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Charge! - A Story of Briton and Boer, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 18. The Old Folks Work |
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_ CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. THE OLD FOLKS WORK "Then this isn't a well, after all," said Denham, who seemed struck with wonderment. "No," I said excitedly, as all kinds of Aladdin-like ideas connected with wealth began to run through my mind; "but there's water in it, and it will serve us as a well." "Yes, of course," cried Denham. "I say, you two have made a discovery." Then he lit a match, got it well in a blaze, and let it drop down the square shaft, when it kept burning till, at about a hundred feet below us, it went out with a faint hiss, which told that it had reached the water. "It'll do for a well, sir," said Briggs; "and I wouldn't mind getting down it at the end of a rope. I've done it before now, when a well's been rather doubtful, and we've had to burn flares down it to start the foul air. That hole's as clear as can be." "How do you know?" said Denham. "By the way that match burned till it reached the water, sir. If the air down there had been foul it would have been put out before it reached the surface." "But there will be no need for you to go down, sergeant," I said. "We can reach the water with a few tether ropes." "To get the water--yes, my lad," said the sergeant, with a queer screwing up of his face; "but I was thinking about the gold." "Oh, we've no time to think of gold," said Denham shortly. "But I say, Val, isn't this all a mistake? Who could have built such a place and worked for gold--making a mine like this?" "I don't know," I said, "unless it was the ancient traders who used to go to Cornwall in their ships to get tin." "What! the Phoenicians?" said Denham. "Yes," I said. "They were big builders too. They built Tyre and Sidon." "Val," cried my companion, slapping me on the shoulder, "you've hit it right on the head. They were the builders. We know they went to Scilly and Cornwall for tin. They must have come here for gold." "Oh no," I said. "They could sail from Tyre and Sidon, keeping within sight of land all the way along the Mediterranean, through the Straits of Gibraltar, and then up the coasts of Spain and France, and across to our country; but they couldn't sail here." "Well, not all the way; but I can recollect enough of the map to know that they'd most likely have ships at the top of the Red Sea, and could coast down from there till they got somewhere about Delagoa Bay or Durban, and gradually travel across country till they got here." "Rather a long walk," I said. "Long walk? Of course; but it was done by the people in the course of hundreds of years perhaps--settlers who came into the country after its products. There, I believe it, and we must have made a find. Here, come back and let's have a look at the old furnace and chimney." We went back, and were soon satisfied that we had the right idea. On further examination we found that some of the stones were calcined, and at a touch crumbled into exceedingly fine dust; while one corner at the back--below the chimney opening, where it was a good deal broken--showed signs of intense heat, the face of one angle being completely glazed, the stone being melted into a kind of slag like volcanic glass. "Oh, there's not a bit of doubt about it," cried Denham. "What do you say, Sergeant?" "Not a bit o' doubt about it, sir. I've seen smelting-furnaces enough our way for copper and tin, and this might have been one of such places, made by old-fashioned folks who didn't know so much as we know now. It's an old smelting-shop for certain; but I don't see as we've anything to shout about." "What!" cried Denham; "when we've made a discovery like this? Are you mad?" "Not as I knows on, sir. It's only like coming to a corner of the beach at home and finding a heap of oyster-shells." "What do you mean?" said Denham angrily. "Why, sir, it only shows as there was oysters there once, and that somebody came and dredged them, opened 'em, and ate 'em, and left the shells behind. Here's the shell, plain enough; but the old Tyre and Sidems, as you call 'em, took away all the gold, sure enough. Trust 'em!" "What!" cried Denham, laughing. "Is it likely? Here's a gold-mine, sure enough; but if there's one here, don't you think there must be plenty more places in this country where people could dig down and get gold?" "May be, sir," said Briggs, scratching his ear. "Is there only one tin-mine in Cornwall, Sergeant?" I said. "Only one tin-mine in Cornwall!" cried Briggs in disgust. "Whatcher talking about? Why, the country's full of 'em. You find tin wherever you like to cut down to one kind o' rock as is what they call quartz, and where there's tin in it there's a lot