The Battle

: The Coming Conquest Of England

As Heideck returned to the camp, the road was lit up by the red glare

of innumerable fires. On the wide plain, stretching between the town and

river, work was going on in feverish haste. Rations and ammunition were

being dealt out, and long lines of beasts of burden were in motion.

Thousands of hands were busily employed in trying to facilitate the

passage of the troops across the shallow tributary of the Ravi. The

bog y places were made firm by a covering of palm branches and leaves;

and logs of wood were got ready in hot haste for the artillery.

Heideck could not help wondering why it was that the army had not been

concentrated from the first at the point the battle was to take place.

The approach through the difficult tract of land, in connexion with the

contemplated movement to the left, made calls upon the endurance of

the troops that could not but have the most detrimental effect upon the

issue of the battle.



He met his Indian boy, evidently in great excitement, in front of his

tent.



"When we start to-morrow we shall leave the tent with everything in it,"

said Heideck. "You will ride my horse and I shall take yours."



Morar Gopal was a Hindu from the south, almost as black as a nigger, a

small, agile little man, weighing scarcely eight stone. It was in order

to save his own horse for the later exertions of the day that Heideck

wanted his boy to ride him at first.



Only now he perceived that his servant, contrary to his usual habit, was

armed. He carried a sword buckled round his waist, and when asked the

reason, the Indian answered, with a certain amount of pathos--



"All Hindus will die to-morrow, but I at least will defend myself

bravely."



"What makes you believe that all Hindus must die to-morrow?"



"Oh, sahib! me know it well. The Mohammedans hate the Hindus, and they

will kill all of us tomorrow."



"But this is nonsense. Mohammedans and Hindus will unite as one man to

fight the Russians to-morrow."



The Indian shook his head.



"No, sahib! The Russians also are Mohammedans."



"Whoever told you so lied. The Russians are Christians, like the

English."



But however great his confidence in his master might be in general, this

time Morar Gopal evidently did not believe him.



"If they are Christians, why, then, should they wage war against other

Christians?"



Heideck saw that it would be impossible to explain these things, that

were beyond his own comprehension, to the dark-skinned lad. And only a

few hours of the night still remaining for sleep, he despatched him to

bed.



The first rays of the sun had begun to quiver over the wide plain when

the forward march commenced. Heideck, already before dawn of day, was

in the saddle, and found time to exchange a few words with Colonel Baird

before setting out.



The Colonel occupied that day a position of great importance and

responsibility. He commanded a brigade, consisting of two English and

one sepoy regiments, the lancers, and a battery. In addition, he was in

command of the auxiliaries sent by the Maharajah of Chanidigot, and led

by Prince Tasatat, consisting of one thousand infantry, five hundred

cavalry, and one battery. The Prince rode out magnificently attired and

armed; the hilt and scabbard of his sword sparkled with precious stones,

and a cockade of valuable diamonds flashed from his turban. The bridling

and caparison of his mount, a splendid chestnut, represented alone a

small fortune. His troops were also splendidly equipped, and displayed

great confidence. The horsemen carried long pikes, like the English

lancers, and wore red turbans, striped with blue. But many had been

obliged to enter the lines of infantry in spite of their heavy boots,

since a great number of horses, of the Mohammedan as well as the English

cavalry, had died in consequence of bad fodder and over-exertion.



The movement of the British army was rather complicated. The English

forces were massed in two divisions between Shah Dara and the park

of Shalimar. The first comprised the Indian troops, officered by

Englishmen; the second the English regiments. In this way seventy-five

thousand Indians were to be prevented from running away. Should the

first division be compelled to fall back, it would be checked by the

twenty-five thousand English. The advance march was commenced in such

fashion that the right half of the line of battle, sweeping far round to

the right, executed a left wheel, and in this way lengthened the front

by about one-third; this was done in order to fill up the gap caused in

the centre. The second division was pushed forward into the first, and

now formed the centre of the line of battle. At the same time a new

second division was formed by leaving in reserve troops of the advancing

divisions and massing them behind the left wing of the entire position;

the English considered their left wing to be most threatened. Colonel

Baird, with his brigade, occupied the centre of the front line of the

main position.



