Part 21 (1/2)
Why did not Ranjoor Singh , and then choose the night of all tihts are instantaneous, sahib; some seem to develop out of patience and silence and attention Moreover, it takes time for captured men to readjust their attitude-as the Gerht in the prison camp at Oescherleben When we first took the Syrians prisoner they were so tired and ti carts, whereas noe had fed the, the Turks, if given a chance, would have staora
Now that both Turks and Syrians had grown used to being prisoners and to obeying us, they were less likely to think independently-in the saht elephant in the keddah is frenzied and dangerous, but after a week or two is learning tricks
And as for choosing the night-tie, every soldier knows that the darkness is on the side of him whose plans are laid He who is taken unawares norance and darkness Thieves prefer the dark Wolves hunt in the dark Fishere his dispositions ht are like laht a cas are mental, sahib, and not to be explained like the fire of heavy guns or the shock tactics of cavalry-although not one atoh had lined up the ht have been ed the second ripe, he ave the to their ht be worried about them or suspicious of them On the contrary, he took opportunity to praise some individuals and distribute merited rewards
For instance, he proh, to be daffadars on probation, to their very great surprise and absolute contentendheiendheiilance over hihty ain, replacing them with more obedient ones Then at last I understood why he had chosen sorumblers to ride in the first instance-siht make roo discontent with ehty ave Abrahah, set one of the new naiks over the left wing, and Gooja Singh over the right wing of the forty, under himself, and ordered rations for three days to be cooked and served out to the forty, including corn for their horses They had to carry it all in the knap-sacks on their own backs, since no one of theht while this was going on, with his tongue in his cheek, as much as to say I had been superseded and would know it soon When I affected not to notice he said aloud inthat ht side when the doings happen And when I took no notice of that he asked me in a very loud voice whetherleft a mile or two behind But I let hihtest idea yet of Ranjoor Singh's real plan
After another talk with h was to horse and aith his forty an hour before daybreak, the Turkish officer riding bareback in Syrian clothes between the four who had been set to guard hi hooves had scarcely ceased druan to put me to a test Abrahae color Sikh troopers are not little baa-laendheiin lest they turn and tear him first He listened with both ears, and watched with both eyes, but kept aone?” theround s And I satisfied -bone before I answered There was just a little gli fires we could all see well enough I could see trouble-out of both eyes
”Whither rides Ranjoor Singh?” they de a strip fro (What use had the Syrian for it now that he wore uniform? And it served the horse well)
A trooper took ht At another time he should have been shot for ih too recently to let teet the better of me
”Thou art afraid!” said I ”Thy hand on my shoulder trehed to show himself unafraid Before he could think of an answer, twenty others had thrust hih? Whither does he ride?” they asked ”Make haste and tell us!”
”Would ye bring hih had told hborhood of danger, and that I was to folloarily along his track ”God will put true thoughts in your heart,” he told me, ”if you are a true man, and are silent, and listen” His words were true I did not speak until I was compelled Consider the sequel, sahib
”Ye have talked these days past,” said I, ”of nothing but loot-loot-loot! Ye have lusted like wolves for lowing cattle! Yet now ye ask h! Whither SHOULD he ride? He rides to find bees for you whose stings have all been drawn, that ye may suck honey without hareant Tugendheim,” said I, ”see that your Syrians do not fall over one another's rifles! March in front with them,” I ordered, ”that we may all see hoell you drill theuard when the looting begins, let hihed and so But they all obeyed, and that was theNot h had ridden off our carts were squeaking and bu behind us And within an hour after that ere in action! Aye, sahib, I should say it was less than an hour after the start when I halted to serve out ten cartridges apiece to the Syrians, that Tugendheiet hiry that I would not give hies, but I told hial? When the ti, but they filled a gap and served a double purpose; for after Tugendheim had let them blaze away those ten rounds a piece there was less fear than ever of his daring to attempt escape Thenceforward his prospects and ours were one But oes faster than the column did, that could travel no faster than the slowestthe hills now-little low hills with broad open spaces between, in which thousands of cattle could have grazed Only there were no cattle I rode, as Ranjoor Singh usually did, twenty or thirty horses' length away on the right flank, well forward, where I could see the whole colu a quarter of aon the flanks because to our left the hills were steep and ienerally see for h not always
We dipped into a hollow, and I thought I heard rifle shots I urged my horse uphill, and sent him up a steep place from the top of which I had a fine view Then I heard many shots, and looked, and lo a battle was before h to my excited nized taking his part in it was Ranjoor Singh
I could see no infantry at all About a hundred Turkish cavalry were being furiously attacked by sixty or seventy mounted men who looked like Kurds, and who turned out later really to be Kurds The Kurds ell allop and wasting great quantities of a must have been extremely bad, for I could see neither dead bodies nor empty saddles, but nevertheless the Turks appeared anxious to escape-thethem off As I watched, one of them blew a truht toward us There was nothing else they could do, now that they had given way It was like the letter Y-thus, sahib,-see, I draw in the dust-the Kurds co this way-and we advancing toward the the botto an arena The best the Turks could do would have been to take the higher ground where ere and there reform, except for the fact that we had come on the scene unknown to theht in a trap
There was plenty of time, especially as ere hidden froh now that a fight seeendheim with his Syrians in the center, with the rest of us in equal halves to right and left, keeping Abrahah, as next to h new moon formation, all well under cover, with the carts in a hollow to our rear By the ti Turks were not much more than a quarter of a mile away; and now I could see empty saddles at last, for soround with good effect
I gave no order to open fire until they came within three hundred yards of us Then I ordered volleys, and the Syrians forthwiththeir tiood shots as a rule, rather given, in fact, to despising all weapons except the lance and saber, and perhaps a pistol on occasion But the practise in Flanders had worked wonders, and at our first volley seven or eight allop on toward us
The surprise was so great that the Turks drew rein, and we gave the down a number of them They see ere, they turned away from us and made as if to surrender to the enemy they did know, but the Kurds rode in on them and in less than five minutes there was not one Turk left alive Mydown to secure the loot, but it seeht mistake that for hostility and I prevailed on the h should coh ride up to the leader of the Kurds and talk with hi our Turkish officer prisoner as interpreter Presently he and the Kurdish chief rode together toward us, and the Kurd looked us over, saying nothing (Ranjoor Singh told me afterward that the Kurd wished to be convinced that ereand the short of it was that we received half the captured horses-that is, thirty-five, for some had been killed-and all the saddles, no less than ninety of them, besides mauser rifles and uniforms for our ten unar to make sure that the Syrians, e sent to help the else When the Kurds had finished looting, they rode away toward the south without so h how Turkish cavalry had coht thus unsupported, and he said he did not know
”Yet I have learned so,” he said ”I shot the Turkish commander's horse myself, and my men pounced on him That demoralized his men and made the rest easy Now, I have questioned the Turk, and between hiood reason to hurry forward”
”I would weigh that Kurd's information twice!” said I ”He cut those Turks down in cold blood What is he but a cutthroat robber?”