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

by G. A. Henty

  For an hour all was quiet. Then he saw two white figures coming from Mahmud's camp, which lay some fifty yards away. To his delight they stopped at the entrance of the tent by which he was concealed, and one said : " I can well understand, Ibrahim Khalim, that your brother Mahmud is sorely vexed that your father will not let him advance against the Egyptians at Merawi. I fully share his feelings, for could I not with my cavalry sweep them before me into the river, even though no foot-men came with me? According to accounts they are but two or three thousand strong, and I have as many horsemen under my command."

  " That is so, Osman Azrakyet. But methinks my father is right. If we were to march across the desert we should lose very many men and great numbers of animals, and we should arrive weakened and dispirited. If we remain here it is the Egyptians who will have to bear the hardships of the march across the desert. Great numbers of the animals that carry the baggage and food, without which the poor infidels are unable to march, would die, and the weakened force would be an easy prey for us."

  "That is true," the other said, "but they may come now, as they came to Dongola, in their boats."

  "They have the cataracts to ascend, and the rapid currents of the Nile at its full to struggle against. There is a strong force at Abu Hamecl, and our governor at Berber will move down there with all his force when he hears that the Egyptians are coming up the cataracts. Should it be the will of Allah that they should pass them and reach Berber, we shall know how to meet them. Mahmud has settled this evening that many strong forts are to be built on the river bank here, and if the infidels try to advance farther by water they will be all sunk. I agree with you and Mahmud, and wish that it had been otherwise, and that we could hurl ourselves at once upon the Egyptians and prevent their coming farther, but that Avould be but a partial success. If Ave wait, they will gather all their forces before they come, and we shall destroy them at one blow. Then we shall seize all their stores and animals, cross the desert to Dongola, march forward to Assouan, and there wait till the Khalifa brings his own army, and then who is to oppose us? We will conquer the land of the infidel. I am as eager for the day of battle as you are, but it seems to me that it is best to wait here until the infidels come, and I feel that it is wise of the Khalifa thus to order. Now I will to my tent."

  As soon as Ibrahim Khalim had entered his tent Gregory crawled away, well satisfied that he had gained exactly the information he had come to gather. He had gone but a few paces when he saw a white figure striding along in front of the tents. He stopped and threw himself down. Unfortunately the path taken by the sheik was directly towards him. He heard the footsteps advancing, in hopes that the man would pass either in front or behind him. Then he felt a sudden kick, an exclamation, and a heavy fall. He leapt to his feet, but the Arab sheik was as quick, and springing up also seized him, at the same time drawing his knife and uttering a loud shout. Gregory grasped the Arab's wrist, and without hesitation snatched his own knife from the sash and drove it deep into his assailant's body. The latter uttered another loud cry for help, and a score of men rushed from behind the tents.

  Gregory set off at the top of his speed, dashed over the brow of the ridge, and then, without entering the camp there, he kept along close to the crest, running at the top of his speed and wrapping his blanket as much as possible round him. He heard an outburst of yells behind, and felt sure that the sheik he had wounded had told those who had rushed up which way he had fled. With loud shouts they poured over the crest, and there were joined by others running up from the camp. When Gregory paused for a moment after running for three or four hundred yards, he could hear no sound of footsteps behind him. Glancing round, he could not see white dresses in the darkness. Turning sharp off, he re-crossed the crest of the hill, and keeping close to it, continued his flight until well past the end of the camp. 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 other 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 Ave 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 n
ot 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 to-morrow."

  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 di 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 north-west. 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 gourdful 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 IX

  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 art 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 to-morrow. If we cover twenty-five miles to-day—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 to-day, 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 look-out 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. "GiA^e me the other one down, Zaki. I will fill that too, and then we will both start drinking to gether."

  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 m
e 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."