CHAPTER XII--THE DESERTER"Come now, Reinecke, you have been away two months or so. What is the truth of things? We are fed here with what I am convinced are false, or at any rate too rosy, reports. Coming from the centre you ought to be well informed, and I want to know exactly how matters stand."Major von Rudenheim bent forward and fixed his hard blue eyes on Reinecke. They were sitting in the major's quarters. Reinecke had just returned from a mission which had carried him right across the country, and after delivering dispatches at headquarters had lost no time in visiting his friend the major."What is the truth?" said Reinecke, flicking the ash from his cigar irritably. "Who knows? They said that Paris would fall before the British Army got across the Channel; now it is said that Paris has not fallen, though the British Army has been annihilated.""And the Fleet?""The British are skulking in their harbours and won't fight. We have bombarded most of their commercial ports out of existence, but they had been laying in such enormous stocks of food in anticipation of the war that it will take a year or so to starve them out. So it's said.""But surely if the ships won't fight we command the sea and can bring them to terms. It ought to be over by Christmas.""Yes, the Kaiser is to eat his Christmas dinner in London. But the fact is, Major, we're living on rumours. The British smashed up our wireless installation at Dar-es-Salam, and we haven't had any really authentic news from Germany since a fortnight after war broke out. As for this country, we are not doing so well as we ought to have done. We've taken some places inside their frontier, but they've put up a surprisingly good defence, and at present it's stalemate. Apparently they are bringing troops from India----""In spite of our Fleet?""Yes, in spite of our Fleet. Tirpitz deserves to be cashiered.""But, my good friend, if they can get reinforcements and we can't, where are we? And then, I thought the English had to send troops to India to put down the rebellion there. Isn't that true?""I don't know what's true. I'm sick of the whole thing. Here's my plantation going to rack and ruin: that wretched young cub of an Englishman having the audacity to run off with my workers; and when I ought to be bringing him to book I'm packed off to Tabora. Heaven knows what has happened in my absence.""I know a little, too. Your young cub is a pretty lively one, and has pretty good claws. A few days after we were beaten back at Abercorn----""That's true, then. I didn't believe it.""What could be expected when all our best troops are in the north? We were outnumbered."If Major von Rudenheim believed what he said, he must have been singularly ill-informed. On September 5, when the Germans attacked the little town of Abercorn, its defenders were forty members of the native police, its commandant the postmaster. There happened to be a machine-gun at hand, and this was so well manipulated by the postmaster, Mr. Bisset (who might have been expected to be more at home with the telegraph instrument) that the tiny garrison was able to hold off the enemy, four times its strength, until reinforcements of Rhodesian planters arrived. Mr. Bisset's name deserves to be recorded on the illustrious roll of civilians turned soldiers who have at critical moments helped to make and to save the British Empire."As I was saying," the major went on, "a few days after our unlucky reverse at Abercorn, your young cub pounced upon one of our recruiting patrols and carried every man of them to his lair somewhere in the forest."Reinecke swore a good old German oath."It's not true," he declared."You forget yourself, Captain," said Rudenheim, severely. "I am not a Berlin newspaper, or even the Wolff bureau.""I apologise, Major, but really--a German patrol, with German soldiers?""A sergeant, two privates, and I don't know how many askaris. They all vanished.""Then it can't be known that this English pighead captured them: how could it?""My dear captain, a recruiting patrol recruits. These unfortunate Germans were returning with their bag--how large I don't know: your cub released them all. When the patrol was some days overdue, a party was sent out in search. They found the villages towards Lake Rukwa absolutely empty of able-bodied men, which seems to show that this British lion-cub has set up a pretty efficient system of scouting, or the niggers could hardly have had warning. But by adopting the usual methods they wrung the story out of one of the old men, burnt down a few houses, and returned with the news.""And you hunted the wretch?""We had something better to do. The English, reinforced by Belgians, have kept things rather lively on the frontier, and we have had no men to spare for cub-hunting.""But--but--it is preposterous; it is an insult to the German flag; to allow a nest of mutineers to exist--yes, and to make raids--within a couple of marches of a German town. The young fool is alone----""With all your plantation hands, I understand.""Raw niggers----""But armed with Mausers we can ill spare.""They don't know butt from muzzle.""Possibly your cub is not such a cub after all. The English schoolboy nowadays has a cadet's training, I believe. Perhaps this youngster might drive a little military gumption even into the nigger's wooden head.""Really, Major," cried Reinecke impatiently, "you speak as though--as though you think the English