With Kitchener in the Soudan : a story of Atbara and Omdurman

by G. A. Henty

  a They will do very well on the bushes, my lord. They get little else when they are with the Arabs; a handful of durra occasionally when they are at work, but at other times they only get what they can pick up. If their master is a good one they may get a few dates. They will carry us briskly enough to the river to-morrow."

  They did not talk long, and were soon sound asleep. Zaki was the first to wake. "Day is just breaking, master."

  "You don't say so!" Gregory grumbled sleepily. "It seems to me that we have only just lain down." They ate the remainder of their dates, took a drink of water, and gave two gourdfuls to the horses, and in a quarter of an hour were on their way again. They had ridden but two or three miles when Zaki exclaimed, "There are some horsemen!"

  " Eight of them, Zaki, and they are evidently riding to cut us off! As far as I can see, only four of them have guns; the others have spears. I think we can manage them. With my breech-loader I can fire two shots to their one, and we have pistols as well."

  The Arabs drew up ahead of them and remained quiet there until the others came to within fifty yards and checked their horses. A man who appeared to be the leader of the party shouted the usual salutation, to which Gregory replied.

  The leader said, " Where are my friends going and why do they halt?"

  "We are on a mission. We wish to see if the infidels are still at Ambukol."

  "For that you will not want guns," the man said, "and we need them badly. I beg of you to give them to us."

  "They may be of use to us; we may come upon infidel scouts."

  "Nevertheless, my friends, you must hand them over to us. We are, as you see, eight, and you are only two. The law of the desert is that the stronger take and the weaker lose."

  " It may be so sometimes," Gregory said quietly, " but not in this case. I advise you to ride your way and we will ride ours." Then he said to Zaki, "Dismount and stand behind your horse, and fire over the saddle, but don't fire the first shot now." He threw himself from his saddle. Scarcely had he done so when four shots were fired, and Gregory took a steady aim at the chief. The latter threw up his arms and fell. With a yell of fury the others dashed forward. Zaki did not fire until they were within twenty yards, and directly afterwards Gregory fired again. There were now but five assailants. "Now for your pistols, Zaki!" he cried, glancing round for the first time. He then saw why Zaki had not fired when he first did so—his horse was lying dead in front of him, shot through the head. "Stand by me; don't throw away a shot! You take the man on the other side of the horse; I will take the others."

  Steadily the four pistols were fired. As the Arabs rode up two of them fell, and another was wounded. Dismayed at the loss of so many of their number, the three survivors rode off at full speed.

  "Are you hurt, Zaki?"

  "A spear grazed my cheek, my lord, that is all. It was my own fault; I kept my last barrel too long. However, it tumbled him over. Are you hurt, master?"

  "I have got a ball in the shoulder. That fellow without a spear has got pistols, and fired just as I did, or rather an instant before. That shook my aim, but he has a ball in him somewhere.

  "Just see if they have got some dates on their saddles," for the horses of the fallen men had remained by the side of their masters' bodies.

  "Yes, my lord," Zaki said, examining them; "two bags nearly full."

  " That is satisfactory. Pick out the best horse for yourself, and then we will ride on. But before we go we will break the stocks of these four guns, and carry the barrels off and throw them into the bushes a mile or two away."

  As soon as this was done they mounted and rode on. They halted in a quarter of an hour, and after Gregory's arm had been bound tightly to his side with his sash, both they and their horses had a good meal of dates. Then they rode on again, and in three hours saw some white tents ahead. There was a slight stir as they were seen coming, and a dozen black soldiers sprang up and ran forward, fixing bayonets as they did so.

  "We are friends!" Gregory shouted in Arabic, and Zaki repeated the shout in his own language. The soldiers looked doubtful, and stood together in a group. They knew that the Dervishes were sometimes ready to throw away their own lives if they could but kill some of their enemy. One of them shouted back, "Stay where you are until I call an officer!" He went back to the tents, and returned with a white officer whom Gregory at once recognized as one of those who had come up with him from Wady Haifa.

