by G. A. Henty
"We intend to do so, sir;" and then, mounting, they rode on, the native officer walking beside them.
" You know the country, I suppose 1" he said. " The Dervishes are bad, but I would rather fall into their hands than lose my way in the desert. The one is a musket ball or a quick chop with a knife, the other an agony for two or three days."
"I have been along the road before," Zaki said; "there is no fear of my losing my way, and even if I did so I could travel by the stars."
"I wish we were all moving," the native said. "It is dull work staying here month after month."
As soon as they were beyond the lines they thanked the officer, and went off at a pace native horses are capable of keeping up for hours.
" Korti is a much pleasanter camp to stay in than Merawi," Gregory said. " It really looks a delightful place. It is quite evident that the Mahdists have never made a raid here."
The camp stood on a high bank above the river. There were spreading groves of trees, and the broad avenues that had been constructed when the Gordon relief expedition was encamped there could still be seen. Beyond it was a stretch of land which had been partly cultivated. Sevas grass grew plentifully, and acacia and mimosa shrubs in patches.
They rode to the wells of Hambok, a distance of some five-and-thirty miles, which they covered in five hours. There they halted, watered their horses, and after giving them a good feed turned them out to munch the shrubs or graze on the grass as they chose. They then had a meal from the food they had brought with them, made a shelter of bushes, for the heat was intense, and afterwards sewed the Mahdi patches upon their clothes.
When the sun went down they fetched the horses in, gave them a small feed, and then fastened them to some bushes near. As there was plenty of water in the wells they took an empty gourd down and, stripping, poured water over their heads and bodies; then, feeling greatly refreshed, dressed and lay down to sleep. The moon rose between twelve and one, and after giving the horses a drink they mounted and rode to Gakdul, which they reached soon after daybreak. They had stopped a mile away, and Zaki went forward on foot, hiding himself as much as possible from observation. On his return he reported that no one was at the wells, and they therefore rode on, taking every precaution against surprise. The character of the scenery had completely changed, and they had for some miles been winding along at the foot of the Jebel-el-Jilif
hills. These were steep and precipitous, with spurs and inter mediate valleys. The wells differed entirely from those at Hambok, which were merely holes dug in the sand, the water being brought up in one of the skin bags they had brought with them, and poured into shallow cisterns made in the surface. At Gakdul the wells were large pools in the rock at the foot of one of the spurs of the hill, two miles from the line of the caravan route. Here the water was beautifully clear, and abundant enough for the wants of a large force.
" It is lucky I had you with me, Zaki, for I should certainly have gone straight on past the wells without knowing where they were; and as there are no others this side of Abu Klea, I should have had rather a bad day.
The three forts which the Guards had built when they came on in advance of General Stewart's column were still standing, as well as a number of smaller ones which had been afterwards added.
"It is rather a bad place for being caught, Zaki, for the ground is so broken and rocky that the Dervishes might creep up without being seen."
"Yes, sir, it is a bad place," Zaki agreed. "I am glad that none of the Dervishes were here, for we should not have seen them until we were quite close."
Zaki had on the road cut a large faggot of dried sticks, and a fire was soon lighted.
"You must give the horses a good allowance of grain," Gregory said, " for they will be able to pick up nothing here, and it is a long ride to Abu Klea."
"We shall have to be very careful there, my lord; it is not so very far from Metemmeh, and we are very likely to find Baggaras at the wells. It was there they met the English force that went through to Metemmeh. I think it would be better for us to halt early this evening and camp at the foot of Jebel Sergain; the English halted there before advancing to Abu Klea. We can take plenty of water in the two skins, to give the horses a drink and leave enough for to-morrow.
There is grass in abundance there. When the moon rises we can make our way round to avoid Abu Klea, and halt in the middle of the day for some hours. We could then ride on as soon as the sun is low, halt when it becomes too dark to ride, and then start again when the moon rises. In that way we shall reach the river before it is light."
"I think that would be a very good plan, Zaki. We should find it very difficult to explain who we were if we met any Dervishes at Abu Klea. I will have a look at my sketch map; we have found it very good and accurate so far, and with that and the compass the General gave me before starting, we ought to have no difficulty in striking the river, as the direction is only a little to the east of south."
He opened a tin of preserved meat, of which he had four with him, and placed it to warm near the fire. " We should have had to throw the other tins away if we had gone on to Abu Klea," he said; "it would never have done for them to be found upon us if we were searched."
When the meat was hot they ate it, using some biscuits as plates. Afterwards they feasted on a melon they had brought with them, and were glad to hear their horses munching the leaves of some shrubs near. When the moon rose they started. It was slow work at first, as they had some difficulty in passing the rough country lying behind the hill. Once past it, they came upon a level plain, and rode fast for some hours. At ten o'clock they halted and lay down under the shelter of the shrubs, mounting again at four and riding for another three hours.
"How far do you think we are from the river now? By the map, I should think we cannot be much more than twenty miles from it."
" I don't know, my lord. I have never been along here before; but it certainly ought not to be farther than that."