good for something, whereas we all know they can't possibly be. They've no efficiency; they're slack; they----""Yes, we've been told so," the major interposed drily. "It's just possible that we're mistaken--believe what we want to believe. And I've seen this boy, remember."Reinecke got up and stalked about the room."It is absurd; it is scandalous," he cried. "A young whippersnapper kidnaps our men, defies us, lowers the prestige of the German name, makes us a laughing-stock----""Stay, stay, Captain. You are a little intemperate. A friendly word of warning: don't talk like that outside this room. It's unwise, unsafe, if you value your commission. I go so far as to say you are unreasonable. You allow personal feeling to warp your judgment. Your dislike of this young Englishman, however natural in the circumstances--" Reinecke flashed a keen look at the speaker--"must not blind you to the facts of the situation. As I have explained, we have been hard pressed on the frontier. The Englishman, it appears, has an extraordinarily strong position----""Where is he?""They talk of a nullah----""I know it. It was in my company he learnt of it.""That must be very annoying.""Not at all, it is good news. Strong? Why, it is a cul-de-sac. At the north it is blocked by a lake. The cub has trapped himself.""You are a little impatient, Captain. I was about to tell you that a half company of askaris went in pursuit of him the same night he left your plantation--while you were making your way here. You left next morning, you remember, or you would have known that our men were checked in the forest----""Checked? By a horde of untrained niggers?""Commanded by your cub of an Englishman. They were checked; only temporarily, of course; the lieutenant did not know what force he had against him, and acted with prudence as a good soldier should. But when he pushed on to the nullah, he found that fortification had already been begun. The entrance of the nullah was defended by a formidable breastwork, and to capture the place would have taken a longer time than he had to dispose of: he was under orders for Abercorn.""But surely----""Let me finish, Captain. There was a breastwork, as I say; and I am very much mistaken if between then and now the boy has not added to his defences. It is a mistake to despise one's enemy, Reinecke, even an Englishman. Lieutenant Obermann's opinion--and he is a good man, you know--is that the nullah, properly defended, could not be reduced by less than a couple of companies of good troops--unless it could be surprised; and since the fellow draws scouts from all the niggers in the neighbourhood there's little chance of that. Two companies could not be detached from our frontier posts without a risk which the colonel was unwilling to run. He is not blind to all the considerations you put so forcibly just now; but his decision was, to wait until the general situation eased, then to take measures to stamp out your Englishman and his mutineers as one would destroy a nest of vipers.""Yes, hang the lot.""The Englishman?""Why not? He is a spy. The spy's fate is to be hanged.""Quite so. And I am sure we can depend on you, Captain, to supply a good rope--even for your partner."Reinecke turned angrily towards the major, whose attitude throughout the interview had been very unsatisfactory, and in whose tone he had caught a hint of contempt. But the explosion that seemed imminent was prevented by a knock at the door and the entrance of the major's servant.The man saluted formally, and announced that an Arab was enquiring for Captain Reinecke."Send him in," said the major: "unless you would prefer to see him at your own quarters, Captain.""No. Why should I meet an Arab secretly?" said Reinecke with irritation. "Let him come in."There entered a lean, haggard Arab, in worn and tattered dress, with one arm in a sling. He bowed to the officers."Haroun!" cried Reinecke. "I hardly knew you ... It is one of my overseers, Major ... Where have you been?"The man, in his broken German, poured out a long story, which keenly interested the officers in different ways. He said that, after having been removed from the plantation, he had been forced to take service with the Englishman, and been cruelly treated by him. Lifting his tunic, he turned his back, and displayed a few weals. He escaped, and was fired at and wounded in the arm. After several terrible days in the forest, he had managed to crawl into Bismarckburg, and what with hunger and pain was now at the point of death."Flogging a German subject!" cried Reinecke. "Another nail in the Englishman's coffin.""A knot in the noose, let us say. Your Arab had better have something to eat: he may then tell us a good deal that we want to know. His arm can be attended to afterwards. He is not so near death as he thinks."The man was given into the charge of the major's servant, to be fed."Your Englishman, I suppose, dealt with the Arab as he had seen him deal with your niggers," remarked the major."He saw nothing of the kind," replied Reinecke with an air of malicious triumph. "While he was at the plantation I forbade the use of the whip. You see, Major?