The great contest that would be known in the history of Toyland as the Battle of the Downs had been fought and won. But Queen Rosebud1 was not yet set free, and Selim was not yet captured. There was still stern work to be done. Dollfort must be taken at all costs, and as it was one of the strongest forts in the country that would be no light matter.
The affair, however, was set in hand at once. The artillery2 limbered up and galloped3 down the hill and trotted4 across the downs, making a fine show. There were about twenty guns—quite enough to make a breach5 in the walls. But when they had done so, infantry6 would be required to pour in through the breach and complete the work that the guns had begun. The cavalry7 had already done their share, and would not be of much use for this task For in the valiant8 army of Toyland it was not customary to use horse-soldiers apart from their horses.
But Teddy, who seemed to have thought of everything,[Pg 239] had asked for infantry to be sent from Dolltown, as well as cavalry and artillery, and almost as soon as the guns had thundered off down the hill the first detachment of foot-soldiers came up through the wood.
If they had had to march from Dolltown they could not have been there in time; but all the available conveyances9 had been used to bring them up. The first lot arrived in toy motor-cars, and then followed carriages and cabs and carts in quick succession, until quite enough men were there to overcome any resistance the fort might make.
Peggy, and the little group of civilian10 dolls watched the first regiment11 form up and march away towards their task at Dollfort. It was a regiment of wooden soldiers, and the Lord Chancellor12 said he thought that was a mistake, as they would not like fighting against their own sort. But Teddy, who came up to say a word to them now and then, laughed at this. “They are all loyal,” he said. “So will the soldiers at Dollfort be, when they know the truth.”
There was certainly no lack of eagerness shown by this fine regiment, as it marched down the hill with its flag at its head. Peggy was interested to see Captain Louisa marching with one of the companies. He had[Pg 240] said that his men would follow him anywhere, and she was glad to see that he was prepared to fight on the side of the right.
When the first regiment had marched off, Teddy came up to them and said, “I think we might go now. You’d like to see the guns knock the fort down, wouldn’t you?”
Peggy said she should like it very much. She had always liked playing with her boy cousin with his soldiers, and this was just like one of the battles and sieges that they had arranged, only on an enormous, glorious scale. Since she had seen that there was no horrible bloodshed, but only fair and square knocking down, from which none of the soldiers would be much the worse afterwards, she had ceased to feel any alarm at the fighting, and was quite ready to see some more of it.
They rode across the downs towards Dollfort, and now Teddy had time to tell them how he had so luckily been able to bring up the troops, and spoil Selim’s little game.
He had been galloping13 along the road after the two carriages and must have nearly caught them up, when he had met Japhet, Mr. Noah’s third son. He had been just about to pass him with a wave of the paw,[Pg 241] when Japhet had stopped him, and told him some most important news.
Now Japhet was a mild-mannered, studious young man, whose great hobby was the collection of wildflowers, which he pressed in a book. Whenever he was off duty on the royal Ark, he used to wander about the country picking flowers. Sometimes he went alone, and sometimes with a friend, who shared the same[Pg 242] tastes. This friend was also in the royal service. In fact, he was none other than the driver of the carriage in which Selim had run away with Queen Rosebud. Japhet had made arrangements to meet him that very evening on the road between Dolltown and Dollfort, and have a good long ramble14 with him.
It was fortunate that it was just on this road that Japhet had arranged to meet his friend. Of course, if he had not come, Japhet would have known that it was because he was on duty; but he would not have known where he was going.
As the carriage passed, Japhet waved to his friend, and asked him where he was going. His friend said “Dollfort.” They both spoke15 under their breaths, making great movement with their mouths, and the driver also made a movement with his head towards the carriage behind him, and said in the same way, “I’ve got the old man with me.” This was how these two talked to each other about Selim, and was not meant for disrespect, as they would not have done it in public.
Teddy said, “Are you sure he said Dollfort and not Dollport?”
Japhet said he was quite sure, because he had jerked his thumb to the right, where Dollfort was. If he had[Pg 243] meant Dollport, he would have pointed16 straight ahead.
