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Updated: July 10, 2025
Yesterday the garrison at Berbera had fallen to a man; and now Zaila was in their hands, and all that remained of the British possessors was the miserable band of fugitives on the residency roof. With bitter feelings Guy looked down on the sea of faces. He was wondering if he would ever see Calcutta or England again.
He paused. "Go on," said Guy; "we are listening." He was breathing heavily. "Two hours after you arrived here yesterday morning," resumed Canaris, "Rao Khan despatched the Arabs to Zaila again, in company with two hundred of his best soldiers, who will assist in holding the town. They had scarcely gone when an insurrection broke out.
"You are surely aware, my dear sir, that we proceed first to Berbera, and thence up the coast to Zaila." "Then you have deceived me, sir," cried Guy hotly. "You told me this morning that this steamer went to Zaila." "Certainly I did," replied the captain. "You didn't ask for any more information, or I should have told you that we went to Berbera first.
Then Guy, in his turn, simply stated that he had stopped off on his way to India to execute a commission at Zaila. He made no reference to the dispatches, feeling doubtful whether it would be proper or not, for a government secret is a thing of weighty importance. The conversation drifted to their perilous adventures in Burma, and the time passed on unheeded. At last Melton glanced up.
Perhaps I had better tell you this much in confidence," the secretary adds: "We have received from certain sources information to the effect that the Emir of Harar, on the southern harbor of Abyssinia, contemplates at no distant date an attack on Zaila. Our garrison there is weak, and, as you probably know, the Somali country is treacherous and unreliable.
The authorities at the colonial office in London told me in secret that the Emir of Harar was supposed to be plotting the capture of Zaila, and these despatches contain Sir Arthur's orders in case of that emergency." "By Jove, that explains it!" cried Melton. "The emergency has come. I see it all.
Zaila has fallen!" they cried, and with wild joy they beat their arms in the air, while those in the rear sought the house-tops, so as better to see the new arrivals. In the first excitement Guy and Melton had escaped notice, but now they were suddenly espied, and the sight of the two hated Englishmen roused the passions to the highest pitch of ferocity.
It was the regimental band of the Ninth Lancers playing in the square of the town on the occasion of the installation of the new governor of Zaila Colonel Conyers Gordon. It was Colonel Gordon who had conducted the assault on the town some weeks previous, and in recognition of his valor for the enemy had made a desperate stand he was now the newly commissioned governor.
For an instant a hush of curiosity fell on the multitude within, as the caravan appeared; but as the Arab leader suddenly trailed in the dust the English flag that had once floated from the fortifications of Zaila a great shout arose, so that the very air seemed to tremble, and the people pressed tumultuously on the caravan from all sides. "Zaila has fallen!
As the night wore on the Arabs relaxed their caution, and, dropping their rifles to their sides, began to refresh themselves with crackers brought along from Zaila, together with dates and figs, which they washed down with water. The Arab with whom Melton was mounted now rode up beside the leader, and, to their great joy, Guy and Melton were permitted to converse.
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