Chapter XX: The Last 264 (6)

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 demolish 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 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 regiments, 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 stout walls, unless all of them fired at one place together. This then was what they had to do. It was costly, 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 decided 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 of masonry 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 mowed them down in long lanes, but still they charged on. They swarmed over the ruins of the houses, and reached the very walls of the fort; and when they got there they began swarming up the walls themselves, just like flies.

It was a most gallant assault. They were under shelter from the guns of the fort, but the soldiers on the battlements could reach them, and made great havoc in their ranks. They climbed up on each other’s shoulders, but directly one of them reached the top 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 onlookers. For at last a soldier attacking the wall scrambled on to the top of it.

They saw him stand for a second laying about him at the defenders, 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 defendant 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.

XIX

SELIM IS CAPTURED

The final reduction of Dollfort would have taken longer than it actually did if the citadel at the top of it had not been closed for spring cleaning. Selim and Rose would certainly have taken refuge there, and would have been defended by those that remained of the wooden soldiers. The citadel was very strong, and it might not have been possible to take it by assault at all. They might have had to starve it into surrender, and that would have taken a long time.

However, by a lucky chance, the commander of the fort, who was rather fussy, had said the day before that he couldn’t have the place looking like a pig-sty, and it was to be thoroughly cleaned out and white-washed. This was being done when Selim drove into the fort, and the fighting had followed so soon that there had been no opportunity of putting the citadel into any sort of shape to resist attack.

Soon after the fort was taken, Peggy and the others were allowed to ride into it through the gateway that had been opened by the attacking party. As they came into the first narrow street of the fort a wooden officer was standing by the gate. It was none other than Captain Louisa, who saluted his old friends, and said he was very glad to see them there.

Another officer who was standing with him, patted him on the back, and said, “You haven’t told them that it was you who was first over the wall.”

“That was nothing,” said Captain Louisa modestly. “I was only doing my duty as a soldier should.”

They congratulated him heartily on his gallant feat of arms. He had said nothing about it himself, but it was plain that he was pleased at having it known to them. Peggy had thought it rather boastful of him when he had said in Wooden’s drawing-room that nobody would do his duty as a soldier better than he should, but it had turned out to be quite true. Wooden said how pleased his wife would be to hear what he had done, and his friend said that he would be made a Major for it, or perhaps even a Colonel.

They got off their horses at the entrance to the fort, for the streets were too narrow and steep to let them ride any more.

Dollfort was an old-fashioned though a very powerful fort. There were houses and shops in the narrow streets, and as they went up through them they saw the soldiers taking refreshment in the inns, which were rather foreign-looking, and made Peggy think of the places she had seen in France.

The two sides had already made friends again, and Leads and Woods were eating and drinking at the same tables, and talking in an eager way about the glorious fight they had had. That is the best of a toy army. When one side wins, the other side bears no malice, and of course the regiments that have fought each other today may very well be fighting on the same side tomorrow.

The ambulance corps had already finished its work inside the fort, and was on its way out to the soldiers still lying on the downs. All the defenders of the fort who had fallen had been picked up again, and, to judge by the merry noise they were making, were none the worse for the experience.

Captain Louisa and his friend walked up through the streets with them, and Peggy was interested to learn that the friend, whose name was Lieutenant Napoleon, belonged to a regiment which had defended the fort. He was very indignant at what he had heard about Selim. “Still, it was a good thing we didn’t know what a rascal he was,” he said, “or we shouldn’t have had this glorious scrap.”

That was the spirit of all the soldiers who had been fighting. They often had sham battles, but this had been a real one, and they had thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the knocking down of the houses outside the fort. They would not have been allowed to knock them down in a sham fight.

The exciting and interesting thing now was to find Selim and Rose, and get to know where they had hidden the Queen and Lady Grace and Wooden’s mother.

Lieutenant Napoleon told them that the two carriages had come driving quickly into the fort, and the King had put his head out of the window of the first and told the sentries to close the gates, and to send the Commander of the fort to him at once at the Busby Arms, which was the chief inn in the place. Then they had driven into the courtyard of the inn, and the gates of that had been closed too.

