Fugen eBooks

A small band of soldiers or settlers, armed with the
resources of science, and strengthened by the cohesion of mutual trust,
are assailed in some isolated post, by thousands of warlike and
merciless enemies. Usually the courage and equipment of the garrison
enable them to hold out until a relieving force arrives, as at Rorke's
Drift, Fort Chitral, Chakdara or Gulistan. But sometimes the defenders
are overwhelmed, and, as at Saraghari or Khartoum, none are left to tell
the tale. There is something strangely terrible in the spectacle of men,
who fight--not for political or patriotic reasons, not for the sake of
duty or glory--but for dear life itself; not because they want to, but
because they have to. They hold the dykes of social progress against a
rising deluge of barbarism, which threatens every moment to overflow the
banks and drown them all. The situation is one which will make a coward
valorous, and affords to brave men opportunities for the most sublime
forms of heroism and devotion.


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