Henty George Alfred
With Kitchener in the Soudan: A Story of Atbara and Omdurman
The alarm had by this time spread everywhere, and a wild medley of shouts rose throughout the whole area of the encampment. He turned now, and made for the spot where he had left Zaki and the horses. In five minutes he reached it.
"Is that you, my lord?" Zaki asked, as he came up.
"Yes, we must fly at once! I was discovered, and had to kill–or at least badly wound–a sheik, and they are searching for me everywhere."
"I have saddled the horses, and put the water skins on them."
"That is well done, Zaki. Let us mount and be off, at once. We will lead the horses. It is too dark to gallop among these bushes, and the sound of the hoofs might be heard. We will go quietly, till we are well away."
Not another word was spoken, till they had gone half a mile.
"We will mount now, Zaki. The horses can see better than we. We will go at a walk. I dare not strike a light to look at the compass, but there are the stars. I do not see the north star, it must be hidden by the mist, lower down; but the others give us the direction, quite near enough to go by.
"It is most unfortunate that the fellow who rushed against me was a sheik. I could see that, by the outline of his robe. If it had been a common man, there would not have been any fuss over it. As it is, they will search for us high and low. I know he wasn't killed on the spot, for he shouted after I had left him; and they are likely to guess, from his account, that I had been down at one of the emirs' tents, and was probably a spy.
"I know that I ought to have paused a moment, and given him another stab, but I could not bring myself to do it. It is one thing to stab a man who is trying to take one's life, but it is quite another when he has fallen, and is helpless."
Zaki had made no reply. He could scarcely understand his master's repugnance to making matters safe, when another blow would have done so, but it was not for him to blame.
They travelled all night and, when the moon rose, were able to get along somewhat faster; but its light was now feeble and uncertain. As soon as day broke, they rode fast, and at ten o'clock had left behind the range of hills, stretching between the wells of Abu Klea and Jebel Sergain.
"We ought to be safe now," Gregory said, as they dismounted. "At any rate, the horses must have a rest. We have done over forty miles."
"We are safe for the present, my lord. It all depends whether or not they think you are a spy. If they come to that conclusion, they will send at once to Abu Klea; and if a strong body is stationed there, they may have sent a party on to Gakdul, or even to El Howeyat, for they will feel sure that we shall make for one of the wells."
"How much water have you got in the bags?"
Zaki examined them.
"Enough for ourselves for five or six days; but only enough for two drinks each, for the horses and for ourselves, for a couple of days."
"That is bad. If we had had any idea of coming away so soon, we would have filled the large bags yesterday. I had intended to send down the horses in the morning, therefore left them only half full, and they must have leaked a good deal to get so low. See if one leaks more than the other."
It was found that one held the water well, but from the other there was a steady drip. They transferred the water from this to the sound bag.
"We must drink as little as we can, Zaki, and give the horses only a mouthful, now and then, and let them munch the shrubs and get a little moisture from them. Do you think there is any fear of the Dervishes following our tracks?"
"No, my lord. In the first place, they do not know that there are two of us, or that we are mounted. When those who camped near us notice, when they get up this morning, that we have moved; they will only think that we have shifted our camp, as there was no talk of horsemen being concerned in this affair. No, I do not think they will attempt to follow us, except along the caravan road, but I feel sure they will pursue us on that line."
They rested for some hours, in the shade of a high rock, leaving the horses to pick what herbage they could find. At four o'clock they started again. They had ridden two hours, when Zaki said:
"See, my lord, there are two men on the top of Jebel Sergain!"
Gregory gazed in that direction.
"Yes, I can notice them now, but I should not have done so, if you had not seen them."
"They are on watch, my lord."
"Well, they can hardly see us, at this distance."
"You may be sure that they see us," Zaki said; "the eyes of an Arab are very keen, and could not fail to catch two moving objects–especially horsemen."
"If they are looking for us, and have seen us, Zaki, they would not be standing stationary there."
"Not if they were alone. But others may have been with them. When they first caught sight of us, which may have been half an hour ago, the others may have gone down to Abu Klea, while those two remained to watch which course we took. The Arabs can signal with their lances, or with their horses, and from there they would be able to direct any party in pursuit of us."
