Chapter 26
David was arranging his bedroll on a bunk. He'd placed his saddle pistol inside a saddlebag along with the ammunition for the pistols and his telescope.
A cloth bag containing forty clips of rifle ammunition hung by it's strap next to his rifle.
All the men had similar bags within arm's reach.
He had almost finished the cup of tea the mortar team had made for the men, when the Havildar report movement along the crest.
David rushed back to his position by the rim. Looking through the telescope he saw about twenty men emerging from broken ground some 800 yards away.
Sighting his rifle on the leader, David said, "Wait for my signal."
He waited until they were only 300 yards away before squeezing the trigger.
It was over in less than thirty seconds - at that range, the well-trained marksmen his men had become didn't miss. Not one of the bodies stirred.
David looked down into the gorge where hundreds of faces were looking up at the sound of gunfire.
The Ghurkhas efficiently stripped the bodies of their fur coats and weapons, bringing them back to the step.
One handed David a coat, "It will be more comfortable to lay on, Colonel Sahib."
David thanked the man noticing there was no blood on it.
Through his telescope, David could see a heated discussion going on between the tall Russian and the obvious leader of the Afghans. A discussion they were taking care to have well beyond effective rifle range of the 1
st
Kana Rifles' position.
The Havildar came over to him, "The men only used two or three rounds of ammunition, Colonel Sahib, and they all aimed for the head."
David nodded, "They'll be back tonight, but there will be a lot more of them. They know we are here now."
"I will rig trip wires out by outcrop. It will give us some warning of their approach, Colonel Sahib"
David watched as the riflemen put pebbles into tin cans then attached them to a series of long cords placed across the most likely routes of approach for the Afghans.
He told the men to eat early and put out any fires before the sun went down. After they had eaten, leaving only a couple of men on the line for security, he gathered them around him, "When the rockets go up, don't look at them, the light will blind you. Instead, look to your front and fire fast and accurately. There will be many more tonight than today, but they must not get past us."
The men looked grimly at him. He continued, "The Afghans are tough fighters, but they have never fought a real battle against Ghurkhas before. We will make sure that, after this battle, they will never want to meet them again." The smiles on their faces looked more like snarls of pleasure.
He moved his position to the centre of the line and placed a rocket rest firmly into the ground at a slight angle. The Havildar and six men along the line did the same. They had divided the rockets and grenades between them. Each had a length of greased rope that, when lit, would smoulder for many minutes and thus act as a match for lighting the fuses of the new weapons.
Just before full dark David went along the lines checking each man. Their weapons bags were open revealing the clips of rifle ammunition ready for use. Some had clips resting on top of the firing step for more rapid access, others had their unsheathed kukri's there.
The night was moonless, its light hidden by dark clouds. Only the sound of the wind disturbed the darkness. David sat with his back against the step, his rifle in his gloved hands, the sights set for 500 yards. His pistols rested on top of the step. Strangely, he was thinking of Susan. He'd done everything he could think of, now it was a matter of waiting.
An hour passed, and then another, and then out of the blackness the wind brought the sound of pebbles rattling in a tin can.
David blew on the smouldering rope's end and touched the rocket fuse. The night sky was suddenly torn apart by a brilliant light as the rocket exploded.
A mass of men stood frozen their hands gripping rifles as they looked up at the light.
Twenty rifles fired as one, cutting them down as the night erupted into screams. David was working the rifle bolt as fast as he could, not bothering to aim, just firing into the sold mass of men. As the Havildar's rocket went up, David's rifle fell empty and he placed another rocket in the rest before reloading.
With suicidal courage, some of the Afghans charged forward, only to be met by death from the sustained fire of the .303's.
David was working like an automaton; firing, reloading and releasing rockets. Many of the Afghans had gone to ground to return fire from behind the dead bodies of their comrades, some less than a hundred yards away.
He lit the fuse of a grenade and threw it with all his strength at one group of Afghans bunched up behind a pile of bodies. The grenade ignited in a shower of burning magnesium, adding a new horror to the battlefield, igniting clothes and burning flesh.
Men leapt up, their rifles forgotten while trying to beat out the flames, only to be shot down by the Ghurkhas.
The Havildar must have thrown one as well, David reasoned, as more burning clothes lit the battle area as the Afghans withdrew.
For the rest of that night they waited in the dark, listening to the screams and groans of the wounded and the smell of burning flesh carried to them by the wind.
Two of the Riflemen had been wounded: one in the arm and the other had an ear torn off by a bullet.
They were lowered down on a pallet to the gorge below.
The true horror of the battle was revealed the next morning.
Piles of bodies littered the area, some stacked three deep on top of each other.
David sent two riflemen forward to the outcrop 800 yards away to check if any Afghans remained. When they signaled all clear, the rest went out to clear the bodies.
David was sitting with his back against the blockhouse wall taking a drink from a flask when the Havildar reported.
"143 dead, Colonel Sahib. Some of their rifles were hit by our bullets and destroyed. We will lower their weapons down to the gorge. We have thrown the bodies down a fissure, and reset the alarm tripwires."
"Thank you Havildar. Return the rockets and grenades to their bins and have two more men sent up from the gorge to replace the wounded. Tell the men they fought well, like true Ghurkhas."
David took his telescope to the rim to look down at the enemy.
