Chapter 50

At times he opened his eyes and was dimly aware that he was fastened to the side of a mule on a stretcher. He heard moans coming from the other side of it before the darkness fell again. The mists began to clear and as he opened his eyes one of Yasmin’s helpers was wiping his brow with a cool cloth. Where am I?” His voice croaked.

The girl looked alarmed and dashed away to be replaced by Susan’s face. Suppressed tears glazed her eyes, “Hello darling, don’t try to talk, you need rest now,” she whispered.

“Need to know ... how we did?” he slurred.

“You won, now rest,” she ordered, as his eyes closed.

The mists cleared; he winched from the pain in his side as he moved to see someone. Yasmin appeared in his vision. “Hello David, good to see you back amongst us.” Yasmin helped him to drink a cup of water.

“Where am I?” he mumbled. “I need to know what happened at the ford.”

“Now don’t go getting yourself excited,” she replied firmly. “You’re at the rift. Sultar is here; I’ll send him over.” She moved away and after a few minutes Sultar’s face appeared over him.

“It is good to see you awake, David. You have had us all worried.” Sultar had his arm in a sling and his head had a bandage around it.

“What happened back there? I saw Tartrha’s charge and then I was bayoneted. What happened?”

“Tartrha’s charge broke up the Uhlan’s charge. The enemy’s fire had ceased in case they hit their own men so we charged down as well; it seemed the safest thing to do. The Australians fixed bayonets and met the German infantry in hand-to-hand combat. It was all over inside ten minutes. What few remained ran back across the ford. They put up a white flag and Tartrha met them. They wanted to gather up their wounded and dead. We helped them to find them and took them over the river. We had to destroy thirty odd horses that were too badly hurt, but we recovered and kept sixty-eight.”

David looked at him. “What was our butcher’s bill?” he asked softly.

Sultar hesitated before replying, “Twelve Gurkhas and five Australians killed and twenty-seven wounded, mostly Gurkhas. Most of the wounded have been moved back to the Crater. There’s only four including you that have been left here due to the severity of the wounds.”

David’s face grew pale at the numbers, “What happened to you?”

“I got nicked in the arm, then a bullet grazed my head and I went out like a light,” he said chuckling.

“What about the enemy, are they massing again?”

Sultar shook his head, “They’ve pulled back from the river. Tartrha sent scouts over to trail them. They reached Mamboie and Bert ordered the guns to fire on them. They soon scampered inland. He’s still guarding the fords with all the fit troops.”

David’s head fell back onto his pillow and he drifted off to a deep sleep again.

Three days later he, along with the other wounded, were transported back to the Crater in carts. He spent a further week in hospital before Susan allowed him home on condition he stayed in the house. Bert, Sultar, and Tartrha came to visit him. It was only then that he found out that one of the dead was Rham. “His wife is being looked after, David,” Sultar had murmured.

When Bert visited him David said, “Has the enemy retreated back inland to lick their wounds?”

“I’ve been adding up,” Bert said, “From the numbers Sultar and Tartrha gave me, I calculate they lost well over five hundred killed or wounded. From what the prisoners said who deserted over to our side of the river, there’s only fifty or so German infantry left and only seventy or eighty Uhlans. According to them they were regiments, but depleted regiments. I guess they had suffered losses in Europe. They’re a spent force now.” David nodded thinking of all those who had died.

“I sent of a full report to Brigadier General Keeling and he should have it by now.”

“Our losses Bert ... where did you put them?” David asked.

Bert smiled sadly, “We brought them all back and they’re buried at the bottom of the Crater. Susan has organised headstones to be made for them all. They were all given a full military funeral.”

When Tartrha accompanied with Sultar visited, David told him. “Your charge saved the day ... it was a mad, glorious thing to do.”

Tartrha smiled with embarrassment, “It seemed at the time the only thing to do. Our horses were spent through trying to catch up to you. We saw your horses below the ridge, and I decided to fit between the two groups which turned out to be the track leading to the ford. We suddenly saw the Uhlans in front of us. We didn’t have time to dismount to use our rifles, so we drew our kukris and slammed into them. I don’t think they knew we were there until we were right amongst them. We were so close they couldn’t use their lances.”

Sultar took up the story, “When we saw the charge was disrupted into confusion, the men leapt up and joined in with their kukris, I didn’t even need to order them; I was flat on my back with a bullet in my arm. I looked over to your position and saw the Australian CSM leading a charge with bayonets screaming, ‘Kill the bastards!’ They went through the German infantry like a hot knife through butter.”

David fell back into his cane chair, “I’m putting you all up for awards.”

Gradually the crater returned to normality and David spent hours on the stoop looking over it. Guy and Victoria would sit and play to keep him company. Although he would never admit to Susan he still felt rather weak. He knew from what she had said that he had lost a lot of blood and had three broken ribs that still ached, but he was anxious to be out and about. A paddock had been erected that housed the horses taken at the ford and Patar was in the process of salting them. Hanga had fussed over him until, two weeks after he had returned, he ordered him to saddle Zeus. He had protested but complied when David insisted.

The first thing he did was to visit Rham’s wife, Neeza. She welcomed him with a sad face; her two sons were at school she explained. “Neeza, I don’t know how to say how sorry I am about Rham, he was a fine man and soldier. But I want you to know that you and the children will always have a home here with us. If you want to return to India then I will make all the arrangements and pay for your passage. You will continue to receive Rham’s pay whatever you decide.”

Neeza looked at him with tears in her eyes, “My home is here Sahib. I turned my back on India when I married Rham.”

He set off again at a slow walk, heading towards N’debi’s village. He reined in Zeus at the school. They had to extend it due to the different age groups. The school had open walls with rolled up rush mats that could be unrolled in the event of rain. He saw Jill and Yasmin teaching the classes; he gazed at the children, some black, brown and white sitting happily as they listened to their teachers.

He stopped at the hospital and dismounted and went inside. There were only three patients present, two Gurkhas and an Australian who were playing cards as they sat on the Australian’s bed. The men wore nightshirts, the Australian had his head bandaged, whilst the Gurkhas had bandaged arms and legs. “How’s it going men?” he asked from the doorway. The Australian looked glum but the two Gurkhas had wide smiles.

“I showed these jokers how to play poker, and now they’re robbing me blind,” the Australian moaned.

David chuckled, “When a Gurkha smiles, he’s at his most dangerous.”

“Thanks for the tip mate,” he replied as David went through to Susan’s office. She was sitting at her desk writing. He paused to look at her; she had her auburn hair tied in a ponytail and was wearing her glasses which she hated. “Hello darling! Hard at it I see.”