Part 35 (1/2)
”Laugh all you like!” he said ”I've a long job on e on 'em if it takes the rest o' one!”
”Meanwhile,” I said, still standing on the ant-hill, ”the Masai are following the cattle! They're sle colu their own cattle about due eastward so as to be out of the way of trouble”
”All right,” said Brown, growing suddenly cheerful again ”Then it'll be a rear-guard action Let the cattle through, and open fire behind 'em! Send that Kazimoto o' yours to warn our boys to round 'em up and drive 'eave the necessary orders He lost no ti, and lay down in a hollow behind us with cartridges in either fist and a grin on his face that would have done credit to a circus clown I never, anywhere, saw any one ht
We let the cattle through and lay hidden, waiting for the raiders
They were in full war dress, which is to say as nearly naked as possible except for their spears, a leg ornament made fro on just as suited the individual wearer's fancy, a great shi+eld, and an enormous ostrich-feather head-dress They seeuessed that the cattle would stop to graze again when the first scare was over; yet they ca no noise
Suddenly those in the lead caught sight of our boys getting behind the cattle to herd them northward They halted to hold consultation--apparently decided that they had only unarain, faster than before
”Better open fire now!” said Brohen they were still a quarter of a mile away
”Wait till you can see their eyes!” Will advised ”An unexpected volley at close quarters will do
”This ain't a long range!” Brown objected ”As for unexpected--just watch ht's fixed at four hundred Watch!”
He fired--ished he had not The leading Masai of the right-hand colu bullet passed, and then there was nothing for it but to follow his lead and blaze away for all orth If Brown had been willing to accept Will's advice there is nothing more likely than that the close-quarter surprise would have won the day for us We would have done e As it e all missed with our finest shots, and the Masai took heart and charged in open order
The worst of it was that, although we dropped several of them, now the others had a chance to discover there were only three of us Their leader shouted The right-hand colued its tactics The left-hand party made a circuit at top speed, outflanked us, and pursued the cattle
Supposing ht, we had laid out, either wounded or dead, seven of the crowd attacking us This left perhaps fourteen against us, to be dealt with before the others could come back with the cattle and take us in the rear
Will brought another man down; I saw the blood splash on his forehead as the bullet drilled the skull cleanly Then oneto craard us with their shi+elds held before, not as protection against bullets (for as that they were utterly worthless) but as cover that uesswork
I fell back and took position on the ant-hill froular and giving myself a chance to protect the other two should they feel forced to retire The extra height also gave s of the Masai over the tops of their shi+elds, and was able to wound more than one of them so severely that they crawled to the rear
But the rest caes
In that first real pinch ere in he certainly lived up to all Courtney had said of him, for without the stimulus of his proper master's eye he neither flinched nor faltered, but crawled fro the spare rounds equally
The Masai began to attempt to outflank us, but my position on the ant-hill to the rear made that ile fro to keep an eye on the flank I beca back That , too, and that in a few moments ere likely to be overwhelmed I shouted to Will and Brown, but either they did not hear me, or did not have time to answer
I fired half a dozen shots, and then distinctly heard the crack of a rifle froave matters the worst turn yet
If one of the raiders had a rifle, then unless I could spot him at once and put him out of action our cause was likely lost I stood up to look for him and heard a wild cheer, followed by three more shots in quick succession Then at last I saw Fred Oakes running along a depression in the ground, followed at a considerable distance by the advance-guard of his porters He was running, and then kneeling to fire--running, and kneeling again And he was not wasting ammunition
He was much the best shot of us all, now that Monty was absent
The terrified cattle sta the us hauled off and took to their heels Will and Broere for speeding theain, and this tiot behind the cattle and were driving the on with spears and shi+elds raised to slay us in passing The other two joined ed us--seven or eight of them Three bit the dust, but the rest came on, and if it had not been for tift shots from Fred's rifle in the very nick of time we should have all been dead men
As it was, one seizeddown the ant-hill, he slashi+ng at reat broad-bladed spear, I ahold of his wrist with one hand, and with the other fist belaboring hireasier--sweatier--harder to hold He slipped from under me, rolled on top, wrenched his wrist free, and in another second grinned in my face as, with both knees in my stomach, he raised the spear to kill I shut my eyes I had not another breath left, nor an effort inony
But I could not keepthem to see why he did not strike, I saw Kazi for his skull with the full weight of the butt and all his strength Kazirunted The Masai half turned his head at the sound The butt hit hoed with blood and brains