--the English boasted humanity is sheer cant and hypocrisy: what we do openly they do on the sly.""Hardly that, Reinecke. You forget there are German prisoners in the nullah. They probably saw the flogging.""And shared it, I daresay. The English are capable of any atrocity. But we shall find the man useful, Major. Nothing could be better. And the nullah is so near that though the rains have started we might crush the vipers soon: there'll be a pause in the operations on the frontier."The Arab returned, refreshed and clean. Reinecke questioned him eagerly, and drew from him many details of what had happened since the flight from the plantation. The German prisoners, he said, had been placed on the island, where a hut had been built for them. Food was conveyed to them on a raft. As the man described the defensive works at the nullah, Reinecke drew a rough diagram in his pocketbook, and marked the positions of the trenches and the camp."The youngster has a good headpiece," said the major, looking with interest at the diagram. "His name? Willoughby? I'm afraid we can't claim German ancestry for him.""A machine-gun will smash him," said Reinecke."A machine-gun would not be very effective against defences like these, and it would be a terrible business to get up anything heavier across such country, at any rate while the rains are on. He seems to have made good use of his time during the last two months in training his niggers, and unfortunately has won over our trained askaris. A frontal attack would be very costly, my friend.""I can show another way into the nullah, Herr Major," said the Arab."Why didn't you say so before?" cried Reinecke. "Where is it?""The Herr Hauptmann will take me back into his service?""Dog, would you bargain with me? By your own confession you deserted to the enemy.""I was compelled.""You deserted all the same. Deserters are shot. Your only chance of escaping the penalty is to assist us--to show us the way into the nullah. You'll do that, and if you fail you'll be shot."The Arab protested that he was sure of his ground, and would faithfully lead the troops to an entrance into the nullah which was at present wholly unsuspected by the Englishman. He described its position, and Reinecke's eyes sparkled with anticipation as he turned to Rudenheim and said--"We have him, Major! We'll capture the place at little cost, and then---- Haroun, go and show the doctor your arm, and come to my quarters to-morrow.""A moment," said the major. "You were flogged: what for?"The Arab appeared to be for a moment disconcerted by the German's swift question. Then he answered:"Because I would not work as hard as the Englishman wished, Herr Major.""So! You may go ... The man is a liar, Reinecke. You will find that there's nothing much wrong with his arm, if anything at all. All the same, that northern entrance is genuine enough, I think; and we must certainly catch your cub. But I don't think we'll hang him; he's the kind of man I like to make a prisoner of war."
CHAPTER XII--THE DESERTER"Come now, Reinecke, you have been away two months or so. What is the truth of things? We are fed here with what I am convinced are false, or at any rate too rosy, reports. Coming from the centre you ought to be well informed, and I want to know exactly how matters stand."Major von Rudenheim bent forward and fixed his hard blue eyes on Reinecke. They were sitting in the major's quarters. Reinecke had just returned from a mission which had carried him right across the country, and after delivering dispatches at headquarters had lost no time in visiting his friend the major."What is the truth?" said Reinecke, flicking the ash from his cigar irritably. "Who knows? They said that Paris would fall before the British Army got across the Channel; now it is said that Paris has not fallen, though the British Army has been annihilated.""And the Fleet?""The British are skulking in their harbours and won't fight. We have bombarded most of their commercial ports out of existence, but they had been laying in such enormous stocks of food in anticipation of the war that it will take a year or so to starve them out. So it's said.""But surely if the ships won't fight we command the sea and can bring them to terms. It ought to be over by Christmas.""Yes, the Kaiser is to eat his Christmas dinner in London. But the fact is, Major, we're living on rumours. The British smashed up our wireless installation at Dar-es-Salam, and we haven't had any really authentic news from Germany since a fortnight after war broke out. As for this country, we are not doing so well as we ought to have done. We've taken some places inside their frontier, but they've put up a surprisingly good defence, and at present it's stalemate. Apparently they are bringing troops from India----""In spite of our Fleet?""Yes, in spite of our Fleet. Tirpitz deserves to be cashiered.""But, my good friend, if they can get reinforcements and we can't, where are we? And then, I thought the English had to send troops to India to put down the rebellion there. Isn't that true?""I don't know what's true. I'm sick of the whole thing. Here's my plantation going to rack and ruin: that wretched young cub of an Englishman having the audacity to run off with my workers; and when I ought to be bringing him to book I'm packed off to Tabora. Heaven knows what has happened in my absence.""I know a little, too. Your young cub is a pretty lively one, and has pretty good claws. A few days after we were beaten back at Abercorn----""That's true, then. I didn't believe it.""What could be expected when all our best troops are in the north? We were outnumbered."If Major von Rudenheim believed what he said, he must have been singularly