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

by G. A. Henty

  "I have enquired of many who were at El Obeid, my lord," he said. " All say that there was no white man in the camp when the black battalion surrendered, though one had been seen while the fighting was going on; nor was the body of one found where the fight had taken place on the previous day. It was a matter of talk among the Dervishes of the time, for they had lain in a circle round the enemy, and were convinced that no one passed through their lines. Those who surrendered said that he had taken the command, and had exposed himself to the hottest fire and encouraged them, telling them that the more bravely they defended themselves the more likely they were to obtain favourable terms. The night before, he had advised them to accept any offer the Dervishes might make, but on the following morning he was missing, and none could give any account of what had become of him. The same tale is told by all to whom I have spoken."

  The story made a profound impression upon Gregory. It seemed possible that the father of whom he had no remembrance might have been the sole white survivor of Hicks's army. True, there was nothing to prove that he was the white man who had joined the black battalion that escaped the first day's massacre. There were other non-combatants, Vizitelly, the artist of the Illustrated London News, and O'Donovan, the correspondent of the Daily News. Either of these might also have been at any other portion of the square when the attack commenced, and unable to join Hicks and his officers in their final charge into the midst of the enemy. Still, it was at least possible that his father was the man who had retired from the field with the black battalion, and who had afterwards so strangely disappeared. If so, what had become of him all these years ? Had he made off in disguise only to be murdered by wandering bands? Had he been concealed for months in the hut of a friendly tribesman? What had he been doing since? Had he been killed in trying to make his way down? Had he been enslaved, and was he still lingering on in a wretched existence? He could hardly hope that he had fallen into friendly hands, for had he been alive he would surely have managed, with his knowledge of the country, to make his way down, or to reach Khartoum when it was still held by the Egyptians.

  At any rate Gregory concluded that he might find out whether any European had arrived there during the siege. He went down to the river and took a native boat across to Khartoum. At the ceremony on Sunday many natives watched the arrival of the flotilla, and some of these might have been there in Gordon's time. He had no great hopes of it, but there was just a chance. The flags were still flying over the governor's house when he landed, and a detachment of Egyptian troops was stationed there. A native officer came down when he landed.

  "I have come across to question some of the natives," he said. "I believe some are still living here."

  " Oh, yes, bimbashi! there are a good many scattered about among the ruins; they come in bringing fruit and fish for sale. I think they mostly live down by the river-side."

  Gregory kept on till he came to the huts occupied by the fishermen and men who cultivated small plots of ground. He found several who had lived at Khartoum when it was captured, and who had escaped the general massacre by hiding till nightfall and then making their way up the river in boats. None of them could give him the information he sought, but one suggested that he was more likely to hear from the Greeks and Turks who worked in the Khalifa's arsenal and foundries, as they had been spared for the services they would be able to render to the Mahdi. Eeturning to Omdur-man he went to the machine-shop. Here work had already been resumed, as repairs were needed by several of the gunboats. He went up to the foreman, a man of some sixty years of age.

  " You were engaged in the city during the siege, were you not?" he said in Arabic, with which he knew the foreman must be thoroughly acquainted.

  " Yes, sir, I had been here ten years before that."

  " I am very anxious to learn whether any white man who had survived the battle of El Obeid ever reached this town before its capture."

  The man thought for some time. "Yes," he said, "a white man certainly came here towards the end of the siege. I know, because I happened to meet him when I was going home from work, and he asked me the way to the governor's. I should not have known him to be a white man, for he had a native attire and was as black from exposure to the sun as any of the

  Arabs. I gave him directions, and did not ask him any questions; but it was said afterwards that he was one of Hicks's officers. Later, I heard that he went down in the steamer with Colonel Stewart."

  "You did not hear his name?" Gregory asked anxiously. "No, sir."

  "Did he talk Arabic well?"

  "Extremely well; much better than I did at the time." " Do you remember how long he arrived before the steamer started?"

  "Not very long, sir, though I really cannot tell you how long it was."

  "After you were cut off, I suppose?" " Certainly it was, but I cannot say how long." " No one else here would know more about it than you do ?" "No, sir; I should think not. But you can ask them." He call i up some of the other workmen. All knew that a white officer of Hicks Pasha's army was said to have returned. One of them remembered that he had come down once with Gordon to see about some repairs required to the engines of a steamer, but he had never heard his name, nor could he recall his personal appearance, except that he seemed to be a man about thirty. But he remembered once seeing him again on board Stewart's steamer, as they had been working at her engines just before she started.

  After thanking the foreman Gregory returned to the hut where he and two other officers of Hunter's staff had taken up their quarters. He was profoundly depressed. This white man might well have been his father; but if so, it was even more certain than before that he had fallen. He knew what had been the fate of Stewart's steamer, the remains of which he had seen at Hebbeh. The Colonel and all with him had accepted the invitation of the treacherous sheik of that village, and had been massacred. He would at least go there, and endeavour to learn from some of the natives the particulars of the fate of those on board, and whether it was possible that any of the whites could have escaped. After sitting for some time in thought he went to General Hunter's quarters and asked to see him.