  "Leslie," he shouted in English, "will you kindly call off your soldiers ? one of their muskets might go off accidentally. I suppose you don't remember me. I am Hilliard, who came up with you in the steamer."

  The officer had stopped in astonishment at hearing this seeming Dervish address him by name in English. He then advanced, giving an order to his men to fall back.

  "Is it really you, Hilliard?" he said as he approached the horsemen, who were coming forward at a walk. " Which of you is it? for I don't see any resemblance in either of you."

  "It is I, Leslie; I am not surprised that you don't know me."

  " But what are you masquerading for in this dress, and where have you come from?"

  "Perhaps I had better not say, Leslie. I have been doing some scouting across the desert with my boy here. We have had a long ride. In the first place, my arm wants attending to, I have a bullet in the shoulder. The next thing we need is something to eat; for the last three days we have had nothing but dates, and not too many of them. Is there any chance of getting taken up to Merawi ? We came down from there to Korti in a native vessel."

  "Yes; a gun-boat with some native craft will be going up this afternoon. I will give orders at once that your horses shall be put on board."

  When the ball had been extracted from his shoulder, and the wound dressed and bandaged by the surgeon in charge, Gregory went up to the tents again, where he was warmly received by the three white officers of the negro regiment. Breakfast had already been prepared, Zaki being handed over to the native officers. After having made a hearty meal, Gregory related the adventure with the Arabs in the desert, merely saying that they had found there were no Dervishes at Gakdul.

  "But why didn't you go straight back instead of coming-down here?"

  " I wanted to see whether this line was open, and whether there were any wells on it. We only found one, and it took us four or five hours' hard work to get at the water. It is lucky indeed that we did so, for our horses were getting very done up, and I had begun to think that they would not reach our destination alive."

  In the afternoon the adventurers started with the boats going up to Merawi, and the next morning arrived at the camp. The Dervish patches had been removed from their clothes as soon as they arrived at Ambukol. Gregory could have borrowed a white suit there, but as the stain on his skin, although somewhat lighter than when first put on, was too dark, he declined the offer.

  "No one may notice me as I land now," he said, "but everyone would stare at a man with a brown face and white uniform."

  Leaving Zaki to get the horses on shore, Gregory went straight to t>he General's quarters. He told the sentry that he wished to see the General on business. "You cannot go in," the man said, " the General is engaged."

  "If you send in word to him that his messenger has returned, I am sure he will see me."

  "You can sit down here then," the sentry said. "When the officer with him comes out, I will give your message to his orderly."

  Gregory, however, was in no humour to be stopped, and in an authoritative voice called, " Orderly!" A soldier came down directly from the guard-room. " Tell the General at once that Mr. Hilliard has returned."

  With a look of wonder the orderly went into the tent. Half a minute later he returned. " You are to come in," he said.

  As the General had seen Gregory in his disguise before starting, he of course recognized him. "My dear Hilliard," he said, getting up and shaking him cordially by the hand, " I am heartily glad to see you back. You have been frequently in my thoughts, and though I had every confidence i
n your sharpness I have regretted more than once that I allowed you to go. I suppose you failed to get there. It is hardly possible that you should have done so in the time. I suppose when you got to Gakdul you learned that the Dervishes were at Abu Klea."

  " They were at Abu Klea, General, but I made a detour and got into their camp at Metemmeh."

  "You did, and have returned safely! I congratulate you most warmly. I told you, Macdonald," he said, turning to the officer with whom he had been engaged, " that I had the greatest hope that Mr. Hilliard would get through. He felt so confident in himself that I could scarce help feeling confidence in him too."

  "He has done well indeed!" Colonel Macdonald said. "I should not have liked to send any of my officers on such an adventure, though they have been here for years."

  "Well, will you sit down, Mr. Hilliard," the General said, " and give us a full account. In the first place, what you have learned, and in the second, how you have learned it."

  Gregory related the conversations he had heard among the soldiers, and then that of Mahmud's brother and the commander of the Dervish cavalry. Then he described the events of his journey there, his narrow escape from capture, and the pursuit by the Dervishes at Abu Klea; how he gave them the slip, struck the Ambukol caravan road, had a fight with a band of robber Arabs, and finally reached the Egyptian camp.