ill-informed. On September 5, when the Germans attacked the little town of Abercorn, its defenders were forty members of the native police, its commandant the postmaster. There happened to be a machine-gun at hand, and this was so well manipulated by the postmaster, Mr. Bisset (who might have been expected to be more at home with the telegraph instrument) that the tiny garrison was able to hold off the enemy, four times its strength, until reinforcements of Rhodesian planters arrived. Mr. Bisset's name deserves to be recorded on the illustrious roll of civilians turned soldiers who have at critical moments helped to make and to save the British Empire."As I was saying," the major went on, "a few days after our unlucky reverse at Abercorn, your young cub pounced upon one of our recruiting patrols and carried every man of them to his lair somewhere in the forest."Reinecke swore a good old German oath."It's not true," he declared."You forget yourself, Captain," said Rudenheim, severely. "I am not a Berlin newspaper, or even the Wolff bureau.""I apologise, Major, but really--a German patrol, with German soldiers?""A sergeant, two privates, and I don't know how many askaris. They all vanished.""Then it can't be known that this English pighead captured them: how could it?""My dear captain, a recruiting patrol recruits. These unfortunate Germans were returning with their bag--how large I don't know: your cub released them all. When the patrol was some days overdue, a party was sent out in search. They found the villages towards Lake Rukwa absolutely empty of able-bodied men, which seems to show that this British lion-cub has set up a pretty efficient system of scouting, or the niggers could hardly have had warning. But by adopting the usual methods they wrung the story out of one of the old men, burnt down a few houses, and returned with the news.""And you hunted the wretch?""We had something better to do. The English, reinforced by Belgians, have kept things rather lively on the frontier, and we have had no men to spare for cub-hunting.""But--but--it is preposterous; it is an insult to the German flag; to allow a nest of mutineers to exist--yes, and to make raids--within a couple of marches of a German town. The young fool is alone----""With all your plantation hands, I understand.""Raw niggers----""But armed with Mausers we can ill spare.""They don't know butt from muzzle.""Possibly your cub is not such a cub after all. The English schoolboy nowadays has a cadet's training, I believe. Perhaps this youngster might drive a little military gumption even into the nigger's wooden head.""Really, Major," cried Reinecke impatiently, "you speak as though--as though you think the English good for something, whereas we all know they can't possibly be. They've no efficiency; they're slack; they----""Yes, we've been told so," the major interposed drily. "It's just possible that we're mistaken--believe what we want to believe. And I've seen this boy, remember."Reinecke got up and stalked about the room."It is absurd; it is scandalous," he cried. "A young whippersnapper kidnaps our men, defies us, lowers the prestige of the German name, makes us a laughing-stock----""Stay, stay, Captain. You are a little intemperate. A friendly word of warning: don't talk like that outside this room. It's unwise, unsafe, if you value your commission. I go so far as to say you are unreasonable. You allow personal feeling to warp your judgment. Your dislike of this young Englishman, however natural in the circumstances--" Reinecke flashed a keen look at the speaker--"must not blind you to the facts of the situation. As I have explained, we have been hard pressed on the frontier. The Englishman, it appears, has an extraordinarily strong position----""Where is he?""They talk of a nullah----""I know it. It was in my company he learnt of it.""That must be very annoying.""Not at all, it is good news. Strong? Why, it is a cul-de-sac. At the north it is blocked by a lake. The cub has trapped himself.""You are a little impatient, Captain. I was about to tell you that a half company of askaris went in pursuit of him the same night he left your plantation--while you were making your way here. You left next morning, you remember, or you would have known that our men were checked in the forest----""Checked? By a horde of untrained niggers?""Commanded by your cub of an Englishman. They were checked; only temporarily, of course; the lieutenant did not know what force he had against him, and acted with prudence as a good soldier should. But when he pushed on to the nullah, he found that fortification had already been begun. The entrance of the nullah was defended by a formidable breastwork, and to capture the place would have taken a longer time than he had to dispose of: he was under orders for Abercorn.""But surely----""Let me finish, Captain. There was a breastwork, as I say; and I am very much mistaken if between then and now the boy has not added to his defences. It is a mistake to despise one's enemy, Reinecke, even an Englishman. Lieutenant Obermann's opinion--and he is a good man, you know--is that the nullah, properly defended, could not be reduced by less than a couple of companies of good troops--unless it could be surprised; and since the fellow draws scouts from all the niggers in the neighbourhood there's little chance of that. Two companies could not be detached from our frontier posts