"Well, we must keep on as hard as we can, till dark; after that, we can take it quietly. You see, the difficulty with us will be water. Now that they have once made out two horsemen riding north, they must know that we have some special object in avoiding them; and will, no doubt, send a party to Gakdul, if not farther."
They crossed the rough country as quickly as they could, and then again broke into a canter. An hour later, as they crossed a slight rise, Zaki looked back.
"There are some horsemen in pursuit, my lord. They have evidently come from Abu Klea."
Gregory looked round.
"There are about fifteen of them," he said. "However, they are a good three miles behind, and it will be dark in another half hour. As soon as it is so, we will turn off to the right or left, and so throw them off our track. Don't hurry your horse. The animals have made a very long journey, since we started, and we shall want them badly tomorrow."
In another half hour the sun went down. Darkness comes on quickly in the Soudan, and in another quarter of an hour they had lost sight of their pursuers, who had gained about a mile upon them.
"Another five minutes, Zaki, to allow for their eyes being better than ours. Which way do you think we had better turn?"
"I should say to the left, my lord. There is another caravan route from Metemmeh to Ambukol. It cannot be more than fifteen miles to the west."
"Do you know anything about it?"
"I have never been along there. It is a shorter route than the one to Korti, but not so much used, I believe, because the wells cannot be relied upon."
"Well, I feel sure we shall not be able to get at the wells on the other line, so we had better take that. As we shall be fairly safe from pursuit, we may as well bear towards the northwest. By doing so we shall be longer in striking the track, but the journey will be a good bit shorter than if we were to ride due west.
"Now we can safely dismount. It is getting pitch dark, and we will lead our horses. I can feel that mine is nearly dead beat. In a few minutes we will halt, and give them half a gourd full of water, each. After that, we had better go on for another six or seven miles, so as to be well out of sight of anyone on the hills."
Ten minutes later they heard the dull sound of horses' hoofs on the sand. They waited five minutes, until it died away in the distance, and then continued their course. It was slow work, as they had to avoid every bush carefully; lest, if their pursuers halted, they should hear the crackling of a dry stick in the still air. Zaki, who could see much better in the dark than his master, went on ahead; while Gregory led the two horses.
A good hour passed before they stopped. They gave the horses a scanty drink, and took a mouthful or two each; and then, throwing themselves down, allowed the horses to crop the scanty herbage.
After four hours' halt they pursued their way on foot for three hours, laying their course by the stars. They calculated that they must have gone a good fifteen miles from the point where they turned off, and feared that they might miss the caravan track, if they went on before daybreak.
Chapter 9: Safely Back
As soon as the sun was up they pursued their journey, Gregory's compass being now available.
In half an hour, Zaki said, "There is a sign of the track, my lord," and he pointed to the skeleton of a camel.
"How many more miles do you think we have to go, Zaki?"
"We must be a good half way, my lord."
"Yes, quite that, I should think. Looking at the map, I should say that we must be about abreast of the line of Gakdul. This route is only just indicated, and there are no halting places marked upon it. Still, there must be water, otherwise caravans could not use it. We have about sixty miles farther to go, so that if the horses were fresh we might be there this evening; but as it is, we have still two, if not three days' journey before us.
"Well, we must hope that we shall find some water. Just let the horses wet their mouths; we can keep on for a bit, before we have a drink.
"How much more is there left?" he asked, after the lad had given a little water to each horse.
"Not above two gourdfuls."
"Well, we must ride as far as we can and, at any rate, must keep one gourdful for tomorrow. If we cover twenty-five miles today–and I don't think the horses can do more–we can manage, if they are entirely done up, to walk the other thirty-five miles. However, as I said, there must be wells, and even if they are dry, we may be able to scratch the sand out and find a little water. What food have we got?"
"Only about two pounds of dates."
"That is a poor supply for two days, Zaki, but we must make the best of them. We will only eat a few today, so as to have a fair meal in the morning. We shall want it, if we have to walk thirty-five miles over the sand."
