Part 17 (1/2)

And in all truth the coolness and steadiness of the Police were admirable. They lay flat on their faces while the guns delivered a telling broadside over them on the approaching foe that mowed them down, and sent them staggering backwards. Then, with a wild cheer, the troopers rose, and, like one man, charged the wavering ma.s.s of redskins, firing a volley and fixing their bayonets. The sight of the cold steel was too much for the Indians, who turned and fled. The guns were saved.

But those precipitous gullies were filled with plucky savages, and not a few half-breeds, who, while they could effectively pick off and check the advance of the British, were themselves screened from the enemy's fire. For two hours and more the fight went on with little gain on either side. The day was hot, and it must have been terribly trying work for those in the open. The guns contented themselves with sending an odd sh.e.l.l into likely places, but owing to the nature of the ground, which presented a wall-like front, their practice was only guess work.

Suddenly the girl caught Pasmore by the wrist ”Look over there,” she cried. ”Do you see that body of Indians going down that gully? They are going to attack the column in the rear, and our people don't know it. Is there no way of letting them know?”

”There is,” cried Pasmore, ”and it's worth trying. Our fellows are not more than a thousand yards away now, and I can signal to them. It's just possible they may see me. Give me that stick, Rory. Jacques, I saw you with your towel an hour or so ago. Have you still got it?”

In a few seconds he had fastened the towel to the stick and was about to crawl out on to the other side of the ledge in full view of the British, who had been steadily advancing.

”Do take care,” cried Dorothy, ”if any of the Indians should see you--”

”They won't be looking this way,” he said, adding, ”There's sure to be a signaller with Otter or Herchmer. They'll think it a queer thing to get a message from the enemy's lines”--he laughed light-heartedly at the idea. ”Now, do keep out of sight, for there's just a chance of a bullet or two being sent in this direction.”

Fortune favoured Pasmore when a sh.e.l.l came screeching over their heads just at that moment, for the two guards, who might otherwise have seen him, both dodged behind rocks. When they looked again in the direction of their prisoners they did not know that one of them was apprising the British leader of the fact that a body of the enemy was at that moment skirting his right flank in cover of an old watercourse, so as to attack his rear.

When the British signaller wonderingly read the message, and repeated it to the Colonel, the latter, before giving his troops any definite order, inquired of the sender of the message as to his ident.i.ty, and Pasmore signalled in reply. Then the order was given to fix bayonets and charge the enemy in the watercourse. Silently and swiftly the regular Canadian Infantry bore down on it. Completely taken by surprise, and at a disadvantage, the redskins were completely routed.

But an ambush was being prepared for the British of which they did not dream. At a certain point the redskins fell back, but in a hollow of the broken country through which the British would in all probability pa.s.s to follow up their supposed advantage, were two or three hundred warriors mounted and awaiting their opportunity. If only the British could bring their artillery to bear upon that spot, and drop a few sh.e.l.ls amongst them, great would be their confusion.

Pasmore rose to his feet again from behind the rock where he had crouched, for one or two bullets, either by design or accident, had come very near him indeed. Quickly the towel at the end of the stick waved the message to the officer in command. Just as he was going to supplement it, a bullet pa.s.sed clean through his impromptu flag and grazed his serge. He went on with his message as if nothing had happened. But the moment he had finished, and was still standing erect to catch the glint of the British signaller's flag, a voice hailed him. It was Dorothy's.

”Mr. Pasmore,” she cried, ”if you have done, why don't you take cover? The Indians have seen you, and you'll be shot in another minute.”

”For goodness' sake, get down!” he cried, as he turned round and saw that the girl, unseen by the others, had come towards him, and was also exposed to the enemy's fire.

She looked him steadily in the eyes, but did not move, although the bullets were beginning to whistle in grim earnest all around them.

”Not unless you do,” she said. ”Oh, why don't you take shelter?”

Immediately he resumed his crouching att.i.tude by her side, and then he turned to her, and there was an unwonted light in his eyes.

”Did you really care as much as that?” he asked.

”You are the stupidest man I know,” she replied, looking away. ”Do you think I'd have stood there if I didn't!”

There was a great joy in his heart as he took her hand.

”If we get out of this alive, will you say that again?”

he asked.

”That you are the stupidest man I know?” she queried, with that perversity inseparable from the daughters of Eve from all time.

”No--that you care for me?”

And at this she looked into his eyes with a simple earnestness, and said, ”Yes.”

What more they might have said was cut short by the furious outburst of firing from the guns, which dropped sh.e.l.l after sh.e.l.l into the projected ambuscade.

And now the British were forcing the natural stronghold of the Indians in many places, and their guards looked as if they were undecided what to do with their prisoners.