without a risk which the colonel was unwilling to run. He is not blind to all the considerations you put so forcibly just now; but his decision was, to wait until the general situation eased, then to take measures to stamp out your Englishman and his mutineers as one would destroy a nest of vipers.""Yes, hang the lot.""The Englishman?""Why not? He is a spy. The spy's fate is to be hanged.""Quite so. And I am sure we can depend on you, Captain, to supply a good rope--even for your partner."Reinecke turned angrily towards the major, whose attitude throughout the interview had been very unsatisfactory, and in whose tone he had caught a hint of contempt. But the explosion that seemed imminent was prevented by a knock at the door and the entrance of the major's servant.The man saluted formally, and announced that an Arab was enquiring for Captain Reinecke."Send him in," said the major: "unless you would prefer to see him at your own quarters, Captain.""No. Why should I meet an Arab secretly?" said Reinecke with irritation. "Let him come in."There entered a lean, haggard Arab, in worn and tattered dress, with one arm in a sling. He bowed to the officers."Haroun!" cried Reinecke. "I hardly knew you ... It is one of my overseers, Major ... Where have you been?"The man, in his broken German, poured out a long story, which keenly interested the officers in different ways. He said that, after having been removed from the plantation, he had been forced to take service with the Englishman, and been cruelly treated by him. Lifting his tunic, he turned his back, and displayed a few weals. He escaped, and was fired at and wounded in the arm. After several terrible days in the forest, he had managed to crawl into Bismarckburg, and what with hunger and pain was now at the point of death."Flogging a German subject!" cried Reinecke. "Another nail in the Englishman's coffin.""A knot in the noose, let us say. Your Arab had better have something to eat: he may then tell us a good deal that we want to know. His arm can be attended to afterwards. He is not so near death as he thinks."The man was given into the charge of the major's servant, to be fed."Your Englishman, I suppose, dealt with the Arab as he had seen him deal with your niggers," remarked the major."He saw nothing of the kind," replied Reinecke with an air of malicious triumph. "While he was at the plantation I forbade the use of the whip. You see, Major?--the English boasted humanity is sheer cant and hypocrisy: what we do openly they do on the sly.""Hardly that, Reinecke. You forget there are German prisoners in the nullah. They probably saw the flogging.""And shared it, I daresay. The English are capable of any atrocity. But we shall find the man useful, Major. Nothing could be better. And the nullah is so near that though the rains have started we might crush the vipers soon: there'll be a pause in the operations on the frontier."The Arab returned, refreshed and clean. Reinecke questioned him eagerly, and drew from him many details of what had happened since the flight from the plantation. The German prisoners, he said, had been placed on the island, where a hut had been built for them. Food was conveyed to them on a raft. As the man described the defensive works at the nullah, Reinecke drew a rough diagram in his pocketbook, and marked the positions of the trenches and the camp."The youngster has a good headpiece," said the major, looking with interest at the diagram. "His name? Willoughby? I'm afraid we can't claim German ancestry for him.""A machine-gun will smash him," said Reinecke."A machine-gun would not be very effective against defences like these, and it would be a terrible business to get up anything heavier across such country, at any rate while the rains are on. He seems to have made good use of his time during the last two months in training his niggers, and unfortunately has won over our trained askaris. A frontal attack would be very costly, my friend.""I can show another way into the nullah, Herr Major," said the Arab."Why didn't you say so before?" cried Reinecke. "Where is it?""The Herr Hauptmann will take me back into his service?""Dog, would you bargain with me? By your own confession you deserted to the enemy.""I was compelled.""You deserted all the same. Deserters are shot. Your only chance of escaping the penalty is to assist us--to show us the way into the nullah. You'll do that, and if you fail you'll be shot."The Arab protested that he was sure of his ground, and would faithfully lead the troops to an entrance into the nullah which was at present wholly unsuspected by the Englishman. He described its position, and Reinecke's eyes sparkled with anticipation as he turned to Rudenheim and said--"We have him, Major! We'll capture the place at little cost, and then---- Haroun, go and show the doctor your arm, and come to my quarters to-morrow.""A moment," said the major. "You were flogged: what for?"The Arab appeared to be for a moment disconcerted by the German's swift question. Then he answered:"Because I would not work as hard as the Englishman wished, Herr Major.""So! You may go ... The man is a liar, Reinecke. You will find that there's nothing much wrong with his arm, if anything at all. All the same, that northern entrance is genuine enough, I think; and we must certainly catch your cub. But I don't think we'll hang him; he's the kind of man I like to make a prisoner of war."