The commander of the fort was General Wellington-Vera. He was an uncle of Lieutenant Napoleon’s, and had taken his wife’s name upon marriage, as is the custom in Toyland. General Wellington-Vera was a brave and capable officer, and had hurried at once to the King, as of course he thought him, to take his orders. These were that the fort was to be stoutly defended to the last man and the last ounce of powder, against a cowardly and treacherous attack that would shortly be made upon the King’s life by the lead soldiers of Dolltown, who had revolted. That was what Selim had told him, and of course he had believed it.

Orders had quickly been given out that every man should be found at his post. Then General Wellington-Vera had made up his mind that he would not wait to be attacked, but would himself attack first; and Selim had approved of this. The result had been as we have already seen, and we need not go over the same ground again.

Lieutenant Napoleon was his uncle’s aide-de-camp, and had been by his side during the greater part of the battle and the siege. He was now free for a time, because the General, who was an old man, had been somewhat exhausted by his exertions, and had gone home to lie down. He said that his uncle had told him nothing about any ladies being with Selim. He had talked to him in a room alone. In fact, Lieutenant Napoleon was surprised to hear that there were any ladies there at all, and still more surprised to hear that one of them was Queen Rosebud. He had known by this time that she was alive, and that Selim was a usurper, but not that he had tried to run away with her.

“We ought to find them at once,” he said. “I am in command here as long as uncle is lying down, and I shall be pleased to put myself at your disposal.”

They went first of all to the Busby Arms. The gate of the courtyard was still shut, and Lieutenant Napoleon banged on it with the hilt of his sword, and called out that if it was not opened at once he would give orders for it to be blown up with gunpowder.

“You had all better take shelter,” he said, as he was waiting for a reply. “They might try sniping at us. I don’t mind for myself, but I shouldn’t like to see any of you hit.”

So they went behind a wall, all except Colonel Jim and the Colonel of Lancers and Captain Louisa, who, being soldiers, scorned to shelter themselves, and waited with Lieutenant Napoleon.

But there was no occasion for alarm. The gate was soon opened by the innkeeper, who had been terrified by the bombardment of the fort, especially as one of the cannon balls had fallen into the garden behind the inn and broken a cucumber frame.

The innkeeper was as shocked as all the rest when he heard how wicked Selim had really been, and very surprised at being told that one of the ladies who had come in the carriage with him was Queen Rosebud.

“She must have been the one they said was ill,” he said. “Her head was all covered up when they brought her in. They asked for a cup of tea for her, so I went down into the kitchen myself, because, you see, the girl what----”

“Never mind about all that,” said the Lord Chancellor. “Where are they now? Take us to them at once.”

But alas! the innkeeper could only tell them that they had gone.

“The King,” he said--“well, I suppose I mustn’t call him that now--but Selim, he went out with the General when the firing began, and soon after he’d gone the ladies must have slipped off. That’s how I think it must have happened. Anyhow, when I went up to tell them about my cucumber frame they’d gone, and I haven’t set eyes on them since.”

They did not waste much more time at the inn. They set out to make a thorough search of the houses in the fort, under the direction of Lieutenant Napoleon, who now showed himself very zealous on the scent.

There were not, after all, a great many hiding places. It was only in the lower streets of the fort that there were shops and houses. Above that there were only barracks and defence works, and the citadel at the top of all.

None of the soldiers whom Lieutenant Napoleon questioned had seen anything of Selim since the taking of the fort. Up to that time he had been with General Wellington-Vera, overlooking the defence, and many of them had seen him. Of the Queen, and the other lady dolls, nobody had seen anything, from first to last.

“The only thing left is to search the citadel,” said Lieutenant Napoleon. “I don’t suppose they are there, but I don’t see where else they can be.”

So they set out, and climbed the steep streets up to the top of the fort.

As they went up, they met a lot of female dolls coming down with pails and mops and brooms. These were the char-dolls who had been cleaning up the citadel, and it speaks well for their sense of duty that they had not left off their work during the bombardment. But they were all wives of soldiers, and had been trained to do their duty, whate’er befell.

Peggy was interested in these dolls, who were chattering away at a great rate, and anxious to know what had been happening while they were busy. But, being wives of soldiers, they were too well disciplined to ask questions of the officers, and nobody took much notice of them except Peggy.

