THE SMITHY & NOBBY COLLECTION: 6 Novels & 90+ Stories in One Edition. Edgar Wallace

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ cartridges, sir,’ sez the ‘flag.’

      “‘Who said so?’ sez the officer. ‘Go on firin’ till I tell you to stop.’

      “So we went on firin’ for two minutes, an’ then the breech block of Sam Cross’s rifle blew out, an’ Sam went down screamin’, with half his face shot off.

      “I’m not going to tell you how the officer was tried an’ cashiered, or how the ammunition was called in, an’ the fuss the papers made about it.

      “When Cross got back to his senses, the first man he asked for was Father John, an’ Father John was at the hospital before you could say knife. Practically he didn’t leave him for two days an’ nights. He was with him when the doctors operated on poor old Sam, an’ with him through the night when it was a toss-up whether the patient would live or die, an’ with him for a couple of hours every day till Sam was turned out of hospital cured.

      “Now the rum thing about it was this, that although he’d sent for the Father, an’ although they was together so long, not one word of religion passed between them.

      “At first Father John used to only sit an’ read in his soft voice — bits out of books — an’ then, when young Sam got better an’ could talk, they’d discuss the coal business what Sam’s brother was in, an’ county cricket, an’ things like that, but for all this, Sam came back to the battalion a new man.

      “The only thing that was ever said, was said before witnesses, an’ that was the day before Sam came out.

      He walked with the Father to the door of the ward, an’ stood a bit awkward tryin’ to put the words together.

      “‘Father,’ he sez, sudden, ‘how could a chap like me get to be a chap like you?’

      “‘How d’ye mean, Sam?’ sez Father John.

      “‘I mean,’ sez Sam, ‘you’re a man same as me, barrin’ education; how did you get to be patient, an’ gentle, an’ all?

      “‘By sacrifice,’ sez Father John sadly.

      “That was Sam’s motto when he came back to barracks. He’d got the idea in a dim sort of way into his thick head, that sacrifice meant not doin’ somethin’ you wanted to do, an’ doin’ things you didn’t want to do.

      “Sometimes the devil in him got up; an’ I’ve seen him standin’ by his bed-cot, with the veins in his forehead swollen an’ his eyes glarin’ at somebody who had annoyed him, but he wouldn’t speak, an’ his hands would be clenched till the knuckles were white — then you’d see his lips move, an’ you could almost read the word ‘sacrifice’ on his lips.

      “Then the regiment was ordered to India, an’ we left the padre behind. He marched down to the station by Sam’s side, an’ he shook hands with him on the platform. I believe that poor Sam never felt anything so much as he did that partin’, but he ‘stuck it’ — he was learnin’ his lesson.

      “We hadn’t been in India a year, movin’ from station to station, before a feller by the name of Dah Yussef, who was a sort of head thief in the hills, came down an’ burned a village, killed a lot of people, an’ carried off some women an’ cattle. He was a pukka badmash*, was old Joseph, an’ this was about the ninth dacoity he’d committed in the year, the Government lookin’ on an’ sendin’ polite messages to him, askin’ him to kindly return the goods an’ no questions would be asked. We was stationed on the border, an’ naturally we was very bitter about the Government not doin’ anything.

      [* Hindi: real rogue.]

      “‘It’s a scandal,’ sez Nobby, very indignant. ‘I’ve a good mind to write home to the Islington Gazette about it. It’s this Liberal Government,’ sez Nobby, gloomily.

      “‘It’s a Conservative Government in now,’ I sez, but Nobby sez it didn’t affect the argument.

      “Old Joseph, or Yussef, or whatever his name was, naturally got bolder an’ bolder, an’ not satisfied with raiding the villages near his hills, he came farther into the open, an’ started ructions almost on the plains.

      “That’s what the Government of India was waitin’ for. The Guides an’ a battalion of Ghoorkas was waitin’ doggo, an’ came by forced march, an’ the Anchesters, the Wessex, the Punjab Lancers, an’ two batteries of Artillery was sent off at a minutes’ notice to call on Uncle Joseph.

      “We got the order at midnight, an’ by daybreak we was twelve miles on the road.

      “It was supposed to be one of them cut an’ come again campaigns, all over in ten minutes, but the Government had left it a little bit too late, an’ the Afridis were up in arms. We fought two sharp battles, an’ then the enemy retired an’ took up a strong position on the foothills. We shelled ‘em, but we couldn’t shift ’em then the Guides, the Ghoorkas, an’ the Anchesters tried to take the position by assault — but we failed.

      “The General in command drew us off, an’ we waited for reinforcements. They came in twentyfour hours the Kents, Lancasters, an’ a battery of howitzers — an’ with ’em came Father John. He was in India for duty, an’ although we hadn’t known it, he’d been there for some time.

      “Nobby, watchin’ the reinforcements march in, was the first to spot him, in his khaki uniform, an’ with the black Maltese cross on his collar. Nobby dashed back to our lines lookin’ for Sam Cross, an’ found him sittin’ down quietly, drinkin’ cold tea.

      “‘Sam,’ sez Nobby, very excited, ‘who do you think’s turned up?’

      “‘Father John,’ sez Sam, calmly, an’ Nobby was rather disappointed, because he wanted to create a little sensation.

      “‘I had a feelin’ he was comin’,’ sez Sam, gettin’ up, but I didn’t durst go down to see ’em marchin’ in, for fear I’d be disappointed. No,’ he sez, shakin’ his head at Nobby’s question, ‘I didn’t know he was in India.’

      “Nobby told me afterwards it made his flesh creep to hear him — it was like listenin’ to a man that’s in the habit of seein’ ghosts. Nobody saw ’em meet, but when I met Sam comin’ from the Kent’s lines — where the padre’s tent was — his eyes were red, like a man who’d been cryin’.

      “Next mornin’ we formed up for the grand assault. Soon after daybreak the guns got into action, the howitzers goin’ close up under the escort of the Guides’ Cavalry, an’ shellin’ the sangar, where the enemy was lyin’ as thick as bees in a hive. At eleven o’clock the infantry moved, the Guides an’ the Anchesters on the enemy’s front, the Ghoorkas an’ the Wessex on the left, the Kents an’ Punjabis on the right, and the Lancasters in reserve. I’ve only got a dim idea of what the fight was like. We went ahead by short rushes from cover to cover. The air seemed to be filled with flyin’ bullets, an’ the enemy had got an old gun into position, an’ was dealin’ out bits of scrap-iron at regular intervals.

      “It was terrible hard, when we began the ascent of the hill, for the ground was broken up, an’ big boulders ‘an stones came flyin’ down to meet us. These were worse than the bullets. We’d got into a tight place, with a big, deep nullah in front of us, an’ between us an’ the enemy, an’ we lay down firin’ steady. The nullah had to be crossed, an’ we had СКАЧАТЬ