o' red powder as well; and when you break a bit there's the tin, all in pretty little black shiny grains. Oh, there's plenty o' tin in Cornwall, only it costs a lot to dig and blast it out o' the mine." "So you may depend upon it there's plenty of gold here, sergeant," said Denham, taking the piece of stone I had picked up and holding it out to the sergeant. "There's a specimen of the ore, and I'll be bound to say there's tons of it to be found." "Humph!" said the Sergeant, examining the piece of stone; "p'r'aps them bits o' threads and them scrappy bits may be gold; but if you broke that up and melted it, the gold you'd get would be such a tiny bead that it wouldn't be worth taking away." "Perhaps not," said Denham, giving me a look; "but there'd be a good-sized bead out of a ton. The ancient miners didn't work for nothing, I'll be bound. But come along; we've found what we were looking for, and--" He stopped short, for just then a shot was fired, which made us start on our return along the narrow passage. "Mind the hole," I shouted to Denham, who was first. "Jingo!" he cried, "I'd forgotten it;" and he made a bound which took him clear, proving that I had spoken just in time. Before we were out into the wider passage open to the sky, three or four more shots rang out, followed by a volley, and then there was a cheer. "Ahoy, there!" cried Denham, hailing the men on the top of the outer wall. "What is it--enemy come on?" "Eh? Oh, it's you, sir," cried one of our troopers, looking down. "Yes, and no. Enemy, but not the Boers." "What do you mean?" cried Denham sharply. "Troop of those baboons got together and making a rush, barking like a pack of dogs, at our fellows out yonder among the rocks. They had to give 'em a few pills to scatter 'em. The savage little beasts have gone off now." "I thought we were going to be out of a fight," said Denham to me as we quickly retraced our steps, to make our way to the Colonel, whom we found at last in the court amongst the horses, talking anxiously to a knot of officers. "Oh, there you are, Mr Denham," said the Colonel as we went up. "I was beginning to think you'd come to grief. I could have searched the place half-a-dozen times over by now. You've come to say there's no water, of course?" "No, sir; I've found plenty." "What!" cried the Colonel, whose whole manner changed in an instant. "You've found plenty?" "Yes, sir." "Splendid news, my dear boy. There, I forgive you for being long," he added good-humouredly. "The horses want a drink badly. Show the men where to lead them at once." "My news is not so good as that, sir. It's hard to get." "What! At the bottom of a well?" "Of a well-like place; and I think there's an ample supply." "See to getting ropes, Sergeant," said the Colonel, "and--we have no buckets with us?" "No, sir; but there's a couple of those zinc-lined nose-bags in the troop." "Capital. They'll do. Take what men you want, and set to work drawing water at once. You must try and clear out some hollow among the stones near the mouth of the well, so that the horses can be led to drink as fast as the men can haul the water up." I was in the party told off to help; and the first thing to be done was to find the nearest part of the court to the interior building where the mine-shaft was. It proved to be an easier task than we anticipated. What was better, we came upon a pile of stones in one corner, close up to the wall, which looked as if they had been heaped up there by hand for some reason or another; and they attracted me so that I drew Denham's attention to them, and told him what I thought. "You're right," he said. "Here, half-a-dozen of you, come and help." He was about to set the men to work to drag the stones away; but I proposed that the tethering raw-hide ropes of two of the horses should be attached to their saddles and the ends made fast to the great rough slabs of stone. This was done, and the horses set to draw, when one by one a dozen massive pieces were drawn aside, leaving a little opening, through which I dropped a stone, with the result that those who listened heard a deep-sounding _plosh_! and set up a cheer. Then other two slabs were dragged away, to lay bare a roughly squared hole six feet across, from which the water could be easily drawn up. "That communicates with our shaft, then?" said Denham to me in a questioning tone. "No doubt," I said. "I dare say there are tunnels running in several directions. Did you tell the Colonel about the gold?" "Not yet," he replied. "He thinks a good deal more about the water now than he would do about gold. But, I say, do you think it will be good drinking-water?" "Certainly," I said. "Gold isn't copper." "Thank you," he said sarcastically. "I found that out a long time ago. I never could do anything like so much with a penny as I could with a sov.