  "An excellently-managed business!" the General said warmly. "You have certainly had some narrow escapes, and seem to have adopted the only course by which you could have got off safely. The information you have brought is of the highest importance. I shall telegraph at once to the Sirdar that there will assuredly be no advance on the part of Mahmud from Metemmeh, which will leave him free to carry out the plans he has formed. I shall of course, in my written dispatch, give him full particulars of the manner in which I have obtained that information."

  "It was a very fine action," Macdonald agreed. "The lad has shown that he has a good head as well as great courage. You will make your way, Mr. Hilliard,—that is, if you don't try this sort of thing again. A man may get through it once, but it would be just tempting providence to try it a second time."

  " Now, Mr. Hilliard," the General said, "you had best go to your quarters. I will ask the surgeon to attend to you at once. You must keep quiet and do no more duty until you are discharged from the sick list."

  Ten days later orders were issued that the brigade under Macdonald, consisting of the 3rd Egyptians, and the 9th, 10th, and 11th Soudanese, together with a mule battery, were to move forward the next day to Kassinger, the advanced post some ten miles higher up the river. This seemed only a preliminary step, and the general opinion was that another fortnight would elapse before there would be a general movement. A reconnaissance with friendly Arabs had, however, been made ahead towards Abu Hamed, and had obtained certain information that the garrison at that place was by no means a strong one. The information Gregory had gathered had shown that Mahmud had no intention of advancing against Merawi, and that no reinforcements had as yet started to join the force at Abu Hamed, the Dervish leader being convinced that the Nile was not yet high enough to admit of boats going up the cataract. Thus everything favoured the Sirdar's plan to capture Abu Hamed, and enable the railway to be constructed to that place before Mahmud could receive the news that the troops were in motion. He therefore directed General Hunter to push forward with only one brigade, leaving the rest to hold Merawi, and ordered the camel corps and the friendly Arabs to advance across the desert as far as the Gakdul wells, where their appearance would lead Mahmud to believe that they were the advance-guard of the coming army. Two days later Gregory, on going to the head-quarters tent, was told that General Hunter and his staff would start in an hour's time to inspect the camp at Kassinger.

  "Do you think you are fit to ride?" the chief of the staff asked him.

  " Perfectly, sir. The doctor discharged me yesterday as fit for duty, but advised me to keep my arm in a sling for a time."

  " In that case you may accompany us. It is a little uncertain when we shall return," the officer said with a smile, " therefore I advise you to take all your belongings with you. Have them packed up quietly; we do not wish any suspicions to arise that we are not returning this evening."

  * c Thank you, sir!" Gregory said gratefully; "I shall be ready to start in an hour."

  He returned in high glee to his hut, for he felt certain that an immediate advance was about to take place. "Zaki," he said, "I am going to ride with the General; and as it is possible I may be stationed at Kassinger for a short time, you had better get the camel brought up, and start as soon as you have packed the things on it. I am going to ride over with the staff in an hour, and shall overtake you by the way. How long will you be?"

  " Half an hour, bey."

  "I will be here by that time, and will take my horse; then you can go on with the camel."

  Behind the head-quarter camp the work of packing up was also going on, the camels being sent off in threes and fours as they were laden, so "as to attract no attention. Half an hour later the General came out, and without delay started with the staff, Captain Fitton remaining behind to see that the rest of the stores were sent off and a small tent for the use of the General. All heavy packages were to be taken up by water. The arrival of the General at Kassinger excited no surprise, as he had ridden over the day before; but when in the afternoon orders were issued that the camels should all be laden in preparation for a march that evening, the Soudanese could with difficulty be restrained from giving vent to their exuberant joy that at length their long halt was at an end, and they were to have another chance of getting at the enemy.