"We have ridden nine hours; we travelled slowly for the first four or five, but we have come fast since then. We must give the horses a good rest, so we will not move on till the moon rises, which will be about a quarter to two. It does not give a great deal of light now, and we shall have to make our way through the scrub; but, at any rate, we ought to be close to the river before morning."
When the sun was low they again lit a fire and had another good nit, giving the greater portion of their stock of biscuits to the horses, and a good drink of water. " We must use up all we can eat before to-morrow, Zaki, and betake ourselves to diet of dried dates. There is enough water left to give the horses a drink before we start, then we shall start as genuin Dervishes."
They found that the calculation they had made as to distance was correct, and before daybreak arrived on the bank of the Nile and at once encamped in a grove. In the morning they could see the houses of Metemmeh rising from the line of sandy soil some five miles away.
" There seems to be plenty of bush and cover all along the bank, Zaki. We will stay here till the evening and then move three miles farther down, so that you may be handy if I have to leave the Dervishes in a hurry."
" Could we not go into the camp, my lord ?"
"It would be much better in some respects if we could; but, you see, you do not speak Arabic."
" No, master; but you could say I was carried off as a slave when I was a boy. You see, I do speak a little Arabic, and could understand simple orders just as any slave hoy would, if he had been eight or ten years among the Arabs,"
"It would certainly be a great advantage to have you and the horses handy. However, at first I will go in and join the Dervishes, and see how they encamp. They are no doubt a good deal scattered, and if we could find a quiet spot where a few mounted men have taken up their station, we would join them. But before we did that it would be necessary to find out whether they came from Kordofan or from some of the villages on the White Nile; it would never do to stumble into a party from El Obeid."
They
remained quiet all day. The wood extended a hundred and fifty yards back from the river, and there was little fear that anyone coming down from Omdurman would enter it when within sight of Metemmeh. At dusk they rode on again until they judged that they were within two miles of the town, and then, entering a clump of high bushes by the river, halted for the night.
CHAPTER VIII
AMONG THE DERVISHES
IN the morning Gregory started alone as soon as it was light. As he neared the town he saw that there were several native craft on the river, and that boats were passing to and fro between the town and Shendy on the opposite bank. From the water-side a number of men were carrying what appeared to be bags of grain towards the hills behind the town, while others were straggling down towards the river. Without being questioned Gregory entered Metemmeh, but stopped there for a very few minutes. Everywhere were the bodies of men, women, and children, of donkeys and other animals. All were now shrivelled and dried by the sun, but the stench was almost unbearable, and he was glad to hurry away. Once beyond the walls he made for the hill. Many tents could be seen there, and great numbers of men moving about. He felt sure that among so many no one would notice that he was a new-comer, and after moving among the throng, he soon sat down among a number of Dervishes who were eating their morning meal. Taking some dates out of his bag he munched them quietly. From the talk going on he soon perceived that there was a considerable amount of discontent at the long delay. Some of the men were in favour of moving to Berber, on the ground that they would at least fare better there, but the majority were eager to march north to drive the infidels from Merawi and Dongola.
"Mahmud would do that, I am sure," one of them said, "if he had but his will; but how could we march without provisions'? It is said that Mahmud has asked for a sufficient supply to cross the Bayuda, and has promised to drive the infidels before him to Assouan; but the Khalifa says no, it would be better to wait till they come in a strong body and then to exterminate them. If we are not to fight, why were we sent here? It would have been better to stay at Omdurman, because there we had plenty of food, or, if it ran short, could march to the villages and take what we wanted. Of course the Khalifa knows best, but to us it seems strange indeed."
There was a general chorus of assent. After listening for some time Gregory rose, and, passing over the ridge, came upon the main camp. Here were a number of emirs and sheiks with their banners flying before the entrance of their tents. The whole ground was thickly dotted with little shelters formed of bushes, over which dark blankets were thrown to keep out the rays of the sun. Everywhere women were seated or standing—some talking to each other, others engaged in cooking; children played about; boys came in loaded with faggots, which they had gone long distances to cut. In some places numbers of horses were picketed, showing where the Baggara cavalry were stationed. In the neighbourhood of the emirs' tents there was some sort of attempt at order in the arrangement of the little shelters, showing where the men of their tribes were encamped.
Beyond, straggling out for some distance, were small encampments, in some of which the men were still erecting shelters with the bushes the women and boys brought in. Most of these were evidently fresh arrivals who had squatted down as soon as they came up, either from ignorance as to where their friends had encamped or from a preference for a quiet situation. This fringe of new arrivals extended along the whole semicircle of the camp, and as several small parties came up while Gregory wandered about, and he saw that no notice was taken of them by those already established, he thought that he could bring Zaki and the horses up without any fear of close questioning. He therefore walked down again to the spot where he had left them, and, mounting, they rode to the camp, making a wide sweep so as to avoid the front facing Metemmeh.
" We could camp equally well anywhere here, Zaki, but we may as well go round to the extreme left, as, if we have to ride off suddenly, we shall at least start from the nearest point to the line by which we came."