--Here, Sergeant," he cried as the first water-bag was pulled up, dripping, and with the sound of the water that fell back echoing musically with many repetitions underground, in what seemed to be a vast place. "Water good?" "Beautiful, sir. Clear as crystal and cold as ice." "Then I'll have a taste," said the Colonel, coming up. "Excellent!" he continued, after taking a deep draught from the portable cup he took from his pocket. "Now, what are you going to do?" "Keep on pouring it into that hollow among the stones, sir," said Denham, pointing to a little depression. Into this one of our makeshift bags was emptied, and the impromptu trough proved quite suitable. Then the men worked away at lowering and raising the nose-bag buckets, drawing up sufficient in a few minutes for watering half-a-dozen horses at a time. While this was progressing the Colonel returned from where he had been inspecting the top of the wall, and rearranging the men so as to take the greatest advantage of our position, to make sure the Boers could not break in through the weakest spot--the opening where the wall had fallen. "Ha!" he said to Denham and me, "you two deserve great credit for hunting out the old underground tank of this ancient fortress. Now, with plenty of provisions and fodder for the horses, we might hold this place for any length of time. I think the General ought to know of it, and place two or three companies of foot here. I see that good shelter might be contrived by drawing some wagon-sheets across the top of these double walls." "Yes, sir--easily," said Denham. "As you say, there would be no horses to keep if the place were held by foot." "Exactly," said the Colonel, who seemed much interested in the drawing of the water, and listened intently to the echoes of the splashing from the impromptu buckets. "Why, Denham, that tank seems to be of great size; quite a reservoir, and tremendously deep." "It is, sir," said Denham dryly; "only it isn't a tank." "What is it, then--a well?" "No, sir: a gold-mine," said Denham in a low tone. The Colonel looked at him sternly, and then smiled. "Oh, I see. Metaphorical," he said. "Yes, to thirsty folk a perfect gold-mine. Liquid gold--eh?" "You don't understand me, sir," said Denham quietly. "I was not speaking in a figurative way, but in plain, downright English. That really is part of an ancient gold-mine, in which the water has collected in course of time." "Really? Are you sure?" said the Colonel. "Yes, sir," replied Denham. Then in a few words he told the Colonel that we had discovered two shafts within the walls, as well as the old furnace-house and the ingot-moulds. "You astound me," said the Colonel. "Here, come along and let me see." He followed Denham, and I went too, as one of the discoverers. The Colonel examined everything with the utmost interest. "Not a doubt about it," he said at last. "You two lads have made a most curious discovery. It may be valuable or worthless; but here it is. I think that, besides being a splendidly strong place for a base, it is otherwise worth holding." "You feel sure it is an old gold-mine, then, sir?" "Undoubtedly, and it must have been of great value. This explains why it was made a favourite station by the ancient settlers who discovered the riches on the spot. I've heard rumours of old workings about here in the veldt; but I never thought much about them, or that they were of any consequence. I shall begin to think now that we must fight harder than ever to hold this part of the country. Which of you two made the discovery?" "Both of us," said Denham. "No; Moray first stumbled upon the hole there." "We were together," I said quietly; "and Sergeant Briggs helped." "I didn't see much of his help," said Denham dryly. "We pushed, and he did the grunting." "You shall have the credit of the discovery, never fear," said the Colonel, "and your share of the profit, if there is any; but we have something else to think about now. Come up here; I want to see how our enemies are going on." He led the way back to the walls, and we followed him to the highest part of our fortress. The strength of the place seemed to explain a great deal, suggesting, as it did, that the builders must have had good reasons for the tremendous labour expended in making the place the stronghold it must have been. "Ah," said the Colonel, shading his eyes and gazing over the walls at the rocky part of the kopje, "I don't want to be unmerciful; but I'm afraid we must clear the rocks of the enemy." "The apes?" said Denham. "Yes; the vicious little brutes have bitten two of the men; but they had to pay for it, for three were killed and I don't know how many wounded before the pack was driven off. You should both be well on the lookout when wandering about, and ready to use your revolvers, for the apes have steel-trap jaws, and muscles nearly as strong. It is astounding the strength there is in an ape." "But if you come to the question of strength, sir," said Denham, "it seems to me that everything in nature is stronger than a man. Look at insects." "No, thank you, Mr Denham," said the Colonel sarcastically. "I have something else to look at, and no time to listen to your lesson on natural history. Some evening, perhaps, when there is no danger, and I am sipping my coffee over a quiet pipe, I shall be happy to listen to you." "Thank you, sir," said Denham. "Is that meant to be sarcastic, my dear boy?" said the Colonel, laughing. "Oh no, sir," said Denham in an ill-used tone. "I say 'Oh yes.' But I didn't mean to snub one of my smartest officers.