  A large train of camels had been quietly collected at Kassinger, sufficient to carry the necessary supplies for the use of the column for some three weeks' time, and it was hoped that before long the gun-boats and many of the native craft with stores would join them at Abu Hamed. The force started at sunset. The distance to be travelled was a hundred and eighteen miles, and the road was a very difficult one. The ground rose steeply almost from the edge of the river, and at times had to be traversed in single file. As night came on,

  the scene was a weird one. On one side the rocky ascent rose black and threatening; on the other, the river rushed foaming, only broken by the rocks and little islands of the cataract.

  Gregory had been ordered to remain with the camel train, to keep them as much as possible together, and prevent wide gaps from occurring in the ranks. It was tedious work, and the end of the train did not arrive until broad daylight at the spot where the infantry halted. He at once told Zaki to pitch his little tent, which he had already shown him how to do, while he went to see if there were any orders at head-quarters. He found the staff were just sitting down to a rough breakfast. Being told after the meal that he would not be wanted during the day, but that at night he was to continue his work with the camels, he went back to his tent and threw himself on his bed. But, in spite of the fly being fastened up and a blanket thrown over the tent, the heat was so great that he was only able to doze off occasionally.

  He observed that even the black troops suffered from the heat. They had erected screens with their blankets placed end to end, supported by their guns, and lay there, getting what air there was, and sheltered from the direct rays of the sun. Few slept; most of them talked or smoked. There was some argument among the officers as to the relative advantages of night and day marches. All agreed that if only one march had to be done it was better to do it at night; but when, as in the present case, it would last for seven or eight days, many thought that, terrible as would be the heat, it would be better to march in the day and permit the troops to sleep at night. This opinion certainly seemed to be justified, for at the end of the third day the men were so completely worn out from want of sleep that they stumbled as they marched, and were with difficulty restrained from throwing themselves down to get the much-needed rest.

  Gregory always went down as soon as the column arrived at its halting-pl
ace, as he did before starting in the evening, to bathe in some quiet pool or back-water; and much as he had set himself against taking spirits, he found that he was unable to eat his meals unless he took a spoonful or two with his water or cold tea.

  On the evening of the third day they passed the battle-field of Kirbekan, where General Earle fell when the River Expedition was attacked by the Dervishes. Next day they halted at Hebbeh, where Colonel Stewart, on his way down with a number of refugees from Khartoum, was treacherously murdered; a portion of the steamer was still visible in the river. Day after day the column plodded on, for the most part strung out in single file, the line extending over many miles, and late on the evening of the 6th of August they reached a spot within a mile and a half of Abu Hamed, the hundred and eighteen miles having been accomplished in seven days and a half.

  So far as they knew, the enemy had as yet received no news of their approach. Three hours' rest was given the troops, and then they marched out in order of battle. A fail idea of the position had been obtained from the friendly natives. Abu Hamed lay on the river. The desert sloped gradually down to it on all sides, with a sharp, deep descent within two hundred yards of the town. The houses were all loopholed for defence. When within a mile of the town they must have been sighted by the Dervish sentries on a lofty watch-tower. No movement, however, was visible, and there was a general feeling of disappointment as the impression gained ground that the enemy had retreated. The 9th and 10th Soudanese made a sweep round to attack from the desert side; the 11th, and half of the Egyptian battalion—the other half having been left to guard the baggage—followed the course of the river.

  Major Kincaid rode forward to the edge of the steep slope that looked down to the town. He could see no one moving about. The Dervish trenches, about eighty yards away, appeared empty, and he was about to write a message to the General saying that the place was deserted, when a sharp fire suddenly opened upon him. He turned to ride back to warn the General, but he was too late, for at the same moment Hunter with his staff galloped up to the edge of the slope and was immediately saluted by a heavy volley, which, however, was fired so wildly that none of the party were hit. The artillery were now ordered to bombard the place. At first they could only fire at the tops of the houses, but, changing their position, they found a spot where they could command the town. For half an hour this continued. The infantry were drawn up just beyond the brow, where they could not be seen by the defenders. The Dervishes gave no signs of life, and as the artillery could not depress their guns sufficiently to enable them to rake the trenches, the infantry were ordered to charge.