Thousands of armed natives now rushed from all directions upon
the station.
A thrill went through me when I thought of my good and devoted Monsoor!
My wife had quickly given me my belt and breechloading double rifle.
(This beautiful weapon, I have already mentioned, was made by Mr.
Holland, of Bond Street, London.) Fortunately I had filled up the
pouches on the previous evening with fifty rounds of cartridge.
The troops were now in open order, completely around the station, and
were pouring a heavy fire into the masses of the enemy within the high
grass, which bad been left purposely uncleared by Kabba Rega, in order
to favour a treacherous attack.
The natives kept up a steady fire upon the front from behind the
castor-oil bushes and the densely thronged houses.
With sixteen men of the "Forty Thieves," together with Colonel
Abd-el-Kader and Lieutenant Baker, R.N., I directed a heavy fire into
the covert, and soon made it too hot for the sharpshooters. I had
ordered the blue lights at the commencement of the attack. My black
boys, Saat and Bellaal, together with some soldiers, now arrived with a
good supply.
Covering their advance with a heavy fire from the sniders, the boys and
men rushed forward, and immediately ignited Kabba Rega's large divan.
These active and plucky lads now ran nimbly from hut to hut, and one
slight touch of the strong fire of the blue lights was sufficient to
insure the ignition of the straw dwellings.
I now sent a party of fifteen sniders, under Lieutenant Ferritch Agha,
one of my most courageous officers, with a supply of blue lights, to set
fire, to the town on our left flank, and to push on to the spot where
the missing Monsoor and Ferritch had fired their rifles.
Every arrangement having been rapidly carried out, the boys and a few
men continued to fire the houses on our right flank; and giving the
order to advance, our party of sixteen rushed forward into the town.
The right and left flanks were now blazing, and the flames were roaring
before the wind. I heard the rattling fire of the sniders under Ferritch
Agha on our left, and knowing that both flanks were now thoroughly
secured by the conflagration, we dashed straight for Kabba Rega's
principal residences and court, driving the enemy before us. Colonel
Abd-el-Kader was an excellent officer in action. We quickly surrounded
Kabba Rega's premises, and set fire to the enormous straw buildings on
all sides.
If he had been at home he would have had a warm reception, but the young
coward had fled with all his women before the action had commenced,
together with the magic bamba or throne, and the sacred drum.
In a few minutes the conflagration was terrific, as the great court of
Kabba Rega blazed in flames seventy or eighty feet high, which the wind
drove in vivid forks into the thatch of the adjacent houses.
We now followed the enemy throughout the town, and the sniders told with
sensible effect wherever they made a stand. The blue lights continued
the work; the roar of flames and the dense volumes of smoke, mingled
with the continued rattle of musketry, and the savage yells of the
natives, swept forward with the breeze, and the capital of Unyoro was a
fair sample of the infernal regions.
The natives were driven out of the town, but the high grass was swarming
with many thousands, who, in the neighbourhood of the station, still
advanced to attack the soldiers.
I now ordered "The Forty" to clear the grass, and a steady fire of
snider rifles soon purged the covert upon which the enemy had relied.
In about an hour and a quarter the battle of Masindi was won. Not a
house remained of the lately extensive town. A vast open space of smoke
and black ashes, with flames flickering in some places where the
buildings had been consumed, and at others forked sheets of fire where
the fuel was still undestroyed, were the only remains of the capital of
Unyoro.
The enemy had fled. Their drums and horns, lately so noisy, were now
silent.
I ordered the bugle to sound "cease firing." We marched through the
scorching streets to our station, where I found my wife in deep
distress.
The bugle sounded the assembly, and the men mustered, and fell in for
the roll-call. Four men were missing.
Lying on the turf, close to the fort wall, were four bodies arranged in
a row and covered with cloths.
The soldiers gathered round them as I approached. The cloths were
raised.
My eyes rested on the pale features of my ever faithful and devoted
officer, Monsoor! There was a sad expression of pain on his face. I
could not help feeling his pulse; but there was no hope; this was still.
I laid his arm gently by his side, and pressed his hand for the last
time, for I loved Monsoor as a true friend.
His body was pierced with thirty-two lance wounds; thus he had fought
gallantly to the last, and he had died like a good soldier; but he was
treacherously murdered instead of dying on a fair battle-field.
Poor Ferritch Baggara was lying next to him, with two lance wounds
through the chest.
The other bodies were those of the choush that had fallen by my side,
and the soldier who had been shot on the parapet.
We were all deeply distressed at the death of poor Monsoor. There never
was a more thoroughly unselfish and excellent man. He was always kind to
the boys, and would share even a scanty meal in hard times with either
friend or stranger.