--Well, Moray, this is another reason for giving you your stripes. Work away, my lad, and master all your drill. I would promote you directly; but it would seem too much like favouritism in the eyes of your seniors. You may rest assured that I am not forgetting you." "I am quite satisfied, sir," I said warmly. "Every one treats me more as a friend than as the latest recruit." "I'm glad of it, and that Mr Denham here seems to look upon you as a companion--a brother-in-arms, I ought to say." "Yet I've a lot of trouble with him, sir," said Denham mockingly. "He's a very impudent young brother-in-arms sometimes." The Colonel made no reply, but took his field-glass from its case, and sat down on the highest point of the old fortress, while he proceeded carefully to examine the country round, dropping a word or two about his observations from time to time. "The Boers seem as if they mean to stop," he said softly, and there was a pause as he swept the horizon with his glass. "A good twelve hundred men if there's one," then came, and he had another good long look. "Let it stand at twelve hundred," he muttered; "but I believe there are more." There was another pause. "Take some grass to keep all those horses," he muttered--"that is, if they stay." Another pause. "Be next door to madness to try to cut our way through them." "Yes, sir," said Denham. "I beg your pardon, Mr Denham," said the Colonel, lowering his glass to look at my companion. "Beg pardon, sir; I thought you spoke," replied Denham, and he cocked his eye comically at me as the Colonel renewed his observations. "They evidently mean to stay; and if we made a rush for it, every man would be down upon his chest delivering such a deadly fire as I dare not expose my poor, fellows to." "No, sir," said Denham to me silently--that is to say, he made a round "O" with his mouth, and then shaped the word "sir" as one would in trying to speak to a deaf and dumb person. "They'd empty half our saddles, and kill no end of horses," continued the Colonel, as he kept on sweeping the plain with his glass. There was a long pause now; and then, still speaking in the same low, distinct voice, and without doubt under the impression that he was only expressing his thoughts in silence: "That's it," he said at last, as if he had quite come to a decision as to the course he must pursue. "In the dark. A quiet walk till we are discovered by their outposts, and then gallop and get through them. Say to-morrow night, when the horses are well rested." Another pause, during which Denham shook his head violently. Then: "No. The poor horses would be hungry. It will have to be to-night. Let me see; there is no moon. Yes, it must be to-night." _Click_! went the field-glass as it was closed, and at the same moment the Colonel turned, to see Denham nodding his head violently at me in acquiescence with our chief's remarks, but in profound ignorance, till he saw my eyes, of the fact that the Colonel was watching him curiously; then he met the Colonel's glance, and blushed like a girl. "Don't do that, Mr Denham. You'll injure your spine." "Oh!" went Denham's mouth, and he stamped his foot, as the Colonel walked away--both movements, of course, in silence. "There," said the Colonel loudly, as if for us both to hear; "I don't think I need try to see any more. Ha!" he ejaculated as, with a sharp movement, he began to open and focus his glass again, and looking towards the west for some time. "Worse and worse. They mean to have us. I suppose they look upon us as a danger that must be crushed out once and for all." "If they could do it, sir," said Denham. "They evidently mean to try, Denham," replied the Colonel, with a sigh. "Some of us will have to bite the dust before this business is over. There's a fresh commando of quite five hundred men coming up yonder under the sun, and before dark we shall be regularly ringed round." "Well, let them come, sir," said Denham bitterly; "they can't all hit at us at once. What you said was right." "What I said was right?" replied the Colonel, staring. "Why, what did I say?" "Something about advancing to-night in the darkness; and then, as soon as we