The Story of Baden-Powell: 'The Wolf That Never Sleeps'Begbie, Harold
History
The Story of Baden-Powell: 'The Wolf That Never Sleeps'
Begbie, Harold
Baden-Powell of Gilwell, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Baron, 1857-1941
In a few minutes the guns were in position on what looked like
inaccessible crags, and the Cape Boys shouting and cheering were
floundering through bogs, leaping over boulders, and firing with firm
hand wherever firing was of use. The fight was now begun in earnest,
and B.-P., on a rock directing the movements of his force, was
surrounded by the deafening roar of artillery. In nearly every cave
on those hills savages lay with rifle to shoulder, finger on trigger,
waiting to pick off the besiegers as they came bounding over the rocks
towards them. The Cape Boys never wavered; up they dashed, panting and
sweating, to the very mouths of the caves, fired their rifles into the
darkness, charged in, to reissue in a few minutes, jabbering to each
other, and then rushing off to "do ditto" wherever these man-holes
existed. Now they were creeping stealthily round rocks "like stage
assassins," now leaping forward through the long yellow grass like men
in a paper-chase,--always fighting well and pluckily, lifting up their
wounded and carrying them to places of safety, and then again joining
in the battle, charging without fear upon their maddened enemy,
parrying the thrust of sudden assegai with the bayonet that kills
almost in the instant that it guards. And while this work was going
on, a sudden corner revealed another string of rebels running down a
path. "For a moment," writes B.-P., "the thought crosses one's mind,
shall we stop to fire or go for them? but before the thought has time
to fashion itself, we find ourselves going for them." Again there was
the cheering rush, the rattle of rifles, and hard fighting till the
enemy was scattered. So the battle went on, and it did not cease until
the stronghold was completely cleared. Then the "flag-waggers"
signalled back to the main body for stretchers.[2] During this pause
Baden-Powell wrote an account of the fighting (illustrated), to be
sent home to his mother.
In this manner Babyan was beaten, and the victors went back to camp
satisfied with their day's work. On the following morning it was
discovered that a column sent by the General to attack the enemy on
the Inugu Mountain had not returned, and Baden-Powell with a patrol of
a hundred men was ordered to go in search. When the sun was up the
little body moved off towards the mountains, and after passing through
much difficult country, parts of which were actually in the occupation
of the enemy, they struck the spoor of the missing column, and to
Baden-Powell's great joy found that the marks were quite fresh and
leading outwards from the mountains--showing that the missing men
were safe. Very soon after that the patrol was further cheered by
seeing the gleam of the column's camp-fires, and after an exchange of
events Baden-Powell hurried back to camp to acquaint the General with
the good news.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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