Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-01-24

] <AhlOOA L4i4h IA q tAAuSpOLb VI CHlIuISh uG-
light But he was soon singing to another
| tune.
See, see.'' he cried ere the words of re-
| joicing were well out of his mouth He
cometh, he cometh-satan cometh. We are
| undone. Who can withstand himf He
| rideth like a whirlwind and destroyeth as
a fire. My brother, we are undone."
Abou Kuram made no reply, but turned
his eyes to the dread warrior on the black
horse, who was cantering down the slope
with band of so men mounted on the pick
of Arabian studs. AS the company ad-
vanced it was Joined by others, till the total
must have been equal to half British regi-
ment.
A contingent promptly went out from
our front to meet them, koor Ali leading
There was to be no play this time. no
circling and wheeling, no retiring and adj
yancing for picturesque display. Lance to
lance, body to body, the issue would be
decided, and the fittest would survive
Abou kuram bit his lip with anger at
being forced to remain in charge of a cow
ard in the rear and watched the momen-
tous events in which he could not partici-
pate.
The enemy's cavalry came on at a round
gallop, their pennOns streaming, their faces
we'll forward on their horses necks. The
erect, and held his sword at what l believe
British dragons call the slope. There was
something in his appearance that marked
him out from his fellows, and am free to
confess that, with Amood Sims whining
in my ears, a thrill of superstitious awe
passed through me at the thought that he
might not be mortal.
AS soon as the level plain was gained he
waved his sword quickly i'll the air, and the
great black warhOrse broke from the gal
lop to the charge. We could see his fierce
leap and the responsive bound of those that
followed hard behind. Before half dozen
horse lengths were covered there came to
our ears resembling double peal of Tech
Dir, techbirP' for our men, too, were riding
at the charge, and even from our distance
we saw how every rider, setting himself Il
little forward, Rugged his lance close un-
der his right arm. l watched the mutual
swoop with straining eyes and humping
heart, with cold tremors at the pit of the
stomach and a hot whirl of the brain that
was as the madness of much wine. There
were fear and headlong audacity in the feel
ing-a fear that could easily have made me
turn and fly, an audacity that almost i'm
PEELED me to rush forward and share the
deliriOus ecstacy of that onset.
Nearer and Eearer swept the opposing
columns like two flights of ostriches,
darkening the sky with dust, the horses
Swimming the ground as if fury lent them
wings, the riders alert with tigerish in
tentness of purpose. No man could have
said which side sped the more furiously or
shouted the louder; none whether koor Ali
or the man on the black horse led with the
more determined valor.
There is no resisting he magnetism of
desperate exploit enacted under your eyes,
h.,
the fearful spectacle. On both sides the
men drew in knee to knee in order to have
the greater driving and resisting power,
and crouched lower upon their straining
horses. The last hundred yards were COW
cred as it were at Il bound, and then with
cry of vengeance from thousand threats,
a dazzling flash of steel, a shock as of
claShing thunderbolts, came the collision.
There was vibrating sensation as of an
earthquake, and a rumble of groanings and
cursings reached us as the fighters rolled
together in a dark seething heap as when
two swift currents meet.
My vision was suddenly blurred. and in
voluntarily my eyes closed. When l opened
them, the combatants were through each
other and wheeling for another charge Up
went the fierce warcry aGaiu, and again
came a tremendous shock and tumult,
SCATTERING the close packed lines. But re-
forming with prodigious quickness they
dashed at each other again and yet again,
with an ever increasing heap of slain and
wounded weltering on the ground.
by my fathers sword, it is to be utter
annibilation!' said Abou Kuram, breath
ing thick and fast. They mean to kill
each other out"
But almost as he spoke the enemy, burst
ing once more through our lines, were across
the intervening space and headlong upon
our main body, the man on the black horse
slashing and hewing in front in n way that
fairly justified the tales of his satanic char
acter. At the same time Yumen Yusel's
camelmen, rending the air with yells,
rushed, lurching and swaying, to the aid of
the cavalry.
From that moment, so far as 1 could see
all order vanished. There is theory that
in properly planned battles things go by
method and Encouragement. The idea Is
pretty one for drawing room warriors,
but if there were the least truth in it no
battle should ever be lost or won. There
would be no Marathon, no ThermopylR, no
Waterloo, no Alma, no Lucknow, to shed
luster and glory on the human race and
give an interest to desperate hazards Take
my word for it that fight between two
armies determined to win or die is a thing
of heart shaking surprises and riotous con-
tempt of regulations.
The moment the common soldier, pant
ing for revenge or frantic to save his skin,
takes matters into his own hands, prophe-
cies and prearrangemcnts go to the winds.
The general may plan, but the soldier does
the work, and generally in his own way and
in fiat defiance of orders. In that wallow-
ing, billOwy host, l dare assert, there were
not half dozen men who knew their heads
from their heels. Almost every mothers
son in that CORY chaos cut and thrust and
stabbed and charged and recoiled and
roared ut his own sweet will and in
obedience to what might seem to his whirl-
ing mind the eXigencies of the occasion.
For myself, what with inceSsant knocks
and collisions, the hubbub of rage and ag-
ony, the sharp scream and envenomed oath,
and most of all the sickening sight of liv-
ing men being sliced and laid open, my
wits were so COMPOUNDED might have been
in the throes of q nightmare. / had sword
and brace of pistols, though what l did
with them heaven alone knows. They may
have accounted for some of the enemy, but
! have no knowledge of shedding any mans
blood, which is perhaps a solace to the con-
science in looking back from the vale OF
years.
In the dartings hither and thither Of my
mare got glimpses of Abou Kuram max
ing flashes of crimson light with his sword,
of the man on the black horse hewing saw
agely where there lay the best chance Of
doing havoc, of Ismael Numar and Koor
Ali laying about them as if they were
using pruning hooks in forest of saplings,
and of Amood Sim scurrying to and fro in
abject terror, fighting the air and ever get
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