were discovered by the outposts, making a gallop for it." "Did I say that?" "Yes, sir." "Not a bad plan either," said the Colonel, his face wrinkling up. "No, sir; just the exciting rush I love." "Humph!" said the Colonel. "Well, gentlemen, we may as well go down." "'Well, gentlemen,'" whispered Denham to me, with a laugh, as soon as he had the opportunity. "I say, recruit--private--whatever you call yourself--why don't you blush?" No more was said then, as orders were given for every man to make a good meal from his haversack; and as soon as the order was passed along, the men looked at one another and began to whisper. "We're not going to stop here for to-night," said one. "I had picked out my corner for a good snooze." "The Colonel was afraid the ruin would be too draughty for us, and didn't wish to see his boys getting up in the morning with stiff necks," said another; and plenty of laughing and banter went on amongst the men, who in all probability would be engaged in a deadly struggle before many hours had passed. I thought of this for a time, and I ate my bread and cold salt pork slowly and without appetite, for the thoughts of the pleasant old farm came back; and I began to wonder how father and Bob were, and what Aunt Jenny would be thinking about. Then, between the mouthfuls, a vision of Joeboy's black face and grinning white teeth seemed to rise up; and I fell to thinking how disappointed he would be when he returned from the foraging expedition to find that the corps had been suddenly called out. "Poor old Joeboy!" I thought to myself; "it's a pity father didn't keep him at home. It would be horrible if he were to be shot by the Boers." But I was eating again heartily soon, the conversation of the men taking up my attention, for they were discussing what was to be done that evening. "It's only a reconnaissance," said one. "We're going to give the Doppies a stir-up to show them we're 'all alive, oh!'" "Nonsense," said another. "We shan't do anything; the Colonel don't care about working in the dark." "That's right," said another voice. "It would be absurd to move from such a strong place as this. Why, we could laugh at twice as many as they could bring against us." "Don't you talk nonsense, my lads," said a familiar voice which made me turn my head sharply. "Who's talking nonsense, Sergeant?" said one of the troopers. "The man who spoke," was the reply. "What's the good of a strong place like this to us if we've got no provisions for selves and horses?" "The horses might be driven out to graze under the fire of our rifles." "How long would the scanty grass round here last? No: the chief's right enough, and as soon as it's dark the orders will come, 'Boot and saddle.' We've got to cut our way through that mob of Dutchmen to-night." "Oh, very well," said one of the men who had not yet spoken; "this is rather a dreary sort of place, so by all means let us cut." The men grew very quiet afterwards as the twilight began to fall, and I noticed that most of them, after finishing their meal and getting a draught of water freshly drawn up out of the old mine, walked up to their horses and began to make much of them, patting and smoothing, and then examining girths, bridles, and every buckle and strap. The night was coming on fast now, and the Boers began to mingle with the haze in the distance. We saw they had filled up all the gaps between their lines, opening out till they formed a complete hedge of dismounted horsemen around our stronghold; and they looked a very formidable body of men. "Yes," said Denham, who had drifted to my side again, according to what had now become a custom of his--for I could not go to him--"we're regularly ringed round, Val." "Yes, they're very strong," I said. "No, they're not, lad, for a ring's very weak, and bends or breaks if it's pushed from the inside; but if pushed from the outside it takes a deal to break it. We'll both bend and break it to-night." We sat talking for a bit, and watched the Boers till they were quite invisible. Then we could do nothing but wait for orders, no one believing that any attack would be made by our mounted enemy. However, about an hour after it was quite dark an alarm was suddenly given; but every man was on the alert, and the entrances to our fort were doubly strengthened. For there was the sound of shouts and horses thundering over the plain towards the fort; and at last the order was given to fire, a sharp fusillade ringing out in the horsemen's direction. It had its effect, for the enemy turned and galloped away, the sounds of their retreat rapidly dying out; and all seemed quiet till one of the defenders of the gap in the wall challenged, with the customary "Halt! or I fire!" "Um!" cried a familiar voice. "Don't shoot. On'y Joeboy. Want Boss Val." _ |
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