They were mostly dressed in print gowns, but some of them wore big cloaks, because the evening was beginning to get a trifle chilly. Peggy noticed in the crowd of them two who had the hoods of their cloaks right over their heads. One of them was very tall, but was bent, as if she had rheumatism. She had the arm of the other one, who was carrying a pail, and they were talking with their heads close together, but not speaking to anybody else.

They had just passed, rather quickly, when an idea suddenly sprang into Peggy’s mind. She clutched at Wooden’s arm, and said, “Look at those two! I believe they are disguised.”

It was the remembrance of Colonel Jim’s cloak when he had got in to them in the House of Cards that had made the idea come into her head. And perhaps the same connection of ideas made Colonel Jim himself sharper than he generally was; for the moment Peggy had spoken he called out to the char-dolls to stop.

Most of them, being well disciplined, stopped at once, at the word of command, but the two in cloaks went on, as if they had not heard, slightly quickening their pace, but not running.

That was enough for Teddy. He sprang after them. “Here, you two!” he said. “Let’s have a look at your faces. I’m sure you’ve no reason to be ashamed of them.”

They began to run. But Teddy ran after them, and put his foot in front of the tall one, who tripped and fell sprawling in the road. Teddy tore off the cloak, and disclosed, not an inoffensive char-doll like the rest, but the gross form and sinister features of the rascally Selim.

XX

THE LAST

There lay the villain who had worked such mischief among the simple and generous inhabitants of Toyland, and, above all, to their noble Queen, who had loaded him with benefits. He lay on the muddy road, blinking and scowling at his captors, well knowing that his game was up and his doom would soon fall. He was a sorry spectacle, in his discovery and disgrace. It was checkmate for him finally, and no further move was left to him.

As for the chief partner in his crimes, who had tried to escape with him--the renegade Composition doll Rose, who had so completely failed to obey the natural instincts of upright dollhood--it was easy enough to recognize her in the other cloaked figure, when once Selim’s disguise had been torn from him. It was Wooden’s aunt who sprang forward and snatched the cloak away from Rose. “So here you are, my beauty!” she exclaimed exultantly. “Got you at last! And if you try to get away I’ll scratch your eyes out.”

But Rose made no effort to get away. She did not cower before them, as the wretched Selim did. He made no effort even to rise from the ground until Lieutenant Napoleon called up two soldiers to seize him and hold him fast. But Rose drew herself up to her full height, and flashed scorn upon her captors from her dark eyes. There was something grand in her, in spite of the wickedness of her behaviour, but it was not the sort of grandeur that it does anybody any good to admire. The only thing that can be said about her is that with such a bold character it is a pity that she had not used her powers to do right instead of wrong. Then they might have led her to great heights. As it was, they had brought her down to ruin.

They questioned her as to what had been done with the Queen and the other dolls who had been carried off; but she would answer them nothing. Her contemptuous look seemed to say, “You may do what you like with me, and I shall only go on despising you. But you will get nothing out of me, so it is waste of time to try.”

The wretched Selim, however, was more amenable to pressure. “If you will let me free to go away,” he whined, “I will tell you everything.”

“Give him a twist of the arm,” said Lieutenant Napoleon, “and see if that will make him tell us. He isn’t going to be let free.”

One of the soldiers screwed Selim’s arm, not very hard, because it wasn’t necessary. Directly he felt the slightest pain, Selim gave way at once. “Oh, don’t hurt me!” he cried out--the wretched, cowardly creature! “They are in the citadel--quite safe and comfortable. I might have executed them all, but I haven’t touched a hair of their heads.”

“Bring the prisoners along with us,” said Lieutenant Napoleon. “We will go up to the citadel at once.”

They mounted to the top of the fort. The citadel was a great barrack of a place, with one fine hall, and a regular hive of smaller rooms, besides the fortified works. If it could have been used for a final defence of Dollfort there would have been room in it for lots of soldiers, and everything would have been there to enable the defenders to support a long siege. But it had all been cleared out. The courtyard inside the gates was encumbered with furniture, and even the guns had dust-sheets over them. The great hall and the lower rooms had all been thoroughly cleaned, but the char-dolls had not reached the upper rooms yet, and it was to one of these that Selim, who was now eager to tell everything, led them.

