第42章

THE BATTLE

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 boggy 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.