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

by G. A. Henty

  "So you are back, Mr. Hilliard!" the General said. "I am heartily glad to see you, for it Avas a very hazardous mission that you undertook. What news have you?"

  " This is Colonel Parsons' report."

  Before reading the long report the General said, " Tell me in a few words what happened."

  " I overtook Colonel Parsons at Mugatta on the third morning after leaving. We were attacked by nearly four thousand Dervishes five miles from Gedareh. After a sharp fight they were defeated, and we occupied the town without resistance. Four days later Fadil came up with his army and attacked the town, but was driven off with a loss of five hundred men. He is now eight miles from the town. The place is unhealthy, and although it can be defended, Colonel Parsons has asked for reinforcements to enable him to attack Fadil."

  "That is good news indeed. We have all been extremely anxious, for there was no doubt that Colonel Parsons' force was wholly inadequate for the purpose. How long is it since you left?"

  " About forty-six hours, sir."

  "Indeed! that seems almost impossible, Mr. Hilliard."

  " We started at eleven o'clock in the morning, sir, and rode on donkeys to Mugatta, where I had left my camels; arrived there at eight, and started an hour later on the camels. We rode till nine o'clock the next day, halted till five, and have just arrived here. The camels were excellent beasts, and travelled a good six miles an hour. I did not press them, as I knew that if we arrived opposite the town at night, Ave should have difficulty in getting across the river."

  " It was a great ride, a great achievement! You must be hungry as well as tired. I will tell my man to get you some breakfast at once. You can eat it while I read this dispatch. Then I may have a few questions to ask you. After that you had better turn in till evening."

  Gregory enjoyed his breakfast with the luxuries of tinned fruit after his rough fare for the past fortnight. When he went to the General's room again the latter said:

  " Colonel Parsons' dispatches are very full, and I think I quite understand the situation. No praise is too high for the conduct of his officers and troops. All seemed to have behaved equally well, and he mentions the gallant part you took in the defence of the baggage with Captain Kuthven and the doctor, and only some thirty-four soldiers of the camel corps. Now I will not detain you longer. I hope you will dine with me this evening; I should like to hear more of the affair."

  Eeturning to his hut, Gregory found that Zaki had already got his bed and other things from the store, and he was just about to boil the kettle.

  "I have breakfasted, Zaki. Here is a dollar. Go to one of those big shops and buy anything you like, and have a good meal. Then you had better take the camels across to Azim's camp. I shall not want you then till evening."

  No time was lost. Three battalions and a half of Soudanese were sent up the Blue Nile in steamers, and the garrisons stationed at several points on the river were also taken on board. Three companies of camel corps marched along the bank and arrived at Abu Haraz, a hundred and thirty miles up the river, in fifty-six hours after starting. Five hundred baggage camels were also sent up. As the distance from Gedareh to this point was a hundred miles, and as water was only to be found at one point, it was necessary to carry up a supply for the troops. Colonel Collinson, who was in command, pushed forward at once with the 12th Soudanese and the camel corps. When Fadil heard of their approach he made a night attack on Gedareh. This, however, was easily repulsed by the garrison. He then broke up his camp and marched away, intending to cross the Blue Nile and join the Khalifa.

  His troops were greatly demoralized by their failures, and in spite of the precautions he took, the Darfur Sheik, with five hundred of his men, succeeded in effecting his escape, and at once joined us actively in the further operations against Fadil. As there was no further danger the Soudanese marched back again and joined the other battalions, the garrisons on the river were re-established, and part of the force returned to Omdurman. The Sirdar had returned from Fashoda before Gregory came back, and had left almost immediately for Cairo. On the day after Gregory's return he had a sharp attack of fever, the result partly of the evil smells at Gedareh, heightened by the fact that the present was the fever season in the Blue Nile country.