Heideck watched many Indian regiments march past, and he could not

help perceiving the difference of mood and carriage of Mohammedans and

Hindus. Whilst the first maintained a very energetic and very frequently

cheerful attitude, the latter allowed the ends of their turbans to hang

loose, as a sign of their despair, and marched dejectedly forward, face

and head covered with ashes. Morar Gopal's conception of the fate in

store for all Hindus evidently was shared by all.



The wide plain was covered with marching columns of infantry, hosts

of cavalry, and heavy, thudding artillery. Whilst the English foot

soldiers, in their yellow-brown khaki dress, were hardly distinguishable

from the colour of the ground, the cavalry regiments and the troops of

the Indian princes looked like gaily coloured islets in the vast and

surging sea of the army as it advanced in two divisions.



In obedience to the Colonel's wish, Heideck kept close to the side of

the Commander-in-Chief, whose numerous staff and retinue of servants,

horses, and carriages allowed him to mix in the crowd without attracting

attention. But the General did not remain long with the centre. In

order to gain a clearer survey of the entire movement, and to be able

to observe the Russian approach, he rode with his staff and a strong

cavalry escort towards the Ravi river. Heideck, accompanied by his

faithful servant, attached himself to the escort, and thus was soon far

in advance of Colonel Baird's brigade.



Nothing was as yet to be seen of the Russians, and about three hours

might have passed since the beginning of the advance march, when lo!

the dull, rumbling thunder of the first cannon-shot rolled over the wide

field.



The General reined in, and directed his field-glasses upon the left

wing, where the cannonade increased in violence each minute. Another

half-hour and the sharp rattle of infantry fire mixed with the heavy

rumbling of big guns. No doubt, on the left wing, by Shah Dara, the

battle had commenced. Advancing towards the right bank of the Ravi, the

Russians threatened to attack Lahore.



The Commander-in-Chief despatched two orderly officers to the right wing

and the centre, with the order to accelerate the march. Then he returned

with his suite to his former position.



But Heideck could not at once make up his mind to follow. From the

moment the first shot had been fired the battle fever had seized him; he

was only a soldier now.



He was irresistibly attracted by a building a short distance away, with

a slender minaret, from which he hoped to obtain a better view. It was

the half-decayed mausoleum of some saint, and Heideck had some trouble

to climb up to the top of the minaret, a height of about twenty feet,

whilst his servant waited with the horses down below. But the exertion

was fully rewarded. He overlooked the flat plains. The sinuous Ravi

river was hardly half an English mile distant. Its banks were covered

with high grass and thick jungle growth; on the other side of the river

immense thickly-packed masses of troops appeared--the advancing Russian

army.



Both armies must soon come into collision by the river, for single

English cavalry regiments and horse artillery batteries, advancing in a

long line, were already in its immediate neighbourhood.



Heideck had seen sufficient to be able to judge of the position of the

battle. He climbed down the minaret and mounted his fresh steed, whilst

Morar Gopal sprang into the saddle of his own horse. They quickly

arrived amongst the British cavalry, deploying in advance of their main

army. The advance march was now executed with greatest rapidity. The

English batteries dashed forward at the fastest pace the soft ground

would permit, unlimbered, and opened fire. Large masses of infantry

marched towards the jungle. But from the other side of the river the

lively English fire was but feebly returned. Only from the direction of

the left English wing, invisible from this point, did the artillery and

infantry fire rage with unabated violence.



In consequence, considerable reinforcements were sent to the apparently

hard-pressed left wing, and a distinct weakening of the centre took

place, without a clear idea having been formed as to the intention of

the Russians. Heideck's conviction was that such probably had been the

Russian tactics. He was of opinion that they probably raised a great

battle din by Shah Dara, in order to direct the attention of the English

to that point, and then deliver their main attack against the centre.

He was right; the main forces of the Russians were opposed to Colonel

Baird.



