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The R.E. wired our front across the nullah, and we ourselves extended F12A and F12 down to the bed of the stream as a first step towards joining up with the Horse Shoe. Over forty Turks were buried at this time between F11 and F12. F11 itself was so densely packed with corpses that it had to be filled in. After dark on the 17th, "B" Company, now commanded by Lieut.
My wife, mounted on a rough pony, was able to accomplish with great comfort the two miles of flat country which we had to traverse before turning off sharp to the right along a track which led steeply upwards through the scrub that clothed the lower part of the nullah.
The sides of this nullah are in most places perpendicular, varying from two hundred and fifty to three hundred feet in depth, with a small stream running along the bottom, the amount of water depending on the melting of the snow in the hills above.
Though our men were falling thickly around, two more attempts were made to get across that horrible nullah. Commander Lambert, who had himself received four shots through his clothes, though he had escaped unhurt, seeing that success was impossible, as more than half our party had been killed and wounded, at length ordered us to fall back.
At that moment the platoon was crossing a dried water-course, the ground shelving steeply on both sides. The subaltern had an almost uninterrupted view of the heads and shoulders of the men preceding him as the foremost began the stiff ascent beyond the nullah. Suddenly the Haussas broke right and left, uttering warning shouts.
"I'm so ashamed of missing it with my second barrel, sir," said the subaltern. "But for Miss Benson I'd have been a gone coon." "Yes, it certainly looked exciting enough from our side of the nullah," said the Colonel, smiling; "so what must it have been like from where you were? Well, anyhow it's your tiger." "Oh, nonsense, sir; it's Miss Benson's. I ought to be kicked for being such a muff."
Twice he made an unsuccessful attempt to lead his men across the nullah, to storm the fort hand to hand, but each time he was driven back. As he again rallied the seamen and marines for a third attack, a ball fired by a man in a tree struck him on the left side, on his watch, and with such force that it drove the watch itself into his body.
These letters eventually reached home, but not the specimens. The rains were so heavy that the whole country was now flooded, but we pushed on to the nullah by relays, and pitched on its left bank. In the confusion of the march, however, we lost many more porters, who at the same time relieved us of their loads, by slipping off stealthily into the bush.
The storm was at length over, the nullah run dry again. Damp and sleepy, with arms folded and eyes sometimes open, but often shut, I kept an indifferent watch, when the cow, struggling on her legs, and a groan, brought me to my senses. There they were. It was no dream. A large tiger, holding her just behind the ears, shaking her like a fighting dog.
Put it off a bit," I urged weakly. "It's rough getting across the nullah, and with that crutch " There was silence. "Your son?" I began irrelevantly. "My son does well and grows fast, Allah be praised. Later he will come to the hills to learn the ways of a gun. Even now he has the heart of a lion," added the proud father with a return of the old twinkle in his eyes. "But of this other matter.
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