Then Teddy had seen it all. Selim was not going to try to escape by sea, with Queen Rosebud, but was going to rouse the wooden soldiers of Dollfort, and perhaps try to get the kingdom back with their help. So Teddy turned sharp round, and rode back to Dolltown—but not along the road by which he had come—leaving Japhet standing17 there in considerable surprise.
When he had told his story, the Lord Chancellor asked him why he had not come back and told them what he had found out. He was annoyed about it. “If it had not been for our own extreme cleverness,” he said, “we might have gone off on a false scent18 to Dollport, and not known where they had gone to at all.”
Teddy grinned up at him rather impudently19. “You wouldn’t have been much loss,” he said. “I knew it would take you about a month to start, if you started at all; and I wanted to take the short cut to the barracks. There was no time to be lost.”
“It’s as well you did,” said Mr. Noah. “The troops only came up just in the nick of time. Five minutes more, and the enemy would have been entrenched20 in the wood.”
As they rode across the downs, they passed heaps[Pg 244] of soldiers lying on the ground, most of which were wooden soldiers of the attacking party; but some were men and horses of the Lifeguards and the Lancers. None of them were much damaged, but they hated lying there and doing nothing, and implored21 to be picked up.
But they were told that there wasn’t time for that. The ambulance corps22 would be sent out as soon as possible, and they must wait for that. The only soldier they did pick up was the Colonel of Lancers, who rode along with them, very glad for his horse to be on its feet again. He was proud of the charge that his regiment had made, but would not take any credit for his own share of it. He said that he had only done his duty as a soldier should.
When they arrived at the houses in front of the fort, the guns had already got to work. The cavalry had gone into the streets, and told all the inhabitants to come away, as in five minutes their houses were going to be knocked down. It was necessary to destroy them, in order to have a clear range at the walls of the fort, and as our little party came up the dolls’ houses of the town were toppling down in dozens as the guns fired at them. All the poor dolls who had been told to leave them were gathered in a body on a low hill[Pg 246] to the right, watching the destruction of their homes, and it was sad to hear the wails23 and lamentations that arose from them; for they had not had time to bring anything away. Perhaps their possessions were not worth very much, but still, a home is a home to those who live in it. Be it ever so humble24, there is no place like it, as the song says, and it was not nice for these poor people to see their homes knocked down by great peas as big as wardrobes. However, the houses would all be put up again as soon as the siege was over, and the poor dolls would not be any the worse off.
The hill on which the refugees were crowded was out of the line of fire, and our party went there to watch what was going on.
It was not quite such an easy matter to reduce the fort as it first appeared. For one thing, the walls had been built to resist such attacks, and would be more difficult to demolish25 than the houses outside them. And for another thing, the artillery did not have it all its own way. There were, of course, guns in the fort itself, and they were already doing great damage to the attacking forces. The shooting was not quite so good as it might have been, and the artillery-men in the field were very clever in moving their guns about quickly, so that whenever they had fired they would[Pg 247] move away to a new position, and the guns in the fort always had to be finding new ranges.
Still, one field-gun after another was put out of action, and now there were only about half of them left to do the work.
The situation was as follows. The houses in the way had all been knocked down, leaving the battlements of the fort open to attack, but it had cost half the artillery to do it. Would the other half be enough to make a breach in the walls, through which the infantry could pour in and do their work, before they were put out of action, too? And supposing they did, would enough infantry arrive in time to do the pouring in? It was touch and go, as all the episodes of this great battle had been.
As for the infantry, the wooden regiment in which Captain Louisa served had already come up, and was resting under cover waiting till the time came for it to make its attack. And across the downs were marching more regiments26, all of lead soldiers. Yes, the infantry would be ready, if the guns could do their work in time.
The artillery now changed its tactics. The time had gone by for moving about and firing guns singly. They would never make a hole in those stout27 walls,[Pg 248] unless all of them fired at one place together. This then was what they had to do. It was costly28, because when once the guns of the fort had found the range, they could knock them all out pretty quickly. But it was the only way.