  CHAPTER XXII

  THE CROWNING VICTORY

  IT was eight Aveeks before he recovered, and even then the doctor said that he was not fit for any exertion. He learned that on the 22nd of October, Colonel Lewis, with two companies of the camel corps and three squadrons of Lancers, had started from Omdurman to visit the various villages between the White and Blue Niles, to restore order, and proclaim that the authority of the Khedive was established there. On the 7th of November, following the Blue Nile up, he reached Karkoj, but a short distance below the point at which the navigation of the river ceased. He had come in contact with a portion of Fadil's force, but nothing could be done in the thick undergrowth in which the latter was lurking, and he therefore remained waiting for the next move on the part of the Dervish commander, while the gun-boats patrolled the Blue river up to Rosaires. Six weeks passed. His force and all the garrisons on the river suffered severely from heat, thirty per cent of the troops being down together. The cavalry had suffered particularly heavily. Of the four hundred and sixty men, ten had died and four hundred and twenty were reported unfit for duty a month after their arrival at Karkoj ; while of the thirty white officers on the Blue Nile, only two escaped an attack of fever.

  At the end of the month Colonel Lewis was joined by the Darfur Sheik and three hundred and fifty of his men. He had had many skirmishes with Dervish parties scouring the country for food, and his arrival was very welcome.

  Gregory was recommended to take a river trip to recover his health, and left on a steamer going up with stores and some small reinforcements to Colonel Lewis. They arrived at Karkoj on the 14th of December, and learned that the little garrison at Rosaires had been attacked by the Dervishes. The fifty fever-stricken men who formed the garrison would have had no chance of resisting the attack, but fortunately they had that very morning been reinforced by two hundred men of the 10th Soudanese and two Maxims, and the Dervishes were repulsed with considerable loss. Two companies of the same battalion had reinforced Colonel Lewis, who marched, on the day after receiving the news, to Rosaires. The gunboat went uj) to that point and remained there for some daj T s. Gregory went ashore as soon as the boat arrived, and saw Colonel Lewis, to "whom he was well known.

  "I am supposed to be on sick leave, sir, but I feel quite strong now, and shall be glad to join you if you will have me."

  " I can have no possible objection, Mr. Hilliard. I know that you did good service with Colonel Parsons, and it is quite possible that we shall find ourselves in as tight a place as he was. So many of our white officers have been sent down with fever that I am very short-handed, and shall be glad if you will temporarily serve as my assistant."

  On the 20th the news came that Fadil was crossing the river at Dakhila, twenty miles farther to the south. He himself had crossed, and the women and children had been taken over on a raft. On the 22nd the Darfur Sheik was sent off up the west bank to harass the Dervishes who had already crossed. On the 24th two gun-boats arrived with two hundred more men of the 10th Soudanese and a small detachment of the 9th. On the following day the little force started at five in the afternoon, and at eleven at night halted at a little village. At three in the morning they again advanced, and at eight o'clock came in contact with the Dervish outposts. Colonel Lewis had already learned that instead of half the Dervish force having crossed only one division had done so, and that he had by far the greater part of Fadil's army opposed to him. It was a serious matter to attack some four or five thousand men with so small a force at his disposal, for he had but half the 10th Soudanese, a handful of the 9 th, and two Maxim guns. As to the Darfur irregulars, no great reliance could be placed upon them.

  As the force issued from the wood through which they had been marching, they saw the river in fron
t of them. In its midst rose a large island a mile and a quarter long and more than three-quarters of a mile wide. There were clumps of sand-hills upon it. They had learned that the intervening stream was rapid but not deep, while that on the other side of the island was very deep, with a precipitous bank. It was upon this island that Fadil's force was established. The position was a strong one—the sand-hills rose from an almost flat plain a thousand yards away, and this would have to be crossed by the assailants without any shelter whatever. The Dervishes were bound to fight their hardest, as there was no possibility of escape if defeated. At nine o'clock the Soudanese and irregulars lined the bank and opened fire, while the two Maxims came into action. The Dervishes replied briskly, and it was soon evident that at so long a range they could not be driven from their position. Several fords were found, and the irregulars, supported by a company of the 10th, crossed the river and took up a position two hundred yards in advance to cover the passage of the rest. These crossed with some difficulty, for the water was three and a half feet deep, and the current very strong, and they were, moreover, exposed to the fire of Fadil's riflemen from the high cliff on the opposite bank.

