Part 23 (1/2)
The close-cropped, pipe-clayed non-commissioned officer spurred his horse into a canter until his scabbard clattered at young Bellairs' boot Nothing but the rattling and the jolting of the guns and aon was audible, except just on ahead of theuard To the right and left of theiant banian-trees loomed and slid past them as they had done for the past four hours, and for ten paces ahead they could see the faintly outlined shape of the trunk road that they followed The rest was silence and a pall of blackness obscuring everything They had ridden along a valley, but they had eround and there was one spot of color in the pall now, or else a hole in it
”What d'you suppose that is burning over there?”
”I couldn't say, sir”
”How far away is it?”
”Very hard to tell on a night like this, sir Itit's on our road, though, and somewhere between here and Jundhra”
”So it seeht presently, doesn't it? That'll lead us right to it That would make it Doonha more or less D'you suppose it's at Doonha?”
”I was thinking it ht be, sir If it's Doonha, it -there's nothing else there that would make all that flame!”
”There are two companies of the Thirty-third there, too”
”Yes, sir, but they're under canvas; tents would blaze up, but they'd die down again in a er!”
”It's the sepoy barracks, then!”
”Seems so to uard kicked up a little shower of sparks, trace-chains slacked with a jingle and the jolting ceased Bellairs rode up to the advance-guard
”Now, Sergeant,” he ordered, ”it looks as though that were the Doonha barracks burning over yonder There's no knowing, though, what it is Send four men on, two hundred yards ahead of you, and you and the rest keep a good two hundred yards ahead of the guns See that the men keep on the alert, and mind that they spare their horses asto be trouble, we ood, sir!”
”Go ahead, then!”
At a word froeant, four men clattered off and were sed in the darkness A uard followed the Bellairs' voice was raised into a ringing shout again
”Section, advance! Trot, , buht up by the six-horse aon They rode speechless for the best part of an hour, each un now to light up the whole of the sky ahead of them They still rode in darkness, but they see clouds of smoke, red-lit on the under side, belched upward to the blackness overhead, and a so that was scarcely sound-for it was yet too distant-warned theration grew It seemed to be nearly white-hot down below
Bellairs wet his finger and held it extended upward
”There's no wind that I can feel!” he as-some of 'e or I'm a black man, which the Lord forbid!”
A minute later, every man in the section pricked up his ears There was no order given; but a sensation ran the whole length of it and a idity that could be felt by so with his senses for so he could neither hear as yet nor see, but that he kneas there And then, far-distant yet-not above, but under the jolting of the gun-wheels and the rattle of the scabbards-they could hear the clickety-clickety-clickety-click of a horse hard-ridden
They had scarcely caught that sound, they had barely tightened up their bridle-reins, when another sound, one just as uned, ill-tiration and was answered instantly by one that was close-ripped like the fire of heavy ordnance And then one of the advance-guard wheeled his horse and drove his spurs ho the road with his scabbard out in the wind behind him and reined up suddenly when his horse's forefeet were abreast of the lieutenant
”There's soallop! He's one of our ht I saw steel when the fire-light fell on hio!”
”Are you sure there's only one?”