"Come now, Reinecke, you have been away two months or so. What is the truth of things? We are fed here with what I am convinced are false, or at any rate too rosy, reports. Coming from the centre you ought to be well informed, and I want to know exactly how matters stand."
Major von Rudenheim bent forward and fixed his hard blue eyes on Reinecke. They were sitting in the major's quarters. Reinecke had just returned from a mission which had carried him right across the country, and after delivering dispatches at headquarters had lost no time in visiting his friend the major.
"What is the truth?" said Reinecke, flicking the ash from his cigar irritably. "Who knows? They said that Paris would fall before the British Army got across the Channel; now it is said that Paris has not fallen, though the British Army has been annihilated."
"And the Fleet?"
"The British are skulking in their harbours and won't fight. We have bombarded most of their commercial ports out of existence, but they had been laying in such enormous stocks of food in anticipation of the war that it will take a year or so to starve them out. So it's said."
"But surely if the ships won't fight we command the sea and can bring them to terms. It ought to be over by Christmas."
"Yes, the Kaiser is to eat his Christmas dinner in London. But the fact is, Major, we're living on rumours. The British smashed up our wireless installation at Dar-es-Salam, and we haven't had any really authentic news from Germany since a fortnight after war broke out. As for this country, we are not doing so well as we ought to have done. We've taken some places inside their frontier, but they've put up a surprisingly good defence, and at present it's stalemate. Apparently they are bringing troops from India----"
"In spite of our Fleet?"
"Yes, in spite of our Fleet. Tirpitz deserves to be cashiered."
"But, my good friend, if they can get reinforcements and we can't, where are we? And then, I thought the English had to send troops to India to put down the rebellion there. Isn't that true?"
"I don't know what's true. I'm sick of the whole thing. Here's my plantation going to rack and ruin: that wretched young cub of an Englishman having the audacity to run off with my workers; and when I ought to be bringing him to book I'm packed off to Tabora. Heaven knows what has happened in my absence."
"I know a little, too. Your young cub is a pretty lively one, and has pretty good claws. A few days after we were beaten back at Abercorn----"
"That's true, then. I didn't believe it."
"What could be expected when all our best troops are in the north? We were outnumbered."
If Major von Rudenheim believed what he said, he must have been singularly ill-informed. On September 5, when the Germans attacked the little town of Abercorn, its defenders were forty members of the native police, its commandant the postmaster. There happened to be a machine-gun at hand, and this was so well manipulated by the postmaster, Mr. Bisset (who might have been expected to be more at home with the telegraph instrument) that the tiny garrison was able to hold off the enemy, four times its strength, until reinforcements of Rhodesian planters arrived. Mr. Bisset's name deserves to be recorded on the illustrious roll of civilians turned soldiers who have at critical moments helped to make and to save the British Empire.
"As I was saying," the major went on, "a few days after our unlucky reverse at Abercorn, your young cub pounced upon one of our recruiting patrols and carried every man of them to his lair somewhere in the forest."
Reinecke swore a good old German oath.