Another circumstance he could not explain was the curious fact that

the English as well as the Indian infantry regiments halted before the

jungle instead of pushing forward to the river. Not even riflemen were

sent into it, although the bush was by no means too thick for a chain

of riflemen to take cover. The prickly bushes on the river's bank were

sparse enough, and the high grass reaching up to the mens' shoulders

would have made a splendid hiding-place.



By-and-by the English army had executed the movement to the left, and

now stood facing the Russian front. One new regiment after the other was

drawn from the second division and placed on the left wing, which was

believed to be most threatened. The English guns thundered without

interruption, but their position might have been better; many fired

without being able to see the enemy at all through the thick jungle, and

threw away their ammunition prematurely.



The sun shone brightly in the cloudless sky. A slight north-westerly

breeze coming from the far distant hills blew the smoke of the powder in

clouds back on the English army.



The enemy being thus completely shrouded from view, the infantry stood

motionless. A sullen expectation brooded over the colossal forces,

who realised danger, but were yet condemned to a torturing inactivity.

Suddenly the wild roar of thousands of voices rose from the river, and

hosts of cavalry, which before could have been held back by English

infantry, broke through the jungles like immense swarms of locusts.

Thousands of wild Afghans and warriors from Bukhara, Samarcand, Khiva,

and Semiryechensk, combined in the Turkestan divisions, had crossed

the river and, wildly crying "Allah! Allah!" hurled themselves upon the

English battalions and batteries. Splendidly trained at firing from the

saddle, they were terrible foes indeed.



Although the English returned the unexpected attack with crackling

volleys, and did not recoil a hair's breadth from their positions, the

Russian lines suffered but small losses in consequence of their open

order. One new swarm after the other broke through the jungle, and

rushed like an army of devils upon the batteries. A few of these were

silenced; the men who served them were killed before they were able to

turn their guns against their assailants, so wildly rapid had been this

surprise rush of the bold horsemen.



The English cavalry, advancing to a magnificent attack, arrived too

late; the weight of the shock was lost, the enemy having already

dispersed in all directions. These men understood how to manage their

small, rapid horses in a marvellous manner. They seemed like centaurs,

and the rapidity with which they broke up their squadron, in order

immediately after to close up again at another place in dense masses,

rendered a counter attack on the part of the serried ranks of their

adversaries almost impossible.



At one time, Heideck, with that part of the staff to which he had

attached himself, had been drawn into the shock of battle. He had been

obliged to shoot an Afghan, who attacked him, down from his horse, and

he would probably, a moment afterwards, have been laid low by the

sabre of another, had not the faithful Morar Gopal, who displayed

extraordinary courage, just at the right moment made the horseman

harmless by a well-directed blow of his sword. The cavalry engagement

was still undecided, when lo! in the grass before the jungle were seen

a number of glittering sparks. The sharp crack of shots was heard, and

their destructive effect showed how admirably the Russian riflemen, who

were gradually advancing against the British army, knew how to

handle their rifles. The British infantry kept on discharging volleys

indefatigably, but no practical result of all this waste of ammunition

was apparent. Their targets were too small and too scattered, and the

mechanical volleys fired at the word of command had but little effect.

Besides this, the Russians had admirable cover, with the variegated

jungle as a background, whilst the English stood out sharply against the

horizon, and presented an excellent mark. According to their plan,

the Russians first of all directed their fire against the men who

were serving the batteries. Their well-directed shooting decimated the

English artillery to a terrible degree. Scarcely two minutes had elapsed

before the order was given to fall back with the guns. As far as was

possible, the English harnessed up, and galloped off to take up their

position between the infantry battalions, and from there again to

open fire. The advance of the English artillery, which had taken place

contrary to orders, and which was a result of their over-hasty forward

movement, thus showed itself to have been a most disastrous step.



An even stronger and more damaging effect than that of the attack

itself, was produced by the ceaseless cries of "Allah! Allah!" which

proceeded from the Afghans and the Turkestan cavalry, and penetrated

to the Mohammedans who stood in the British lines. Heideck saw quite

clearly that, here and there, the Indian soldiers ceased firing as if

in obedience to a word of command, and could distinguish how English

officers in their excitement struck the men with the flat of the sword

and threatened them with the revolver. Obviously, the leaders had lost

all influence over the foreign elements under their command. Close to

the Commander-in-Chief an English captain was bayoneted by an Indian

soldier, and there could be no doubt that similar cases of open mutiny

took place amongst the other Indian troops.