"It will not be all sand," Zaki said; "there is grass for the last fifteen miles, near the river; and there were cultivated fields about ten miles out, before the Dervishes came."
"That is better. Now we will be moving."
The herbage the horses had cropped during the halt had served, to a certain degree, to supply the place of water; and they proceeded at a brisker pace than Gregory had expected.
"Keep a sharp lookout for water. Even if the wells are dry, you will see a difference in the growth of the bushes round them; and as it is certain that this route has not been used for some time, there may even be grass."
They rode on at an easy canter, and avoided pressing the horses in the slightest degree, allowing them to walk whenever they chose. The heat was very great, and after four hours' riding Gregory called a halt.
"We must have done twenty miles," he said. "The bushes look green about here, and the horses have got something of a feed."
"I think this must be one of the old halting places," Zaki said, looking round as they dismounted. "See, my lord, there are some broken gourds, and some rags scattered about."
"So there are," Gregory said. "We will take the bridles out of the horses' mouths, so that they can chew the leaves up better; and then we will see if we can find where the wells were."
Twenty yards farther away they found a deep hole.
"This was one of them," the lad said, "but it is quite dry. See, there is an old bucket lying at the bottom. I will look about; there may be some more of them."
Two others were discovered, and the sand at the bottom of one of them looked a somewhat darker colour than the others.
"Well, we will dig here," Gregory said. "Bring down those two half gourds; they will help us to shovel the sand aside."
The bottom of the hole was some six feet across, and they set to work in the middle of it. By the time they had got down two feet, the sand was soft and clammy.
"We will get to water, Zaki, if we have to stay here all day!" said Gregory.
It was hard work, and it was not until after four hours' toil that, to their delight, they found the sand wet under their feet. They had taken it by turns to use the scoop, for the labour of making the hole large enough for them both to work at once would have been excessive.
In another hour there was half an inch of water in the hole. Gregory took a gourd, and buried it in the soft soil until the water flowed in over the brim.
"Give me the other one down, Zaki. I will fill that, too, and then we will both start drinking together."
Five minutes later, the two took a long draught. The scoops were then refilled and carried to the horses, who drank with an eagerness that showed how great was their thirst. Three times the gourds were filled, and emptied.
"Now hand me down that water bag."
This was half filled, and then, exhausted with their work, they threw themselves down and slept for some hours. When they awoke, the sun was setting.
"Bring up the horses, Zaki. Let them drink as much as they like."
The gourds had each to be filled six times, before the animals were satisfied. The riders then took another deep drink, ate a handful of dates, and mounted.
"We are safe now, and only have to fear a band of marauding Arabs; and it would be hard luck, were we to fall in with them. We had better ride slowly for the first hour or so. We must not press the horses, after they have had such a drink."
"Very well, master."
"There is no particular reason for hurry, and even if we miss the trail we know that, by keeping straight on, we shall strike the river somewhere near Korti or Ambukol."
For an hour they went at a walk, and then the horses broke into their usual pace, of their own accord. It was getting dark, now, and soon even Zaki could not make out the track.
"The horses will keep to it, my lord," he said; "their sight is a great deal better than ours, and I dare say their smell may have something to do with it. Besides, the track is clear of bushes, so we should know at once, if they strayed from it."
They rode for five hours, and then felt that the horses were beginning to fag.
"We will halt here," Gregory said. "We certainly cannot be more than five-and-twenty miles from the river; and, if we start at dawn, shall be there before the heat of the day begins. We can have another handful of dates, and give the horses a handful each, and that will leave us a few for the morning."
The horses, after being given the dates, were again turned loose; and it was not long before they were heard pulling the leaves off bushes.
"Our case is a good deal better this evening than it was yesterday," Gregory said. "Then it looked as if it would be rather a close thing, for I am sure the horses could not have gone much farther, if we had not found the water. I wish we had a good feed to give them."
"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, tomorrow."
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 Halfa.
"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 gunboat 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 already had 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 the 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 in 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 despatch, 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 headquarters 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."
"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 there by that time, and will take my horse; then you can go on with the camel."
Behind the headquarter 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 gunboats 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 headquarters.
