“But if things went against us we should have to retire.”
“Retreat, eh? Yes,” said Wyatt thoughtfully; and then he broke out suddenly, to Dick’s amusement, with a capital imitation of the Irishman in the old anecdote, “‘Och, your honner, I’ve tuk a prisiner.’
“Suppose that’s our position, Dicky. It seems to me that we’re going right into a trap, and mayn’t be able to get away again. I don’t think we ought to have been sent.”
“Not a bit, lad; only thoughtful. I say we oughtn’t to have been sent, because this isn’t the sort of country for horse artillery. We want to be out in wide plains where there’s room to gallop. Here, for instance, we could do nothing but sit on our horses while the enemy lined the sides of this valley with sharp-shooters to pick us off.”
“Perhaps Soojeepur may turn out to be a plain country.”
“Hope it is,” said Wyatt abruptly; “but I don’t think it is. We ought to be rifles, not what we are. Here’s a pretty place for an ambush. If the Rajah’s enemies know we’re coming they’ll be collected up yonder, and as soon as we get near enough they’ll begin playing a game of skittles. We shall be the skittles, and the rocks the balls.”
“I say,” said Dick merrily, “would you mind going to the rear, to ride beside Captain Hulton?”
“Yes, I should mind a good deal. I’ve been riding with him, and he’s as obstinate as a pig.”
“I said we ought to send out the advance-guard farther, and double the rear-guard.”
“Told me to mind my own business; that we were not in an enemy’s country, and that I was getting quite an old woman.”
“It did not sound pleasant. But you don’t think there is anything to mind, do you?”
“I don’t know that there is, young un, but it may have got about that we are coming, and if I were our friend’s enemy, it is the very thing I should do.”
“Of course. There’s more done by scheming than hard work, they say, and I’m sure there is in war. Five hundred men attacking an enemy’s rear at a critical time will do more towards producing a rout than five thousand fresh troops attacking the front. It’s the sudden and unexpected that does so much in a battle.”
These last words were spoken in so decisive a way that Dick said no more, and rode on in silence; but for the rest of their ride, whenever a valley narrowed into a gorge, he watched the sides anxiously in search of marksmen waiting to dispute the way.