The Colonel of Lancers explained all this very politely to Peggy, and she watched with breathless interest this exceedingly important phase of the battle.
There was silence from the field artillery while the guns were all being trained on to one place in the walls. But the guns from the fort redoubled their efforts. One of them had the good luck to find the range immediately. The moment the field-guns had galloped up to the position that had been decided29 on, a great bullet came bounding along and knocked one of the batteries down. Then the others found the range. The field-guns were pointed and loaded wonderfully quickly, but before any of them could actually fire, five of them had been knocked out. Just as the order to fire was given, two more were knocked out. So the great blow was only delivered by three guns.
They might just have done it if the balls had all hit exactly the same spot in the walls. Two of them hit it exactly, but the third went a little wild. Peggy distinctly heard them hit the wall. There was a little fall[Pg 249] of masonry30 and a cloud of dust. When this cleared away, she looked eagerly for a hole in the wall. But no hole was there. Those frowning battlements stood as whole and nearly as strong as before.
Immediately afterwards the remaining field-guns were put out of action by the guns of the fort. The artillery attack had failed, and a tremendous cheer arose from the soldiers who were crowding the walls of the fort watching the Homeric contest.
But their cheering soon died away, for this was not the end of it. What followed happened so quickly that Peggy could not afterwards remember exactly how it did happen. But almost before she could draw breath the wooden regiment which had come up first was charging towards the fort with lusty shouts. Shots from the guns in the fort mowed31 them down in long lanes, but still they charged on. They swarmed32 over the ruins of the houses, and reached the very walls of the fort; and when they got there they began swarming33 up the walls themselves, just like flies.
It was a most gallant34 assault. They were under shelter from the guns of the fort, but the soldiers on the battlements could reach them, and made great havoc35 in their ranks. They climbed up on each other’s shoulders, but directly one of them reached the top[Pg 250] he was knocked down, and then the next one was knocked down, and sometimes a whole line of men was toppled over.
But there were always more to take the place of those who fell. A regiment of lead soldiers came dashing up to help them, and then another and then another still. The advantage of numbers was on the attacking side now, but the advantage of position was very much with the soldiers of the fort, and it seemed impossible that anybody should ever succeed in climbing over the top of the wall.
But a lot of sharpshooters were told off to aim at the soldiers who were manning the walls, and they did their work very cleverly, picking them off one by one. The guns of the fort were trained on them, and they went down in large numbers, but they imitated the tactics of the artillery, and never fired twice from the same spot; and gradually they made an impression. There came a moment when the soldiers on the top of the wall did not seem quite so thick as before. And when that moment came there was a great shout from the regiments below, and from the onlookers36. For at last a soldier attacking the wall scrambled37 on to the top of it.
They saw him stand for a second laying about him[Pg 251] at the defenders38, and then he went down. But not before two or three more had climbed over.
After that it was quickly finished. More and more soldiers reached the top, until presently the defence almost ceased, and the defendant39 forces were driven away from the top of the walls altogether.
Another shout went up when the great gate in front of the fort was seen slowly to roll open. And then the gallant soldiers ceased climbing up over the wall, and poured in through the gate, to finish the work that had been so splendidly begun.
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1
rosebud
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| n.蔷薇花蕾，妙龄少女 | |
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2
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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3
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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4
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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5
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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6
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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7
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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8
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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9
conveyances
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| n.传送( conveyance的名词复数 )；运送；表达；运输工具 | |
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10
civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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12
chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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13
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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14
ramble
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| v.漫步，漫谈，漫游；n.漫步，闲谈，蔓延 | |
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15
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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16
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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17
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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18
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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19
impudently
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20
entrenched
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| adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯) | |
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21
implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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23
wails
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| 痛哭，哭声( wail的名词复数 ) | |
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24
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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25
demolish
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| v.拆毁(建筑物等)，推翻(计划、制度等) | |
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26
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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28
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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29
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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30
masonry
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| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
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31
mowed
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| v.刈，割( mow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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33
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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34
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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35
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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36
onlookers
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| n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 ) | |
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37
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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38
defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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39
defendant
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| n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的 | |
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