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

by G. A. Henty

  At Ginnis, twenty miles from Ferket, they passed the ground where, on the 31st of December, 1885, on the retirement of General Wolseiey's expedition, Generals Grenfel and Stevenson, with a force of Egyptian troops and three British regiments, encountered the Dervish army which the Khalifa had dispatched under the Emir Nejumi, and defeated it. It was notable as being the first battle in which the newly-raised Egyptian army met the Mahdists, and showed that, trained and disciplined by British officers, the Egj^ptian fellah was capable of standing against the Dervish of the desert. From this point the railway left the Nile, and for thirty miles crossed the desert. Another twenty miles, and they reached Fareeg.

  "It was here", the officer said, "that the North Stafford-shires came up and joined the Egyptians. The Dervishes had fallen back before we advanced after a halt at Sadeah, which we sha'n't see, as the railway cuts across to Abu Fetmeh. We bivouacked five miles from their camp, and turned out at three next morning. The orders were passed by mouth, and we got off as silently as an army of ghosts. I shall never forget our disgust when a small cavalry force, sent on ahead to reconnoitre, reported that the Dervishes had abandoned the place during the night, and had crossed the river in native boats. It was a very clever move, at any rate, on the part of fellows who did not want to fight. There were we facing them, with our whole infantry and cavalry useless, and we had nothing available to damage the enemy except our artillery and the gun-boats.

  "These opened fire, and the Dervishes replied heavily. They had earth-works, but the boats kept on pluckily till they got to a narrow point in the stream, when a couple of guns which had hitherto been hidden opened upon them at close range, while a strong force of Dervish infantry poured in such a hot fire that the boats had to fall back. After our field-guns had peppered the enemy for a bit the gun-boats tried again, but the fire was too hot for them, and the leading boat had to retire. Things did not look very bright till nine o'clock, when we found that at one point the river was fordable to a small island opposite the enemy's lines. Four batteries and the Maxims at once moved over, with two companies of Soudanese, and opened fire. The distance across was but six hundred yards, and the fire was tremendous—shell, shrapnel, and rockets—while the Soudanese fired volleys and the Maxims maintained a shower of bullets. It seemed that nothing could stand against it, but the Dervishes stuck to their guns with great pluck. However, their fire was so far kept down that the three gun-boats succeeded in forcing their way up, and, passing the Dervish works, sank a steamer and a number of native boats.

  " The Dervishes now began to give way, and the gun-boats steamed up the river, making for Dongola. The Dervishes, as soon as they had gone, reopened fire, and the duel continued all day; but the great mass of the enemy soon left, and also made their way towards Dongola. It was awfully annoying oeing obliged to remain inactive on our side, and it was especially hard for the cavalry, who, if they could have got over, would have been able to cut up and disperse the enemy. The next morning the Dervishes were all gone, and that was practically the end of the fighting. The gun-boats went up and shelled Dongola, and when we got there, two days later, the Dervishes had had enough of it. Of course, there was a little fighting, but it was the effort of a party of fanatics rather than of an enemy who considered resistance possible. We were greeted with enthusiasm by the unfortunate inhabitants, who had been subject to the Dervish tyranny. As a whole, however, they had not been badly treated there, and had been allowed to continue to cultivate their land, subject only to about the same taxation as they had paid to Egypt. Of course, from what they have done elsewhere, the comparative mildness of the conduct of the Dervishes was not due to any feeling of mercy, but to policy. As the most advanced position, with the exception of scattered and temporary posts lower down the river, it was necessary that there should be food for the considerable body of tribesmen encamped at Dongola, especially as an army invading Egypt would provide itself there with stores for the journey. It was therefore good policy to encourage the cultivators of land to stay there."

  " Thank you very much!" Gregory said, when the officer had concluded his sketch of the previous campaign. " Of course I heard that we had beaten the Khalifa's men and had taken Dongola, but the papers at Cairo gave no details. The Staffordshire regiment went down directly the place was taken, did they not?"