  The General listened sympathetically to his story. " I never for a moment thought that your father could have escaped," he said, "but from what you tell me it is possible that he did so, only to perish afterwards. But I can well understand how, having learnt so much, you should be anxious to hear more. Certainly I will grant your request for leave to go down to Hebbeh. As you know, that place was taken and destroyed by the river column under Earle, or rather under Brackenbury, for Earle had been killed in the fight at Kirbekan. Numerous relics were found of the massacre, but the journal Stewart was known to have kept was not among them. Had it been there it would no doubt have mentioned the survivor of Hicks's army who was coming down the river with him. The place was deserted when Brackenbury arrived; it certainly was so when we came up. Since then some of the inhabitants have probably returned, and may know of places where plunder was hidden away on the approach of Bracken-bury's column. No doubt the offer of a reward would lead to their production.

  "You may not have to be absent long; the British regiments are to go down at once, and several steamers will start to-morrow. I will give you an order to go with them. You will have no difficulty in getting back, for the Sirdar has already decided that the railway is to be carried on at once from Atbara to Khartoum, and has, I believe, telegraphed this morning that material and stores are to be sent up at once. Most of these will, no doubt, be brought on by rail, but grain, of which large quantities will be required for the use of our troops and of the population of the town, will come on by water. But no doubt your quickest way back will be to ride to Abu Hamed and take the train up to Atbara."

  "I will be back as soon as I can, General. I am much obliged to you for letting me go."

  " I will tell the Sirdar that I have given you leave, and why.

  It is not absolutely necessary, but it is always well that one's name should be kept to the front."
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  The next day Gregory saw the General again. " I mentioned to the Sirdar that you wanted a fortnight's leave, and told him why. He simply nodded and said, 'Let him have a month if he wants it.' He had other things to think of, for this morning a small Dervish steamer came down the White Nile. They had the Khalifa's flag flying, and had not heard of what had taken place till one of the gun-boats ran alongside her. Of course she surrendered at once. It is a curious story they told. They left Omdurman a month ago with the Sapphire, which carried five hundred men. The object of the voyage was to collect grain. When they reached the old station of Fashoda they had been fired upon by black troops, with some white men among them, who had a strange flag flying. The firing was pretty accurate, for they had forty men killed and wounded, and the emir in command had disembarked and encamped his troops from the Sapphire on the opposite bank, and had sent the small steamer back to ask the Khalifa for orders.

  " The story seemed so strange and improbable that I went down with the Sirdar to the boat, which had been brought alongside. There was no doubt that it had been peppered with balls. Some of the General's staff cut one of the bullets out of the wood-work, and these fully confirmed the story. They were not leaden balls or bits of old iron, but conical nickel bullets. They could only have been fired from smallbore rifles, so there were certainly white men at Fashoda. Of course no one can form any opinion as to who they are, or where they come from. They may be Belgians from the Congo; they may—but that is most improbable—be an expeditionary party of Italians. But Italy is withdrawing and not pushing forward, so I think it is out of the question that they are concerned in the matter.

  "The question seems to lie between Belgians and French, unless an expedition has been sent up from our possessions on the great lakes. The Dervishes in the steamer can only

  say that the flag is not at all like ours; but as their ignorance of colour is profound, they give all sorts of contradictory statements. Anyhow, it is a serious matter. Certainly no foreign power has any right to send an expedition to the Nile; and as certainly, if one of them did so, our government would not allow them to remain there, for beyond all question Fashoda is an Egyptian station and within Egyptian territory, which is at present as much as to say that a foreign power established there would be occupying our country."

  " It seems an extraordinary proceeding, sir."

  "Very extraordinary. If it were not that it seems the thing has absolutely been done, it would seem improbable that any foreign power could take such an extraordinary and unjustifiable course. It is lucky for them, whoever they are, that we have smashed up the Dervishes, for they would have made very short work of them, and the nation that sent them would probably never have known their fate."

  CHAPTER XVI

  A VOICE FROM THE DEAD

  THAT afternoon Gregory heard that orders had been issued for five of the gun-boats to start up the river the first thing in the morning, that the Sirdar himself was going, and was to take up five hundred men of the 11th Soudanese. An order was also issued that all correspondents were to leave the next day for Cairo. Gregory had met one of them that evening.

  "So you are all off, I hear, Mr. Pearson?"

  "Yes; we did have a sort of option given us, but it was really no choice at all. We might go down instantly, or we must stay till the last of the white troops had gone down. That may be a very long time, as there is.no saying what may

  come of this Fashoda business. Besides, the Khalifa has fairly escaped, and if out of the sixty thousand men with him some thirty thousand got off, they may yet rally round him, and in another two or three months he may be at the head of as large a force as ever. I don't think, after the way the Egyptians fought the other day, there will be any need for white troops to back them. Still, it is likely that a battalion or two may be left. However, we had practically to choose between going at once or waiting at least a month, and you may be sure that the censorship would be put on with a round turn, and that we should not be allowed to say a word of the Fashoda business, which would be the only thing worth telegraphing about. So we have all voted for going.

