Read Online The Lotus and the Wind by John Masters - Free Book Online Page B

bayonets flashing here and there with a livid glint under the darkening sky.
    In the valley Robin could see little. He was not even sure they had reached it until he felt the ground rising again. At his elbow Maniraj said, ‘We’re there, sahib. We’d better wheel right and make contact with the Highlanders. I can hear shooting.’
    ‘Not much. Sounds like a few snipers.’
    The mist swirled momentarily away. The company stood in an empty valley, among gleaming sea-black rocks. Shots and a stifled scream sounded from the right, the direction in which the subadar thought Mclain’s Highlanders were. But there was more firing to the left, and some straight ahead. A pair of Ghilzais charged out of the mist from the left and were into the middle of the company before they recognized the enemies about them. The Gurkhas shot them down after a brief hunt--’There! There!’
    ‘Ayo!’
    ‘On your left, fool!’
    ‘Ayo!’
    ‘Payo!’
    Robin said, ‘We’re going to lose ourselves in a minute, Subadar-sahib, if we’re not careful. Wait.’ He got out his compass. After the needle had steadied he pointed to the north--the right--and said, ‘The Highlanders ought to be down there, very close. Our main body is coming from the opposite direction. They are! Hear the guns?’
    ‘Yes. Heaven knows what they’re firing at. But the Highlanders must be there .’ The subadar swung his hand to the west. ‘That’s where we heard the shots from just now.’
    ‘Which shots? There’s shooting all over the place. It’s no good chasing around in this, sahib. Mist makes sound seem to come from everywhere. We are in the right place, and the Highlanders, wherever they’ve got to, are in the wrong place. Any Ghilzais who retreat in front of the main attack will come along this valley, from that direction, and we’ve got to be ready for them. That’s been the object of our whole operation. Form a defence here, facing south.’
    ‘Achchi bat, sahib . But--‘
    ‘I’m afraid we must, sahib.’ Robin did not want to argue any more, though he knew the old man’s mind was obstinately set on heading for the firing, wherever it was.
    The company settled down in their positions, some standing, some kneeling. Clouds drifted about the valley, and soon, through a long, misty corridor, Robin saw the dull lustre of bayonets working down a hill. The drab-coloured uniforms told him the troops were men of the Frontier Force. The clouds closed down again. From the middle of his company he could not see the outer ranks, forty paces from him. Twice, running Ghilzais broke through the mist, dragging tendrils of it with them. Then the Gurkhas fired quickly, and the mist wrapped them all once more. Every minute it grew colder. A bitter wind began to blow the cloud in grey billows past him. More firing, in fits and starts. He walked to various points of his line and asked what had happened. ‘Some Pathans, sahib. We missed them, they veered away,’ or, ‘We got one. There he is’--and a body lying crumpled at a rifleman’s feet. But only ten or twelve Ghilzais in all had come this way. The sound of the bullets clacking overhead changed. They were Sniders now, not the muzzle-loaders that most Ghilzais had. The brigade was getting close. Wherever the main body of the Ghilzais had gone, it had not come down this valley. Mclain hadn’t stopped it either, or there would have been the roar of a big battle close by.
    Soldiers loomed up like giants in the fraying mist. The Gurkhas of Robin’s company shouted, ‘Sathi, sathi!’ The Frontier Force sepoys stopped among them, lowered their rifles, and began to chat in low whispers. Soon horses appeared behind the sepoys.
    The general rode through and approached Robin. ‘Ha! So you got here, young man. Did you have good killing?’
    ‘No, sir. Only a dozen of them have tried to pass.’
    The general gazed down in surprise, absently stroking the drops of condensed mist off his whiskers. ‘I didn’t hear