  "Yes; they had suffered heavily from cholera; and as there was now no fear that the Egyptians and Soudanese would prove unequal to withstanding a Dervish rush, there was no necessity for keeping them here."

  At Abu Fetmeh they left the train and embarked in a steamer. Of the party that had left Assouan only four or five remained; the rest had been dropped at other stations on the road.

  The boat stopped but a few hours at Dongola, which had for a time been the head-quarters of the advanced force. Great changes had been made since the place was captured from the Dervishes. At that time the population had been reduced to a handful, and the natives who remained tilled but enough ground for their own necessities, for they knew that at any time a Dervish force might come along and sweep everything clear. But with the advent of the British, the fugitives who had scattered among the villages along the river soon poured in.

  Numbers of Greek traders arrived with camels and goods, and the town assumed an aspect of life and business. The General established a court of justice and appointed authorities for the proper regulation of affairs, and by the time Gregory came up the town was showing signs of renewed prosperity. But the steamer stopped at Dongola only to land stores needed for the regiment stationed there. The head-quarters had months before been moved to Merawi, some eighty miles higher up, situated at the foot of the fourth cataract.

  Although he had enjoyed the journey, Gregory was glad when the steamer drew up against a newly-constructed wharf at Merawi. Now he was to begin his duties, whatever they might be. At the wharf were a large number of Soudanese soldiers. A telegram from the last station they touched at had given notice of the hour at which the boat would arrive, and a battalion of native troops had marched down to assist in unloading the stores. A white officer had come down with them to superintend the operation, and the other officers at once went on shore to speak to him. Gregory had got all his traps together, and as the Soudanese poured on board he thought it better to remain with them, as, if his belongings once got scattered, there would be little chance of his being able to collect them again. After a short time he went up to one of the native officers.

  "This is my first visit here," he said in Arabic, "and as I have not brought up a servant with me I do not like to leave my baggage here while I go and report myself to General Hunter. Will you kindly tell me what I had better do ?"

  " Certainly. I will place one of my corporals in charge of your things. It would be as well to get them ashore at once, as we shall want the decks clear in order that the men may work freely in getting the stores up from below. The corporal will see that your baggage is carried to the bank, to a spot where it will be out of the way, and will remain with it until you know where it is to be taken."

  Thanking him for his civility, Gregory went on shore. The officer who had told him the story of the campaign was still talking to the major who had come down with the blacks. As Gregory came up he said: " I wondered what had become of you, Hilliard. I have been telling Major Sidney that a young lieutenant had come up to report himself to the General for service."

  " I am glad to see you, sir," the Major said, holding out his hand. " Every additional white officer is a material gain, and I have no doubt that General Hunter will find plenty for you to do. I hear you can speak the negro language as well as Arabic. That will be specially useful here, for the natives are principally negro and speak very little Arabic. How about your baggage?"

  " One of the native officers has undertaken to get it ashore, and to put a corporal in charge of it until I know where it is to go."

  " Well, Fladgate, as you are going to the General's, perhaps you will take Mr. Hilliard with you and introduce hi
m."

  " With pleasure. Now, Mr. Hilliard, let us be off at once; the sun is getting hot, and the sooner we are under shelter the better."

  Ten minutes' walk took them to the house formerly occupied by the Egyptian Governor of the town, where General Hunter now had his head-quarters. The General, who was a brevet-colonel in the British Army, had joined the Egyptian Army in 1888. He had, as a captain in the Lancashire regiment, taken part in the Nile Expedition, 1884-85, had been severely wounded at the battle of Ginnis, and again at Toski, where he commanded a brigade. He was still a comparatively young man. He had a broad forehead, and an intellectual face that might have betokened a student rather than a soldier; but he was celebrated in the army for his personal courage and disregard of danger, and was adored by his black soldiers. He rose from the table at which he was sitting as Captain Flad-gate came in.

