Part 21 (2/2)

And so at length I gave up wondering, being forced hu hands of Providence and the e caathered theether for battle It was a beautiful and awe-inspiring scene, and old Uriht

'Never have I seen the like, Macumazahn, never,' he said 'The battles of my people are as the play of children to what this will be Thinkest thou that they will fight it out?'

'Ay,' I answered sadly, 'to the death Content thyself, ”Woodpecker”, for once shalt thou peck thy fill'

Tin of an attack A force of cavalry crossed the brook, indeed, and rode slowly along our front, evidently taking stock of our position and numbers With this we did not attempt to interfere, as our decision was to stand strictly on the defensive, and not to waste a single man The men breakfasted and stood to their arms, and the hours wore on About ht they would fight better on full stomachs, a shout of '_Sorais, Sorais_' arose like thunder frolass, I was able to clearly distinguish the 'Lady of the Night' herself, surrounded by a glittering staff, and riding slowly down the lines of her battalions And as she went, thatbefore her like the rolling of ten thousand chariots, or the roaring of the ocean when the gale turns suddenly and carries the noise of it to the listener's ears, till the earth shook, and the air was full of thethat this was a prelude to the beginning of the battle, we re to wait Suddenly, like flaue-like forces of cavalry, and ca down the slope towards the little strea speed as they caot to the stream, orders reached me from Sir Henry, who evidently feared that the shock of such a charge, if allowed to fall unbroken upon our infantry, would be too much for them, to send five thousand sabres to an to mount the stiffest of the rise about four hundred yards fro behind myself with the rest of my men

Off went the five thousand horsee-like foreneral in coallop, for the first three hundred yards he rode straight at the tip of the tongue-shaped e, about eight thousand sabres, was advancing to charge us

Then he suddenly swerved to the right and put on the pace, and I saw the great wedge curl round, and before the foe could check himself and turn to th, with a crashi+ng rending sound, like that of the breaking-up of vast sheets of ice In sank the great wedge, into his heart, and as it cut its way hundreds of horsemen were thrown up on either side of it, just as the earth is thrown up by a ploughshare, orwater curls over beneath the bows of a rushi+ng shi+p In, yet in, vainly does the tongue twist its ends round in agony, like an injured snake, and strive to protect its centre; still farther in, by Heaven! right through, and so, aain upon the severed ends, beating theale drives spray, till at last, a of hundreds of riderless horses, the flashi+ng of swords, and the victorious clareat force cruallops pell-mell for safety back to its own lines

I do not think it reached the as it went out tento the attack, opened and sed the only suffered a loss of about five hundredthe fierceness of the struggle I could also see that the opposing bodies of cavalry on our left ere drawing back, but how the fight ith them I do not quite know It is as much as I can do to describe what took place immediately around me

By this time the dense masses of the enemy's left, composed almost entirely of Nasta's swordsmen, were across the little stream, and with alternate yells of 'Nasta' and 'Sorais', with dancing banners and gleaain I received orders to try and check this ainst the chest of our ares, and this I did to the best ofsquadrons of about a thousand sabres out against thelorious sight to see the knife in the heart of the foe But, also, we lost es, which had drawn a sort of bloody St Andrew's cross of dead and dying through the centre of Nasta's host, our foes no longer atteht, but opened out to let the rush go through, throwing the hundreds of horses as they passed

And so, notwithstanding all that we could do, the enemy drew nearer, till at last he hurled hiulars, ere drawn up to receive the squares About the sa roar told me that the main battle had closed in on the centre and extreme left I raised myself in my stirrups and looked down toshi+ sword and thrusting spear

To and fro swung the contending lines in that dread struggle, now giving way, now gaining a little in the mad yet ordered confusion of attack and defence But it was asto our oing; and, as for the moment the cavalry had fallen back under cover of Good's three squares, I had a fair view of this

Nasta's wild swordsainst the sullen rock-like squares Time after time did they yell out their war-cries, and hurl thees of spear points, only to be rolled back as billows are when theyhours the battle raged alained nothing we had lost nothing

Two atteh the wood by which it was protected had been defeated; and as yet Nasta's swords their desperate efforts, entirely failed to break Good's three squares, though they had thinned their numbers by quite a third

As for the chest of the araas, it had suffered dreadfully, but it had held its oith honour, and the same may be said of our left battle

At last the attacks slackened, and Sorais' arh of it On this point, however, I was soon undeceived, for splitting up her cavalry into coed us furiously with the the line, and then once more sullenly rolled her tens of thousands of sword and spearmen down upon our weakened squares and squadrons; Sorais herself directing thethe olden heles of cavalry entirely failing to check their forward sweep Now they had struck us, and our centre bent in like a bow beneath the weight of their rush--it parted, and had not the ten thousand ed down to its support it must have been utterly destroyed As for Good's three squares, they were swept backwards like boats upon an inco tide, and the fore men But the effort was too fierce and terrible to last Suddenly the battle ca-point, and for a an to move towards Sorais' cahlanders, either because they were disheartened by their losses or by way of a ruse, fell back, and the re the positions they had held for so many hours, cheered wildly, and rashly followed them down the slope, whereon the swar themselves upon them with a yell Taken thus on every side, what remained of the first square was quickly destroyed, and I perceived that the second, in which I could see Good hie horse, was on the point of annihilation A fewcolours sank, and I lost sight of Good in the confused and hideous slaughter that ensued

Presently, however, a cream-coloured horse with a snohite mane and tail burst fro past nized the charger that Good had been riding Then I hesitated no longer, but taking with me half my effective cavalry force, which now amounted to between four and five thousandfor orders, I charged straight down upon Nasta's swords warned by the thunder of ave us a right elcome Not an inch would they yield; in vain did we hack and trah their thousands; they see their terrible sharp swords into our horses, or severing their haround with them almost into pieces My horse was speedily killed under me, but luckily I had a fresh one, ivenheld in reserve behind, and on this I afterwardsas best I could, for I was pretty well lost sight of by my men in the mad confusion of the moment My voice, of course, could not be heard in the ony Presently I found myself mixed up with the remnants of the square, which had for desperately for existence I stuht of Good's eyeglass He had been beaten to his knee

Over hied to run the h with the sime I had taken from the Masai whose hand I had cut off; but as I did so, he dealt htful blow on the left side and breast with the sword, and though my chain shi+rt saved my life, I felt that I was badly hurt For athe dead and dying, and turned sick and faint When I caain I saw that Nasta's spear back across the strea sweetly

'Near go that,' he shouted; 'but all's well that ends well'

I assented, but I could not help feeling that it had not ended well for me I was sorely hurt

Just thenthe sht and left, and which were now reinforced by the three thousand sabres which we had held in reserve, flash out like arrows from their posts and fall upon the disordered flanks of Sorais' forces, and that charge decided the issue of the battle In another minute or two the enemy was in slow and sullen retreat across the little stream, where they once ed to get a second horse, and received my orders to advance from Sir Henry, and then with one fierce deep-throated roar, with a waving of banners and a wide flashi+ng of steel, the rean to sweep down, slowly indeed, but irresistibly froallantly held all day

At last it was our turn to attack

On we , and were approaching the strea wildly towards us, his arainst which his blanched cheek was tightly pressed, was a eneral, but in whonized none other than our lost Alphonse It was i h our ranks and narrowly escaped being cut down, till at last soht to me just as a momentary halt occurred in our advance to allohat remained of our shattered squares to forasped out in a voice that was nearly inarticulate with fright, 'grace to the sky, it is you! Ah, what I have endured!