The men, who had only followed the orders of the foreign tyrants with

the utmost reluctance, evidently believed the moment had come for

shaking off the hated yoke, and at the same time the old enmity between

the Mohammedans and Hindus, the rivalry between the two religions, which

often in times of peace occasioned bloody feuds, burst into open flames.

In the midst of the British army duels to the death were fought out

between the irreconcilable adversaries. Thus it was unavoidable that the

entire discipline became shaken and destroyed.



The battlefield was an awful spectacle. Before the front innumerable

wounded, crying out for help, where no help was possible, were writhing

in agony, for the retreat of the English artillery had had to be

executed without thought of those left behind; wounded horses, wildly

kicking to free themselves from their harness, increased the horror of

the terrible scene, whilst stray divisions of English cavalry riding

amongst them were fired upon by their own infantry out of fear of

the advance of the Russian riflemen. Although in war all battlefields

present a spectacle of the utmost horror, so that only the excitement

of the moment enables human beings to endure it, yet the picture this

battle of the advanced lines presented surpassed all imagination. The

want of discipline amongst the English lines increased more and more,

and the English officers had to fix their whole attention upon their own

troops, instead of upon the movements of the enemy. The necessity for

this was soon evident.



Prince Tasatat was the first to leave Colonel Baird with his entire

force, and openly to march over to the enemy. His example was decisive

for the Indians who were still hesitating, and the number of those going

over to the enemy increased from minute to minute.



A uniform control of the line of battle had long since become

impossible. Colonel Baird gave orders for his guns to open fire upon

Prince Tasatat's company, and, like him, many other commanders fought

their own individual battle just as their own judgment prompted. Indian

regiments dispersed in all directions, because the men cared less for

fighting than for getting booty from the prisoners and wounded. There

were hand-to-hand fights in many parts of the battlefield, which, owing

to the fanatical rage of the combatants, degenerated into horrible

butchery. Those falling into the hands of the Afghans were most to be

pitied. For these devils in human shape cut off the heads of all their

prisoners and all wounded, whether Mohammedans, Hindus, or English,

without any further ado, and in their rapacity tore the valuables from

the bodies of the dead and wounded.



A line of fugitives, like an immense stream, passed the English

regiments, which still stood firm in serried ranks, making for the plain

of Lahore, in order to find protection behind the walls of the fortified

city.



In Heideck's opinion the day was lost to the English, and he prepared

himself to die a soldier's death, together with the brave men

surrounding him. With feelings of sincerest admiration he confessed how

great was the bravery, and how admirable the discipline that animated

the English-born troops. Those regiments and batteries in which no

native elements were mingled, stood calm and unshaken amongst all the

terrible confusion, and thanks to their bravery, the battle, which

opened in such disorder, began to present clear features, like those of

the sharp peaks of a chain of mountains appearing above the mist, as it

rolls down.



Instead of the semibarbarous horsemen that had opened the attack,

new Russian batteries and colossal masses of infantry, with compact

companies of riflemen, as well as several regiments of dragoons, now

faced the English troops.



The Commander-in-Chief, with about 6,000 men and two batteries, was with

the second English division, which had been greatly reduced in numbers.

It was evidently his object to retire in good order towards Lahore, and

to cover the retreat with his best troops.



He succeeded in withdrawing two smaller bodies from the right and left

wing respectively by despatching orderlies. But the first division was

so closely engaged with Russian infantry that an orderly retreat was

almost impossible.



Notwithstanding this, the Commander was bent on making the attempt to

withdraw also the first division of his army. He despatched one of his

adjutants to Colonel Baird, who still had perhaps about 2,000 men under

his command, with the order to break off the battle and to retire. The

young officer saluted with grave face, drew his sword, and galloped

away. But he had only traversed a small part of his dangerous journey,

a distance of about a mile, when he fell a victim to the call of duty,

being attacked and hurled from the saddle by a body of Cossacks mounted

on small, rough-haired, but very swift steeds.