  Colonel Lewis, determined to turn the left flank of the Dervishes, and kept along the river's edge until he reached the required position, then wheeled the battalion into line and advanced across the bare shingle against the sand-hills. Major Ferguson Avith one company was detached to attack a knoll on the right held by two hundred Dervishes; the remaining four companies under Colonel Mason kept straight on towards the main position. A very heavy fire was concentrated upon them, not only from the sand-hills but from Fadil's riflemen. The Soudanese fell fast, but held on, increasing their pace to a run, until they reached the foot of the first sand-hill, where they lay down in shelter to take breath. A quarter of the force had already fallen, and their doctor, Captain Jennings, remained out in the open, binding up their wounds, although exposed to a continuous fire. This halt was mistaken by the Dervishes, who thought that the courage of the Soudanese was exhausted, and Fadil from the opposite bank sounded the charge on drum and bugle, and the whole Dervish force with banners waving and exultant shouts poured down to annihilate their assailants.

  But the Soudanese, led by Colonels Lewis and Mason, who were accompanied by Gregory, leapt to their feet, ran up the low bank behind which they were sheltering, and opened a terrible fire. The Dervishes were already close at hand, and every shot told among them. Astonished at so unlooked-for a reception, and doubtless remembering the heavy loss they had suffered at Gedareh, they speedily broke. Like dogs slipped from their leash the black troops dashed on with triumphant shouts, driving the Dervishes from sand-hill to sand-hill until the latter reached the southern end of the island. Here the Soudanese were joined by the irregulars who had first crossed, and a terrible fire was maintained from the sand-hills upon the crowded mass on the bare sand, cut off from all retreat by the deep river. Some tried to swim across to join their friends on the west bank; a few succeeded in doing so, among them the Emir who had given battle to Colonel Parsons' force near Gedareh.

  Many took refuge from the fire by standing in the river up to their necks. Some four hundred succeeded in escaping by a ford to a small island lower down, but they found no cover there, and after suffering heavily from the musketry fire the survivors, three hundred strong, surrendered. Major Ferguson's company, however, was still exposed to a heavy fire turned upon them by the force on the other side of the river; he himself was severely wounded and a third of his men hit. The Maxims were accordingly carried over the river to the island and placed so as to command the west bank, which they soon cleared of the riflemen. Over five hundred Arabs lay dead on the two islands. Two thousand one hundred and seventy-five fighting men surrendered, and several hundred women and children. Fadil, with the force that had escaped, crossed the desert to Rung, on the White Nile, where on the 22nd of January they surrendered to the English gun-boats, their leader, with ten or twelve of his followers only, escaping to join the Khalifa. Our casualties were heavy. Twenty-five non-commissioned officers and men were killed, one British officer, six native officers, and one hundred and seventeen, non-commissioned officers and men wounded of the 10th Soudanese, out of a total strength of five hundred and eleven. The remaining casualties were among the irregulars.

  Never was there a better proof of the gallantry of the black regiments of Egypt, for, including the commander and medical officer, there were but five British officers and two British sergeants to direct and lead them.

  After the battle of Rosaires there was a lull in the fighting on the east of the White Nile. The whole country had been cleared of the Dervishes, and it was now time for the Sirdar, who had just returned from England, to turn his attention to the Khalifa. The latter was known to be near El Obeid, where he had now collected a force of whose strength very different reports were received. Gregory, whose exertions in the fight and the march through the scrub from Karkoj had brought on a slight return of fever, went down in the gun-boat with the wounded to Omdurman.