  " I am glad to see you back again," he said. " I hope you have quite shaken off the fever? "

  " Quite, General. I feel thoroughly fit for work again. Allow me to present to you Mr. Hilliard, who has just received a commission as lieutenant in the Egyptian army. He has a letter from the Sirdar to you."

  "Well, I will not detain you now, Captain Fladgate. You will find your former quarters in readiness for you. Dinner at the usual time; then you shall tell me the news of Cairo. Now, Mr. Hilliard," and he turned to Gregory, "pray take a seat. This is your first experience in soldiering, I suppose?" "

  "Yes, sir."

  " I think you are the first white officer who has been appointed who has not had experience in our own army first. You have not been appointed to any particular battalion, have you?"

  "No, sir; I think I have come out to make myself generally useful. These are the letters that I was to hand to you—one is from the Sirdar himself, the other is from his chief of the staff, and this letter is from Captain Ewart."

  The General read the Sirdar's letter first; he then opened that from the chief of the staff. This was the more bulky of the two, and contained several enclosures.

  "Ah! this relates to you," the General said, as, after glancing over the two official dispatches, he read through the letter of Captain Ewart, who was a personal friend of his. The latter had given a full account of Gregory's history, and said that the Sirdar had especially asked him to put him in the way of things; that he had seen a great deal of him on the journey up, and was very greatly pleased with him. "The lad is a perfect gentleman," he said, "which is certainly astonishing, he being a product of Cairo. I consider him in all respects—except, of course, a classical education—fully equal to the average young officer on first joining. He is very modest and unassuming, and will, I feel sure, perform with credit any work that you may give him to do."

  "I see," he said, laying it down, "you have only joined the army temporarily and with a special purpose, and I am told to utilize your services as I think best. You have a perfect knowledge of Arabic and of the negro dialect. That will be very useful, for though we all speak Arabic, few speak the negro language, which is more commonly used here. Your father fell with Hicks Pasha, I am told, and you have joined us with the object of obtaining news as to the manner in which he met his death?"

  "That is so, sir. It was always my mother's wish that I should, when I was old enough, come up to the Soudan to make enquiries. As my father was a good Arabic scholar, my mother always entertained a faint hope that he might have escaped, especially as we know that a good many of the Egyptian soldiers were not killed, but were taken prisoners and made to serve in the Mahdi's army."

  "Yes, there are several of them among the Khalifa's artillerymen, but I am very much afraid that none of the officers were spared. You see, they kept together in a body and died fighting to the last."

  " I have hardly any hopes myself, sir; still, as my father was interpreter he might not have been with the others, but in some other part of the square that was attacked."

  "That is possible; but he was a white man, and in the heat of the battle I don't think that the Dervishes would have made any exception. You see, there were two correspondents with Hicks, and neither of them has ever been heard of, and they must, I should think, have joined in that last desperate charge of his. Well, for the present I must make you a sort of extra aide-de-camp, and what with one thing and another I have no doubt that I shall find plenty for you to do. As such you will of course be a member of head-quarters mess, and therefore escape the trouble of providing for yourself. You have not brought a servant up with you, I suppose?"

  "No, sir; Captain Ewart, who most kindly advised me as to my outfit, said that if I could find an intelligent native here it would be better than taking a man from Cairo."

  "Quite right; and the fellows one picks up at Cairo are generally lazy and almost always dishonest. The men you get here may not know much, but are ready enough to learn, and if well treated will go through fire and water for their master. Go down to the stores and tell the officer in charge there that I shall be glad if he will pick out two or three fellows from whom you may choose a servant."

  When Gregory had given his message the officer said: "You had better pick out one for yourself, Mr. Hilliard. Strength and willingness to work are the points I keep my eye upon, and, except for the foremen of the gangs, their intelligence does not interest me. You had better take a turn among the parties at work and pick out a man for yourself."