The General appeared undecided whether to stake another young life on

this hopeless test. Heideck rode up to him and lifted his hand to his

helmet.



"Will Your Excellency allow me to ride? I am a friend of Colonel Baird

and should be glad of the opportunity of showing him my gratitude for

his kindness to me."



The General sharply scrutinised the gentleman who was unknown to him,

who looked like an officer, though not wearing the prescribed uniform;

but he did not take the time to question him.



"Ride!" he said shortly. "The Colonel is no longer to hold out; he is to

march to the right and retreat towards Lahore--if possible."



Heideck saluted and turned his horse. He had replaced his revolver in

his belt, and returned his sword to its sheath.



Not by the aid of weapons, but solely by the rapidity of his horse could

he hope to reach his goal. He gave his steed its head, and encouraged

it by calling to it. The animal did not disappoint the hopes placed

upon it. It seemed to fly, rather than run over the trampled ground. The

Cossacks, who attempted to intercept this single horseman, were unable

to reach him. And of all the shots aimed at the bold rider not one

reached its mark.



The volunteer orderly reached the brigade without harm. But he was too

late; almost at the same moment the collision with the Russian infantry,

which, in spite of their losses, had advanced steadily to the attack,

took place. In order to sell his life and those of his brave troops as

dearly as possible, Colonel Baird had given orders to form a square, in

the midst of which the horsemen and the guns were placed. Many officers,

leaving the saddle, had picked up the rifles and cartridge-boxes of

those that were killed, and, levelling their bayonets, had taken their

places in the front rank of the square. Breathing heavily, and covered

with perspiration Heideck stopped before the Colonel and made his

report.



But the brave Englishman pointed with his hand towards the Russians.



"Impossible," he said. "We are destined to die upon this spot."



Then he also dismounted and seized a rifle. From a thousand British

throats a loud "Hurrah!" broke forth, for the Russians had reached the

square, and a hand-to-hand combat took place.



The horror of this terrible struggle at close quarters, the English

fighting with the struggle of despair against a foe outnumbering them

many times, impressed itself indelibly upon the memory of the young

German. He, too, had drawn his sword, but in spite of his personal

relations, his political sympathies were not on the English side.



Suddenly he heard, close to him, a hoarse cry of rage, and, on turning

round, perceived to his boundless surprise the face of Captain Irwin,

terribly distorted by hatred and fury. He had supposed him to be with

the depot in Chanidigot, but Irwin must have found an opportunity

of getting away from that command. Indeed, under the existing

circumstances, it must have seemed equivalent to a severe censure, and

Irwin had attached himself to the troops taking the field. He was now

fighting in this death-struggle, rifle in hand, like a private soldier.

The red blood staining the point of his bayonet bore eloquent testimony

to his bravery. But in this supreme moment his country's enemies were

forgotten in the sight of the mortal foe, the object of his personal

hate, by whose courageous action the dastardly plot against Edith had

been frustrated. Here were place and opportunity offered for satisfying

the thirst for revenge, which consumed him. What mattered the death of a

single unit in the midst of this great holocaust?



Before Heideck could divine the intention of the wretched man he was

attacked by his bayonet. It was solely the rearing of a frightened horse

that saved the Captain's life; the thrust of the bayonet grazed the

animal's neck. At the same moment the terrible sword-cut of a Russian

fell upon Irwin's unprotected neck (for he had lost his helmet), and

with such force that, with a hollow cry, he fell on his face.



Suddenly the curiously altered, now hoarse voice of the Colonel struck

Heideck's ear: "What are you still doing here? Ride, for Heaven's sake!

Ride quickly! If you should see them again, take my last loving messages

to my poor wife and children! Stay by them!"



The blood from a deep wound on his forehead was pouring over his face,

and Heideck saw that only by the greatest exertion of will could he keep

himself on his legs. He wanted to reply, but the Colonel had already

again hurled himself into the tangled throng of fighters, and a few

seconds later fell under the butt-end blows and sabres of the Russians.



Then Hermann Heideck turned his horse and galloped off.