arms, as well as a greater number of men; but, try how we would, for some days we could not make any real progress beyond the Pinofska-Trun-Farnov line.

Each day I rode or motored along this line to hold conversations with the different generals, and to encourage the wounded; the actual fighting men did not need encouragement, they were brim-full of zeal and confidence.

It was during this period that I was delivered from that enemy of mine, Prince Alexis.

Between Trun and Atar the road is of an intensely beautiful nature, presenting many different kinds of scenery, well wooded in places, with gentle slopes running down to small streams which feed the Loina, while always to the north rose the mountains. The road itself rises and falls with delightful frequency, from an artistic point of view, although I doubt if the farmers who live in the vicinity, or their horses, really appreciate it. On the top of one of these inclines the road was bisected by a cart track, and in order to obtain a view over the surrounding country I had turned off along this track, accompanied by Woolgast, Scutane, and some dozen troopers.

It was soon after daybreak, and we were returning from Pinofska, where I had slept the night before. I do not know quite how it happened, but, on attempting to retrace our steps, we discovered that our way was blocked by some fifty of the enemy's cavalry. It was extremely lucky for us that we saw them before they saw us, for it gave us time to get speed on our horses. To charge was the only thing for us to do, and we struck them hard; in a few seconds we were through them, all save two of the troopers who had been shot down. We raced for the road, with the Bornians hard at our heels. We could hear from their cries, that they knew I was of the party and it made them redouble their efforts to overtake us; they kept up a fusillade of revolver shots, but fortunately without effect.

Our horses fairly flew along that muddy track, but, quickly as we went, the Bornians were as quick, and as we turned into the Trun road they were a very little way behind. In their eagerness to capture me, they must have forgotten that all the time we were approaching our lines, for they never slackened their pace, and in consequence ran into the arms of a regiment of Rudarlian cavalry at the foot of the hill.

It was over very quickly, they had the discretion to surrender at once, with one exception. This one had, either through his horse, or for other reasons, ridden well behind his comrades, but he could not hope to escape by turning back up the hill, so instead, he made a dash for liberty, by jumping the bank which bordered the road towards the enemy's lines. I heard Woolgast give a grunt, and the next moment he had followed.

I sprang from my horse and stood on the higher ground looking after him. The ground over which he was riding sloped gently down to a stream below, on the other side of which the ground rose again and was well wooded, not with big trees, but small brushwood. Woolgast was at full charge after the flying Bornian, it was a magnificent sight to see the two horses stretching out, the one flying, the other in pursuit. The pursued turned in his saddle and fired, Woolgast swerved a little but kept on, ever drawing nearer. Some three lengths from the stream, he overtook the Bornian; we saw his sword flash once, and the enemy dropped from his horse. Then Woolgast, unable to stop his, urged him to the jump, and, slowly returning, jumped the stream again, and alighted. He walked up to the Bornian's body--which made a light blue patch among the stubble--and then reeled suddenly over on to the top of him.

He was not seriously hurt, thank God, but simply in a faint. When we turned the dead Bornian, so that we could see his face--it was Prince Alexis.

I confess that I felt relief at his death, he was so degraded that there was nothing he would not have stooped to do. I might have felt sorrow at the death of an ordinary enemy, but in the case of Alexis, no--simply relief.

Woolgast was evidently disturbed in his mind as to the consequence of his action, for he sent me word that he craved an audience.

He was in a state of feverish excitement, for the wound, although not severe, was a painful one.

"Well, General?" I said.

"There is something I wish to tell your Majesty. It is this: I called to the Prince to surrender, before and after he shot me."

"Quite so, General, and you did right; you also did right in cutting him down when he refused. You did both Rudarlia and myself a good service in killing him."

He heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank God, your Majesty, I did not know----"

"What I should feel about it? Well, you know now, and can sleep in peace; but be quick in recovering, for I need you."

I had become genuinely fond of Woolgast. He was a man whom I had a great admiration for; and, seeing that he was generally near me, I had a good many opportunities of discovering his worth. I know that he was devoted to me.

To return to the main battle. For a week or more the fighting continued without advantage to either side, at least, neither the Bornians nor ourselves were able to say that we had definitely advanced our lines. There could be no doubt, however, that our artillery did much damage, although not sufficient to allow us to assault their positions.

It was necessary that we should break through their line somewhere, but the difficult question was where and how to do it.

We had smashed their right flank by stratagem; we had split our force in two to do this. We would now do the same thing on our right, that is to say we would give up the bridge of Atar.

I had explained thus far to the generals, when General von Scutane said:

"But, your Majesty, they will not bite twice at the same bait."

"I should be sorry if they did, General, for it would not be what I wish. I believe that they will think that we intend to advance our flanks. I am trusting to them weakening their centre, for I intend to strike hard for Villet."

"Then you propose to hold the Kelbna road from Trun through Pinofska, and then from Blanne to Farnov?"

"That is my idea; and, in order to confirm them in the opinion that we intend flanking movements, we will move troops from Milova to Trun and Farnov by day, and move them back again at night. We must do everything we can to strengthen their belief that we wish to repeat the plan which succeeded so well on our left. If necessary, our flanks must fall back."

"It is a scheme full of danger, your Majesty."

"And also full of possibilities."

"Yes, your Majesty, of defeat as well as of success."

"That I refuse to consider, although we will take all precautions against such a thing. However, I do not press my scheme if anyone can suggest a better. You must remember that time is flying and the Bornians can bring two recruits to our one, while their line of communications from Ruln is not long, and so they have not very great difficulties in regard to transport."

That was the stratagem adopted, and the movements of our troops for the next two days puzzled even our own men. There is no doubt that the enemy were puzzled too, but they took the situation in the way that we wished.

We decided not to evacuate Atar, which--as I had foreseen--they did not bite at.

When both our flanks were hotly engaged, our forward movement in the centre began. It was a costly effort, but it succeeded.