  "Of course we understand that this pressure has been put upon us on account of this curious affair at Fashoda. Fortunately none of us are sorry to be off. There is certain to be a pause now for some time, and one does not want to be kicking one's heels about in this ghastly town; and though it is rather sharp and peremptory work, I cannot say that I think the Sirdar is wrong. Whoever these men may be, they must go, that is certain; but of course it will be a somewhat delicate business, and France—that is, if they are Frenchmen who are there—is sure to be immensely sore over the business, and it is certainly very desirable that nothing should be written from here that could increase that feeling. I have no doubt the Sirdar telegraphed home for instructions as soon as he got the news of the affair, and I imagine that his going up in the morning with five gun-boats is proof that he has already received instructions of some sort. I hope this force is not French. The feeling against us is tremendously strong in France, and they certainly will not like backing down; but they will have to do that or fight, and with all their big talk I don't think they are ready to risk a war with us, especially as, though their occupation of Fashoda would be an immense annoyance to us, it would be of no possible utility to them.

  "By the way, we have all got to sell our horses. There is no possibility of taking them down, and it is a question of giving them away rather than of selling, for of course the officers of the British regiments do not want to buy. I have a horse for which I gave twenty-five pounds at Cairo. You are welcome to him. You can give me a couple of pounds for the saddle and things."

  " I am very much obliged to you, but it would be robbery."

  " Not at all. If you won't take him, I shall have him shot to-night. A horse could not possibly pick up food here, and would die of starvation without a master; and it would be still more cruel to give him to a native, for they are brutal horse-masters."

  "Well, in that case I shall be glad indeed to have him, and I am extremely obliged to you."

  "That is right. If you will send your man round I will hand it over to him."

  " As you are going to-morrow, it is likely that I shall go with you, for I am going down also as far as Abu Hamed for ten days."

  " That will be pleasant, though I do not know that it will be so for you, for I own the majority of us are rather sour-tempered at present. Though we may be glad enough to go, one does not care to be sent off at a moment's notice, just as fractious children are turned out of a room when their elders want a private chat. However, for myself I am not inclined to grumble. I want to go, and therefore I do not stand on the order of going."

  Later, General Hunter gave Gregory an order for a passage in a steamer on which the correspondents of the various newspapers were going down.

  "What shall we take, master?" Zaki asked.

  "Just the clothes we stand in, Zaki. I have got a couple of the Dervish Remingtons and several packets of ammunition. I will take them, and I can get four more. We will

  take them all down, as we know the people about Hebbeh are not disposed to be friendly. I don't suppose for a minute that they are likely to show any hostile feeling, for you may be sure that the fall of Omdurman has spread by this time over the whole land, and they will be on their best behaviour. Still, it is just as well to be able to defend ourselves, and I shall engage four men at Abu Hamed to go with us. I shall leave all my kit here."

  It was a pleasant run down the river to Atbara. The correspondents were all heartily glad to be on their way home, and the irritation they had at first felt at being so suddenly ordered away at the moment when so unexpected and interesting a development occurred, had subsided. They had witnessed one of the most interesting battles ever fought, had seen the overthrow of the Mahdi, and were looking forward to European comforts and luxuries again. At Atbara ail left the steamer, which was to take in stores and go up again at once, and proceeded by a military train with th
e first of the returned European regiments. At Abu Hamed Gregory left them.

  His first enquiry was whether any boats were going down the river. He learned that several native craft were leaving, and at once engaged a passage in one of them to Hebbeh. He had no difficulty whatever in engaging four sturdy Arabs from among those who were listlessly hanging round the little station. While he was doing this Zaki bought food for six men for a week, and in less than two hours from his arrival at Abu Hamed Gregory was on board. The boat at once dropped down the river, and as the current was running strongly, they were off Hebbeh next morning at eight o'clock. A boat put off, and took Gregory and his party ashore. As they were seen to land, the village sheik at once came down to them.

  "Is there anything I can do for my lord?" he asked.

  "Yes; I have come here to ascertain whether any of those who were present at the attack upon the party who landed from the steamer over there, are still living here. There is no question of punishment. On the contrary, I have come here to obtain information as to some private matters, and anyone who can give me that information will be well rewarded."

  "There are but three men alive who were here at the time, my lord; there were more, but they fled when the boats with the white troops came up from Merawi. I believe they went to the Dervish camp at Metemmeh. The three here are quiet and respectable men. They were asked many questions, and guided the white officers to the place where Wad Etman stood—it was there that those who landed from the steamer first rested,—and to the place where the great house of Suleiman Wad Gamr, Emir of Salamat, stood. It was there that the much-to-be-regretted attack on the white men was made. When the white army came up six months afterwards, they blew up the house and cut down all the palm-trees in the village."