  Gregory was not long in making his choice. He selected a young fellow who, although evidently exerting himself to the utmost, was clearly incapable of doing his share in carrying the heavy bales and boxes that were easily handled by older men. He had a pleasant face, and looked more intelligent than most of the others.

  "To what tribe do you belong?" Gregory asked him.

  "The Jaalin. I come from near Metemmeh."

  " I want a servant. You do not seem to be strong enough for this work, but if you will be faithful, and do what I tell you, I will try you."

  The young fellow's face lit up. " I will be faithful, bey. It would be kind of you to take me. I am not at my full strength yet, and although I try my hardest I cannot do as much as strong men, and then I am abused. I will be very faithful, and if you do not find me willing to do all that you tell me, you can send me back to work here." " Well, come along with me then." He took him to the officer. "I have chosen this man, sir. Can I take him away at once?"

  "Certainly; he has been paid up to last night."

  "Thank you very much! I will settle with him for to-day."

  And, followed by the young tribesman, he went to the head-quarters camp, near which an empty hut was assigned to him.

  CHAPTER VI

  GREGORY VOLUNTEERS

  THE hut of which Gregory took possession was constructed of dry mud. The roof was of poles, on which were thickly laid boughs and palm leaves, and on these a layer of clay a foot thick. An opening in the wall eighteen inches square served as a window. Near the door the floor was littered with rubbish of all kinds.

  "What is your name?"

  "Zaki."

  " Well, Zaki, the first thing is to clear out all this rubbish and sweep the floor as clean as you can. I am going down to the river to get my baggage up. Can you borrow a shovel or something of that sort from one of the natives here? or, if he will sell it, buy one. I will pay when I return; it will always come in useful. If you cannot get a shovel, a hoe will do. Ah! I had better give you a dollar, the man might not trust you."

  He then walked down to the river, and found the black corporal sitting tranquilly by the side of his baggage. The man stood up and saluted, and on Gregory saying that he had now a house, at once told off two soldiers to carry the things.

  Arriving at the hut he found Zaki hard at work shovelling the rubbish through the doorway. Just as he came up, the boy brought down his tool with a crash upon a little brown creature that was scuttling away.

  "What is that, Zaki?"

  "That is a scorpion, bey; I have killed four of them."

  "That is not at all plea
sant," Gregory said; "there may be plenty of them up among the boughs overhead."

  Zaki nodded. "Plenty of creatures," he said, "some snakes."

  " Then we will smoke them out before I go in. When you have got the rubbish out, make a fire in the middle, wet some leaves and things and put them on, and Ave will hang a blanket over the window and shut the door. I will moisten some powder and scatter it among the leaves, and the sulphur will help the smoke to bring them down."

  This was done, the door closed, and as it did not fit at all tightly the cracks were filled with some damp earth from the water-course.

  "What did you pay for the shovel, Zaki?"

  "Half a dollar, bey; here is the other half."

  "Well, you had better go and buy some things for yourself. To-morrow I will make other arrangements. Get a fire going out here. There is a sauce-pan and a kettle, so you can boil some rice or fry some meat."

  Gregory then went again to the officer who was acting as quarter-master. " I have been speaking to the General," the latter said. "You will mess with the staff; the dinner hour is seven o'clock. I am sure you will soon feel at home."

  Gregory now strolled through the camp. The troops were in little mud huts of their own construction, as these in the heat of the day were much cooler than tents. The sun was getting low, and the Soudanese troops were all occupied in cooking, mending their clothes, sweeping the streets between the rows of huts, and other light duties. They seemed to Gregory as full of fun and life as a party of school-boys— laughing, joking, and playing practical tricks on each other. The physique of some of the regiments was splendid, the men averaging over six feet in height, and being splendidly built. Other regiments, recruited among different tribes, were not so tall, but their sturdy figures showed them to be capable of any effort they might be called upon to make. One of the officers came out of his tent as he passed.

  "You are a new arrival, I think, sir?" he said; "we have so few white officers here that one spots a fresh face at once."