He had locked the door, and thrown away the key out the window, as he was obliged to confess, but it did not take long to break it open. Colonel Jim, who was the biggest and strongest of them all, and who was very anxious to rescue Lady Grace as quickly as possible, put his shoulder to the door and gave one mighty push, and it flew open.

The room was very small. It had a narrow, barred window, and the only furniture in it was a low bed and a wooden chair. It was, in fact, a prison cell, used for locking up soldiers who had committed offences. And this was the place in which Selim had locked up the unfortunate Queen, and the other two dolls, without any food or even water. Supposing he had escaped, as he had hoped to do! They would have stayed there all night, and could only have been released if they had managed to attract the attention of the char-dolls who would come to the citadel the next morning.

Colonel Jim was not very quick at understanding things, as we have seen, but he understood this directly his eyes took in what was inside the door he had burst open. He turned round and gave Selim a violent buffet on the side of his face, which made the miserable creature cower away and cry out. He had still to be punished for his crimes, but this first instalment of his punishment made everybody feel better.

Queen Rosebud was sitting on the chair with her hands on her lap, the picture of stately patience; Lady Grace and Wooden’s mother were sitting on the bed, and it was evident that Lady Grace had been crying.

The Queen rose slowly from her chair. “I wish to be taken away from this place,” she said.

She was very royal, even under the dreadful circumstances in which she found herself, and after all she had gone through. The Lord Chancellor advanced towards her and bowed very low. “If your Majesty will deign to lead your loyal subjects to the great hall,” he said, “justice can be done at once on these malefactors, and in the meantime preparations can be made for your Majesty’s convenience for the night. It will be too late to go back to your Majesty’s Capital until tomorrow.”

The Queen simply said, “Come, Lady Grace,” and walked out of the cell. The wretched Selim tried to draw her attention to himself with a whining prayer for mercy, as she passed him. But she took not the smallest notice. She did, however, make a slight inclination of the head towards Peggy, as she passed her; and Peggy felt proud and honoured, just as if it had been a real Queen who had taken notice of her. But it cannot be too often repeated that Queen Rosebud was _like_ a real Queen, in all her ways and in all her deeds.

They went into the great hall, and a seat was brought for the Queen at the top of it. All the rest of them stood. Selim, between two soldiers, and Rose, between two others, were brought up before her.

The Lord Chancellor cleared his throat, as if it lay with him to open the proceedings, but he was a very different Lord Chancellor before Queen Rosebud from what he had been in the Hall of Audience before the usurping Selim. When the Queen held up her hand he stopped his preparations for speech at once, and listened respectfully to what she had to say.

She spoke slowly, in a low musical voice, and every word she said could be heard plainly by everybody in the great hall.

“King Selim is to be taken at once to the coast,” she said, “and put into a boat, with oars and a sail, and enough food for several days. He is to row or sail away from my kingdom, and never to come back here. If he does so, he is to be executed. Take him away.”

That was all, and she waited for her commands to be carried out before speaking again. She had given the miserable creature his title. He was a King, though not King of Toyland. He had been cast on the shores of her island destitute and solitary, and had been right royally treated. And he had repaid her as we have seen. But she made no accusation against him. He was simply to be sent away.

The wretched being was led off by the two soldiers who had guarded him. He went without a word. He knew that his life had been most mercifully spared, for he could row or sail to land in a few hours, or be picked up by a ship. Let us hope that he felt some compunction for his many crimes. He passed out of the hall between the two guards, the great door clanged after him, and he was seen no more.

The Queen’s face changed as she turned towards Rose. Selim was a foreigner, and in getting rid of him she had done all that she needed to do. But Rose was her own subject, and must be dealt with in a different fashion.

“As for you,” she said, “you must stand your trial according to the laws of the land. If you choose to stand it now, with me for your judge, you may do so. Say whatever you please in your own defence, and I will listen to you. If not, I wash my hands of you, and you will be sent to prison to await your trial by jury.”

It was an extraordinary act of clemency for the Queen to deal with Rose’s case herself, and no doubt Rose knew that she would get more merciful treatment than if her crimes were left to the judgment of a jury of dolls, who could not help being furious with her for what she had done.

