In a few more minutes the regiments destined to carry out the flanking movements had tramped off in silence,keeping carefully under the lee of the rising ground in order to conceal the movement from the keen eyes of Twala's scouts.
Half an hour or more was allowed to elapse between the setting-out of the horns or wings of the army before any movement was made by the Grays and the supporting regiments,known as the Buffaloes,which formed its chest,and which were destined to bear the brunt of the battle.
Both of these regiments were almost perfectly fresh,and of full strength,the Grays having been in reserve in the morning,and having lost but a small number of men in sweeping back that part of the attack which had proved successful in breaking the line of defence on the occasion when I charged with them and got knocked silly for my pains.As for the Buffaloes,they had formed the third line of defence on the left,and as the attacking force at that point had not succeeded in breaking through the second,had scarcely come into action at all.
Infadoos,who was a wary old general,and knew the absolute importance of keeping up the spirits of his men on the eve of such a desperate encounter,employed the pause in addressing his own regiment,the Grays,in poetical language;in explaining to them the honor that they were receiving in being put thus in the forefront of the battle,and in having the great white warrior from the stars to fight with them in their ranks,and in promising large rewards of cattle and promotion to all who survived in the event of Ignosi's arms being successful.
I looked down the long lines of waving black plumes and stern faces beneath them,and sighed to think that within one short.hour most,if not all,of those magnificent veteran warriors,not a man of whom was under forty years of age,would be laid dead or dying in the dust.It could not be otherwise;they were being condemned,with that wise recklessness of human life that marks the great general,and often saves his forces and attains his ends,to certain slaughter,in order to give the cause and the remainder of the army a chance of success.They were foredoomed to die,and they knew it.It was to be their task to engage regiment after regiment of Twala's army on the narrow strip of green beneath us,till they were exterminated,or till the wings found a favorable opportunity for their onslaught.And yet they.never hesitated,nor could I detect a sign of fear upon the face of a single warrior.There they were -going to certain death,about to quit the blessed light of day forever,and yet able to contemplate their doom without a tremor.I could not,even at that moment,help contrasting their state of mind with my own,which was far from comfortable,and breathing a sigh of envy and admiration.Never before had I seen such an absolute devotion to the idea of duty,and such a complete indifference to its bitter fruits.
"Behold your king!"ended old Infadoos,pointing to Ignosi;"go fight and fall for him,as is the duty of brave men,and cursed and shameful forever be the name of him who shrinks from death for his king,or who turns his back to his enemy.Behold your king!chiefs,captains,and soldiers;now do your homage to the sacred snake,and then follow on,that Incubu and I may show ye the road to the heart of Twala's forces."There was a moment's pause,then suddenly there rose from the serried phalanxes before us a murmur,like the distant whisper of the sea,caused by the gentle tapping of the handles of six thousand spears against their holders'shields.Slowly it swelled,till its growing volume deepened and widened into a roar of rolling noise,that echoed like thunder against the mountains,and filled the air with heavy waves of sound.Then it decreased and slowly died away into nothing,and suddenly out crashed the royal salute.
Ignosi,I thought to myself,might well be a proud man that day,for no Roman emperor ever had such a salutation from gladiators "about to-die."Ignosi acknowledged this magnificent act of homage by lifting his battle-axe,and then the Grays filed off in a triple line formation,each line containing about one thousand fighting men,exclusive of officers.
When the last line had gone some five hundred yards,Ignosi put himself at the head of the Buffaloes,which regiment was drawn up in a similar three-line formation,and gave the word to march,and off we went,I,needless to say,uttering the most heartfelt prayers that I might come out of that job with a whole skin.Many a queer position have I found myself in,but never before in one quite so unpleasant as the present,or one in which my chance of coming off safe was so small.
By the time that we reached the edge of the plateau the Grays were already half-way down the slope ending in the tongue of grass-land that ran up into the bend of the mountain,something as the frog of a horse's foot runs up into the shoe.The excitement in Twala's camp on the plain beyond was very great,and regiment after regiment was starting forward at a long swinging trot in order to reach the root of the tongue of land before the attacking force could emerge into the plain of Loo.
This tongue of land,which was some three hundred yards in depth,was,even at its root or widest part,not more than three hundred and fifty paces across,while at its tip it scarcely measured ninety.The Grays,who,in passing down the side of the hill and on to the tip of the tongue,had formed in column,on reaching the spot where it broadened out again reassumed their triple-line formation and halted dead.