There was a small clump of bushes a hundred yards or so from the nearest of the little shelters. Here they dismounted, and at once began with their knives to cut down some of the bushes to form a screen from the sun. They had watered the horses before they left the river, and had also filled their water-skins.
"I don't think we could find a better place, Zaki," Gregory said, when, having completed their shelter and thrown their blankets over it, they lay down in the shade. " No doubt we shall soon be joined by others, but as we are the first comers on this spot it will be for us to ask questions of them, and, after, for them to make enquiries of us. I shall go into the camp as soon as the heat abates and people begin to move about again. Remember our story:—You were carried off from a Jaalin village in a raid. Your master was a small sheik, and is now with the force at El Obeid. You had been the companion of his son, and when the latter made up his mind to come and fight here your master gave you your freedom so that you might fight by his son's side. You might say that I have not yet settled under whose banner I shall fight. All I wish is to be in the front of the battle when we meet the infidels. That will be quite sufficient. There are men here from almost every village in the Soudan, and no one will care much where his neighbours come from.
" Mention that we intend to fight as matchlock men, not on horseback, as the animals are greatly fatigued from their long journey and will require rest for some time; and being so far from home I fear that we might lose them if we went into the fight with them, and in that case might have to journey on foot for a long time before we could get others. I don't at all suppose that it will be necessary for you to say all this. People will be too much occupied with their own affairs to care much about others; still, it is well not to hesitate if questioned."
Talk and laughter in the great camp ceased now, and it was not until the sun lost its power that it again began. Gregory did not move till it began to get dusk.
"I shall be away some time," he said, "so don't be at all uneasy about me. I shall take my black blanket so that I can cover myself with it and lie down, as if asleep, close to any of the emirs' tents where I hear talk going on, and so may be able to gather some idea as to their views. I have already learned that the tribesmen have not heard of any immediate move, and are discontented at being kept inactive so long. The leaders, however, may have their plans, but will not make them known to the men until it is time for action."
The camp was thoroughly alive when he entered it. Men were sitting about in groups; the women, as before, keeping near their little shelters, laughing and chatting together, and sometimes quarrelling. From the manner of the men, who either sat or walked about, it was not difficult for Gregory to distinguish between the villagers who had been dragged away from their homes and forced to enter the service of the Khalifa, and the Baggara and kindred tribes who had so long held the Soudan in subjection. The former were quiet in their demeanour and sometimes sullen in their looks. He had no doubt that when the fighting came these would face death at the hands of the infidels as bravely as their oppressors, for the belief in Mahdism was now universal. His followers had proved themselves invincible; they had no doubt that they would destroy the armies of Egypt, but they resented being dragged away from their quiet homes, their families, and their fields.
Among these the Baggara strode haughtily. Splendid men for the most part, tall, lithe, and muscular; men with the supreme belief in themselves and in their cause, carrying themselves as the Norman barons might have done among a crowd of Saxons; the conquerors of the land, the most trusted followers of the successor of the Mahdi, men who felt themselves invincible. It was true that they had so far failed to overrun Egypt, and had even suffered reverses, but these the Khalifa had taught them to consider were due to disobedience of his orders or the result of their fighting upon unlucky days. All this was soon to be reversed. The prophecies had told that the infidels were about to be annihilated, and that then they Avould sweep down without opposition, and possess themselves of the plunder of Egypt.
Gregory passed wholly unnoticed among the crowd. There was nothing to distinguish him from others, and the thought that an Egyptian spy, still less one of the infidels, should venture into their camp had never occurred to one of that multitude. Occasionally he sat down near a group of the Baggara, listening to their talk. They were impatient too, but they were convinced that all was for the best, and that when it was the will of Allah they would destroy their enemy. Still, there were expressions of impatience that Mahmud was not allowed to advance. "We know," one said, "that it is at Kirbekan that the last great destruction of the infidel is to take place, and that these madmen are coming to their fate; still, we might move down and destroy those at Dongola and along the river, and possess ourselves of their arms and stores. Why should we come thus far from Omdurman if we are to go no farther ?"
" Why ask questions?" another said contemptuously. "Enough that it is the command of the Khalifa, to whom power and knowledge has been given by the Mahdi, until he himself returns to earth. To the Khalifa will be revealed the day and the hour on which we are to smite the infidel. If Mahmud and the great emirs are all content to wait, why should we be impatient?"
Everywhere Gregory went he heard the same feelings expressed. The men were impatient to be up and doing, but they must wait the appointed hour. It was late before he ventured to approach the tents of the leaders. He knew that it was impossible to get near Mahmud himself, for he had his own bodyguard of picked men. The night, however, was dark, and, enveloping himself from head to foot in his black blanket, he crawled out until well beyond the line of tents, and then very cautiously made his way towards them again. He knew that he should see the white figures of the Dervishes before they could make him out, and he managed, unnoticed, to crawl up to one of the largest tents and lie down against it. He heard the chatter of the women in an adjoining tent, but there was no sound in that against which he lay.