But all she said, in a voice of scorn, was, “Oh, try me now, and finish it. I have done what I have done, and I wish I had succeeded. As I’ve failed, do what you like with me.”

The Queen looked at her with her calm, steady gaze, and Rose’s eyes dropped before it. “I am more sorry for you than you are for yourself,” the Queen said. “I know that you have been led away by spite and jealousy, and those are feelings that cause great unhappiness to whoever possesses them. It is your misfortune that you have those bad qualities, but it is in your power to conquer them. It is my hope that you will succeed in doing so. Go! You are free.”

The guards on either side of Rose fell away from her. She stood staring at the Queen with wide eyes, as if she could hardly believe what had been said to her. Then she realized that she was free, to go where she liked, and that she was not to be punished at all. She covered her face with her hands and burst into tears, and then hurried away out of the hall. Her proud and rebellious spirit would not have quailed before any punishment that might have been meted out to her, but the punishment would have left her no better than she had been before. But the free pardon, which she could never have expected, had broken her down. It was to be hoped that she would really repent of her bad ways now, and be a better doll than she had ever been before.

When Rose had left the hall, the Queen’s face lightened. “All that is left for me now,” she said, “is to thank such of my subjects as have been so active and successful in setting me free from the plots that have surrounded me. And first of all, I must thank the dear little girl who is not my subject, but has come here on a visit to find us in trouble that is now at an end. She must come again. That is the only way in which I can reward her.”

She smiled graciously and sweetly at Peggy, who felt extraordinarily pleased.

Then she turned to Wooden. “You have always had my respect and liking,” she said, “and I had intended to have appointed you today to a post of honour about my person. I do so now, under the title of Lady-in-Waiting in Ordinary, and Extra Bed-doll of the Royal Chamber. Your duties will bring you into constant relationship with me, and I look forward with pleasure to making you my friend.”

It was most graciously said, and Wooden was so overcome with pride and pleasure that she could only stammer out her thanks, and promise to perform her duties as well as ever she could.

The Queen then called for a sword. Colonel Jim handed her his, and to his great surprise she knighted him with it, and then conferred the same honour upon Teddy, who was even more surprised, as he was the first bear in Toyland who had ever received it.

When she had done this, she rose from her seat, and intimated that she wished to retire for the night, but before doing so she said a few gracious words to all who were in the hall. She said with a smile to Colonel Jim that she hoped soon to know him under the title of Sir Jim Lady-Grace, which was a happy way of saying that she would forward a marriage between him and her favourite lady-in-waiting. And she told Teddy, who was so overcome with the honour that had been conferred on him that his customary flightiness had departed for the moment, that she thought he ought to get married too, and she should always be pleased to welcome to her Court Sir Teddy and Lady Bear-Wooden’s-Aunt.

It may readily be guessed into what a flutter this suggestion put Wooden’s aunt. While the Queen was talking to her, and hearing about her having been tied up to the tree by Selim and Rose, she was quiet and respectful. But directly the Queen’s back was turned, and Teddy came up to her with a grin to see whether she liked the idea of marrying him, she cut a caper, and Teddy cut another, so that Wooden’s mother had to remind them both that they would belong for the future to the Upper Ten Thousand, and must learn to behave themselves.

* * * * *

The shades of evening were beginning to close in as the Queen left the hall, and suddenly Peggy began to feel as if she had had a very long day, and would like to go to sleep in her own little bed at home, if only she could get there. She began to wonder if it would be necessary to go over again all the long journey between Toyland and her home, and turned to ask Wooden how they were to get back.

* * * * *

But as she turned, the hall and all the dolls in it seemed to be fading away, and as she opened her mouth to speak----

* * * * *

She awoke, to find herself lying in her own little white bed, with dear Wooden in her arms, and Teddy with his impudent face lying on the pillow, pointing one paw towards the open window, into which the happy morning sun was shining.

Transcriber’s Note:

Minor errors and omissions in punctuation and spelling have been fixed, otherwise the text has been left in original condition, except for the below

Page 126: “to use pass-word” changed to “to use the pass-word”