"It's not true," he declared.
"You forget yourself, Captain," said Rudenheim, severely. "I am not a Berlin newspaper, or even the Wolff bureau."
"I apologise, Major, but really--a German patrol, with German soldiers?"
"A sergeant, two privates, and I don't know how many askaris. They all vanished."
"Then it can't be known that this English pighead captured them: how could it?"
"My dear captain, a recruiting patrol recruits. These unfortunate Germans were returning with their bag--how large I don't know: your cub released them all. When the patrol was some days overdue, a party was sent out in search. They found the villages towards Lake Rukwa absolutely empty of able-bodied men, which seems to show that this British lion-cub has set up a pretty efficient system of scouting, or the niggers could hardly have had warning. But by adopting the usual methods they wrung the story out of one of the old men, burnt down a few houses, and returned with the news."
"And you hunted the wretch?"
"We had something better to do. The English, reinforced by Belgians, have kept things rather lively on the frontier, and we have had no men to spare for cub-hunting."
"But--but--it is preposterous; it is an insult to the German flag; to allow a nest of mutineers to exist--yes, and to make raids--within a couple of marches of a German town. The young fool is alone----"
"With all your plantation hands, I understand."
"Raw niggers----"
"But armed with Mausers we can ill spare."
"They don't know butt from muzzle."
"Possibly your cub is not such a cub after all. The English schoolboy nowadays has a cadet's training, I believe. Perhaps this youngster might drive a little military gumption even into the nigger's wooden head."
"Really, Major," cried Reinecke impatiently, "you speak as though--as though you think the English good for something, whereas we all know they can't possibly be. They've no efficiency; they're slack; they----"
"Yes, we've been told so," the major interposed drily. "It's just possible that we're mistaken--believe what we want to believe. And I've seen this boy, remember."
Reinecke got up and stalked about the room.
"It is absurd; it is scandalous," he cried. "A young whippersnapper kidnaps our men, defies us, lowers the prestige of the German name, makes us a laughing-stock----"
"Stay, stay, Captain. You are a little intemperate. A friendly word of warning: don't talk like that outside this room. It's unwise, unsafe, if you value your commission. I go so far as to say you are unreasonable. You allow personal feeling to warp your judgment. Your dislike of this young Englishman, however natural in the circumstances--" Reinecke flashed a keen look at the speaker--"must not blind you to the facts of the situation. As I have explained, we have been hard pressed on the frontier. The Englishman, it appears, has an extraordinarily strong position----"
"Where is he?"
"They talk of a nullah----"
"I know it. It was in my company he learnt of it."
"That must be very annoying."
"Not at all, it is good news. Strong? Why, it is a cul-de-sac. At the north it is blocked by a lake. The cub has trapped himself."
"You are a little impatient, Captain. I was about to tell you that a half company of askaris went in pursuit of him the same night he left your plantation--while you were making your way here. You left next morning, you remember, or you would have known that our men were checked in the forest----"
"Checked? By a horde of untrained niggers?"
"Commanded by your cub of an Englishman. They were checked; only temporarily, of course; the lieutenant did not know what force he had against him, and acted with prudence as a good soldier should. But when he pushed on to the nullah, he found that fortification had already been begun. The entrance of the nullah was defended by a formidable breastwork, and to capture the place would have taken a longer time than he had to dispose of: he was under orders for Abercorn."
"But surely----"
"Let me finish, Captain. There was a breastwork, as I say; and I am very much mistaken if between then and now the boy has not added to his defences. It is a mistake to despise one's enemy, Reinecke, even an Englishman. Lieutenant Obermann's opinion--and he is a good man, you know--is that the nullah, properly defended, could not be reduced by less than a couple of companies of good troops--unless it could be surprised; and since the fellow draws scouts from all the niggers in the neighbourhood there's little chance of that. Two companies could not be detached from our frontier posts without a risk which the colonel was unwilling to run. He is not blind to all the considerations you put so forcibly just now; but his decision was, to wait until the general situation eased, then to take measures to stamp out your Englishman and his mutineers as one would destroy a nest of vipers."
"Yes, hang the lot."
"The Englishman?"
"Why not? He is a spy. The spy's fate is to be hanged."
"Quite so. And I am sure we can depend on you, Captain, to supply a good rope--even for your partner."