  Zaki was with him, but as a patient; he had been hit through the leg while charging forward with the Soudanese. At Omdurman Gregory fell into regular work again. So many of the officers of the Egyptian battalions had fallen in battle, or were down with fever, that Colonel Wingate took him as his assistant, and his time was now spent in listening to the stories of tribesmen, who, as soon as the Khalifa's force had passed, had brought in very varying accounts of his strength. Then there were villagers who had complaints to make of robbery, of ill-usage—for this the Arab irregulars, who had been disbanded after the capture of Omdurman, were largely responsible. Besides these there were many petitions by fugitives, who had returned to find their houses occupied and their land seized by others. Gregory was constantly sent off to investigate and decide in these disputes, and was sometimes away for a week at a time. Zaki had recovered rapidly, and as soon as he was able to rise accompanied his master, who obtained valuable assistance from him, as, while Gregory was hearing the stories of witnesses, Zaki went quietly about the villages talking to the old men and women, and frequently obtained evidence that showed that many of the witnesses were perjured, and so enabled his master to give decisions which astonished the people by their justness.

  Indeed, the reports of the extraordinary manner in which he seemed able to pick out truth from falsehood, and to decide in favour of the rightful claimant, spread so rapidly from village to village that claimants who came in to Colonel Wingate often requested urgently that the young Bimbashi should be sent out to investigate the matter. " You seem to be attaining the position of a modern Solomon, Hilliard," the Colonel said one day with a smile; "how do you do itl"

  Gregory laughed, and told him the manner in which he got at the truth.

  " An excellent plan," he said, " and one which it would be well to adopt genei^ally by sending men beforehand to a village. The only objection is, that you could not rely much more upon the reports of your spies than on those of the villagers. The chances are that the claimant who could bid highest would receive their support."

  Matters were quiet until the Sirdar returned from England, and determined to make an attempt to capture the Khalifa, whose force was reported not to exceed one thousand men. Two squadrons of Egyptian cavalry and a Soudanese brigade, two Maxims, two mule-guns, and a company of camel corps were placed under the command of Colonel Kitchener. The great difficulty was the lack of water along the route to be traversed. Camels were brought from the Atbara and the Blue Nile, and the whole were collected at Kawa on the White Nile. They started from that point, but the wells were found to be dry, and the force had to retrace its steps and to start afresh from Koli, some forty miles farther up the river.

  They endured great hardships, for everything was left behind save the clothes the men and officers stood in, and one hundred rounds of ammunition each, only one pint of water being allowed per head. The country was a desert, covered with interlacing thorn bushes. An eight
days' march brought the force to a village which was considered sacred, as it contained the grave of the Khalifa's father and the house where the Khalifa himself had been born. Three days later they reached the abandoned camp of the Khalifa, a wide tract that had been cleared of bush. A great multitude of dwellings constructed of spear-grass stretched away for miles, and at the very lowest compilation it had contained twenty thousand people, of which it was calculated that from eight thousand to ten thousand must have been fighting men, ten times as many as had before been reported to be with the Khalifa.

  A reconnaissance showed that a large army was waiting to give battle on a hill which was of great strength, surrounded by deep ravines and pools of water. The position was an anxious one. The total force was about fourteen hundred strong, and a defeat would mean annihilation, while even a victory would scarcely secure the capture of the Khalifa, who with his principal emirs, Osman Digna, El Khatim the Sheik of El Obeid, the Sheik Ed Din, and Fadil, would be able to gallop off if they saw the battle going against them. Colonel Kitchener had the wisdom to decide against risking the destruction of his followers by an assault against so great a force posted in so strong a position. It was a deep mortification to him to have to retreat, and the soldiers were bitterly disappointed, but their commander felt that, brave as the Egyptians and Soudanese had shown themselves, the odds against victory were too great. After a terrible march and great sufferings from thirst and scanty food the force reached Koli on the 5th of February, and were conveyed in steamers down to Omdurman.

  After this somewhat unfortunate affair, which naturally added to the prestige of the Khalifa, the months passed uneventfully, but late in October preparations were made for an aflfeck upon a large scale against the Khalifa's camp, and eight thousand men were concentrated at Karla on the White Nile. It was known that the Khalifa was at Gedir, eighty miles away, but after proceeding half the distance it was found that he had marched away, and the column returned, as pursuit through a densely-wooded country would have been impracticable.