Reinecke turned angrily towards the major, whose attitude throughout the interview had been very unsatisfactory, and in whose tone he had caught a hint of contempt. But the explosion that seemed imminent was prevented by a knock at the door and the entrance of the major's servant.
The man saluted formally, and announced that an Arab was enquiring for Captain Reinecke.
"Send him in," said the major: "unless you would prefer to see him at your own quarters, Captain."
"No. Why should I meet an Arab secretly?" said Reinecke with irritation. "Let him come in."
There entered a lean, haggard Arab, in worn and tattered dress, with one arm in a sling. He bowed to the officers.
"Haroun!" cried Reinecke. "I hardly knew you ... It is one of my overseers, Major ... Where have you been?"
The man, in his broken German, poured out a long story, which keenly interested the officers in different ways. He said that, after having been removed from the plantation, he had been forced to take service with the Englishman, and been cruelly treated by him. Lifting his tunic, he turned his back, and displayed a few weals. He escaped, and was fired at and wounded in the arm. After several terrible days in the forest, he had managed to crawl into Bismarckburg, and what with hunger and pain was now at the point of death.
"Flogging a German subject!" cried Reinecke. "Another nail in the Englishman's coffin."
"A knot in the noose, let us say. Your Arab had better have something to eat: he may then tell us a good deal that we want to know. His arm can be attended to afterwards. He is not so near death as he thinks."
The man was given into the charge of the major's servant, to be fed.
"Your Englishman, I suppose, dealt with the Arab as he had seen him deal with your niggers," remarked the major.
"He saw nothing of the kind," replied Reinecke with an air of malicious triumph. "While he was at the plantation I forbade the use of the whip. You see, Major?--the English boasted humanity is sheer cant and hypocrisy: what we do openly they do on the sly."
"Hardly that, Reinecke. You forget there are German prisoners in the nullah. They probably saw the flogging."
"And shared it, I daresay. The English are capable of any atrocity. But we shall find the man useful, Major. Nothing could be better. And the nullah is so near that though the rains have started we might crush the vipers soon: there'll be a pause in the operations on the frontier."
The Arab returned, refreshed and clean. Reinecke questioned him eagerly, and drew from him many details of what had happened since the flight from the plantation. The German prisoners, he said, had been placed on the island, where a hut had been built for them. Food was conveyed to them on a raft. As the man described the defensive works at the nullah, Reinecke drew a rough diagram in his pocketbook, and marked the positions of the trenches and the camp.
"The youngster has a good headpiece," said the major, looking with interest at the diagram. "His name? Willoughby? I'm afraid we can't claim German ancestry for him."
"A machine-gun will smash him," said Reinecke.
"A machine-gun would not be very effective against defences like these, and it would be a terrible business to get up anything heavier across such country, at any rate while the rains are on. He seems to have made good use of his time during the last two months in training his niggers, and unfortunately has won over our trained askaris. A frontal attack would be very costly, my friend."
"I can show another way into the nullah, Herr Major," said the Arab.
"Why didn't you say so before?" cried Reinecke. "Where is it?"
"The Herr Hauptmann will take me back into his service?"
"Dog, would you bargain with me? By your own confession you deserted to the enemy."
"I was compelled."
"You deserted all the same. Deserters are shot. Your only chance of escaping the penalty is to assist us--to show us the way into the nullah. You'll do that, and if you fail you'll be shot."
The Arab protested that he was sure of his ground, and would faithfully lead the troops to an entrance into the nullah which was at present wholly unsuspected by the Englishman. He described its position, and Reinecke's eyes sparkled with anticipation as he turned to Rudenheim and said--
"We have him, Major! We'll capture the place at little cost, and then---- Haroun, go and show the doctor your arm, and come to my quarters to-morrow."
"A moment," said the major. "You were flogged: what for?"
The Arab appeared to be for a moment disconcerted by the German's swift question. Then he answered:
"Because I would not work as hard as the Englishman wished, Herr Major."
"So! You may go ... The man is a liar, Reinecke. You will find that there's nothing much wrong with his arm, if anything at all. All the same, that northern entrance is genuine enough, I think; and we must certainly catch your cub. But I don't think we'll hang him; he's the kind of man I like to make a prisoner of war."