G.A. Henty - With Kitchener in the Soudan - a story of Atbara and Omdurman

There were tears in Mrs. Hilliard's eyes, but she said bravely: " I quite agree with you, Gregory. Of course I shall be sorry that you should leave me even for a time, but it seems to me, too, that it is a grand opportunity. You know what a pain it was to me, all the time that we were at Alexandria, that you should be working in such a subordinate position. Now there is an opening by which you will be in a position ere long more worthy of your birth and education. I have no doubt I shall get on very well here. I believe that Hicks Pasha has brought his wife out with him here, and some of his officers will no doubt be married men also, and as the wife of one of his officers I shall, of course, get to know them. I should be selfish indeed to say a word to keep you back, and shall be delighted to think of you associating with other English gentlemen as one of themselves."

And so it was settled. The next day Gregory called on Hicks Pasha. The latter had made some more enquiries respecting him, and was well pleased with his appearance.

" I have already a gentleman named as staff interpreter, Mr. Hilliard, but I can appoint you at once interpreter to the quartermaster's department, attached to my personal staff for the present. I can tell you that the Egyptian army will be largely increased, and I shall be able after a time to procure you a better appointment. When we have once defeated the Mahdi and restored order, there will be many appointments open for the reorganization of the Soudan. There are a good many preparations to be made before I leave, which I expect to do in the course of three or four weeks, and I shall be glad of your assistance as soon as you can join us."

"I shall be glad to do so at once. Mr. Ross has kindly told me that I am at liberty to resign my post under him as soon as I like."

"Very well, then; you may consider yourself appointed

to-day. My intention is to go first to Suakim, and thence up to Berber, and so by water to Khartoum."

The next three weeks passed rapidly. Gregory was on the following day introduced to the various officers of Hicks Pasha's staff, and, on learning that he was married, the general asked him and his wife to dinner to make the acquaintance of Lady Hicks and the wives of three of his fellow-officers.

At last the time came for parting. Annie bore up well, and although when alone she had many a cry, she was always cheerful, and went with her husband and saw him off at the station of the railway for Ismailia without breaking down badly.

CHAPTER III

A TERRIBLE DISASTER

IT was an anxious time for his wife after Gregory started. He and those with him had left with a feeling of confidence that the insurrection would speedily be put down. The garrison of Khartoum had inflicted several severe defeats upon the Mahdi, but had also suffered some reverses. This, however, was only to be expected, when the troops under him were scarcely more disciplined than those of the Dervishes, who had always been greatly superior in numbers and inspired with a fanatical belief in their prophet. But with British officers to command and British officers to drill and discipline the troops, there could be no fear of a recurrence of these disasters. Before they started, Mrs. Hilliard had become intimate with the wife of Hicks Pasha and those of the other married officers, and had paid visits with them to the harems of high Turkish officials. Visits were frequently exchanged, and what with these and the care of the boy her time was constantly occupied. She received letters from Gregory as frequently as possible after his arrival at Omdurman, and until he set out with the main body under the general on the way to El Obeid. Before starting he said he hoped that in another two months the campaign would be over, El Obeid recovered, and the Mahdi smashed up; and that as soon as they returned to Khartoum, Hicks Pasha would send for his wife and daughters, and the other married officers for their wives, and of course she would accompany them.

I cannot say much for Omdurman, he said; but Khartoum is a nice place. Many of the houses there have shady gardens. Hicks has promised to recommend me for a majority in one of the Turkish regiments. In the intervals of my own work I have got up drill. I shall of course tell him then what my real name is, so that I can be gazetted m it. It is likely enough that even after toe defeat the Mahdi this war may go on for some time before it is stamped out, and in another year I may be a full-blown colonel, if only an Egyptian one; and as the pay of the English officers is good, I shall be able to have a very comfortable home for you.

I need not repeat my instructions, darling, as to what you must do in the event, improbable as it is, of disaster. When absolutely assured of my death, but not until then, you will go back to England with the boy and see my father. He is not a man to change his mind, unless I were to humble myself before him; but I think he would do the right thing for you. If he will not, there is the letter for Geoffrey. He has no settled income at present, but when he comes into the title he will, I feel quite certain, nyike you an allowance. I know that you would for yourself shrink from doing this, but for the boy's sake you will not hesitate to carry out my instructions. I shoidd say you had better write to my father, for the interview might be cm unpleasant one; but if you have to appeal to Geoffrey you had better call upon him and show him this letter. I feel sure that he will do what he can.

GREGORY.

A month later a messenger came up from Suakim with a dispatch dated October 3rd. The force was then within a few days' march of El Obeid. The news was not altogether cheering: hordes of the enemy hovered about their rear; communication was already difficult, and they had to depend upon the stores they carried, and cut themselves off altogether from the base. He brought some private letters from the officers, and among them one for Mrs. Hilliard. It was short and written in pencil:

In a few days, dear, the decisive battle will take place, and

although it will be a tough fight none of us have any fear of the

result. In the very improbable event of a defeat, I shall, if I have

time, slip on the Arab dress I have with me, and may hope to

escape. However, I have little fear that it will come to that. God

bless and protect you and the boy!

GREGORY.

A month passed away. No news came from Hicks Pasha or any of Ms officers. Then there were rumours current in the bazaars of disaster, and one morning when Annie called upon Lady Hicks she found several of the ladies there with pale and anxious faces. She paused at the door. "Do not be alarmed, Mrs. Hilliard," Lady Hicks said. " Nizim Pasha has been here this morning. He thought that I might have heard the rumours that are current in the bazaar that there has been a disaster, but he says there is no confirmation whatever of these reports. He does not deny, however, that they have caused anxiety among the authorities, for sometimes these rumours, whose origin no one knows, do turn out to be correct. He said that enquiries have been made, but no foundation for the stories can be got at. I questioned him closely, and he says that he can only account for them on the ground that if a victory had been won an official account from government should have been here before this, and that it is solely on this account that these rumours have got about. He said there was no reason for supposing that this silence meant disaster. A complete victory might have been won, and yet the messenger with the dispatches might have been captured and killed by the parties of tribesmen hanging behind the army or wandering about the country between the army and Khartoum. Still, of course, this is making us all very anxious."

The party soon broke up, none having any reassuring suggestions to offer; and Annie returned to her lodging to weep over her boy and pray for the safety of his father. Days and weeks passed, and still no word came to Cairo. At Khartoum there was a ferment among the native population. No secret was made of the fact that the tribesmen who came and went all declared that Hicks Pasha's army was utterly destroyed. At length the Egyptian government announced to the wives of the officers that pensions would be given to them according to the rank of their husbands. As captain and interpreter, Gregory's wife had but a small one, but it was sufficient for her to live upon. One by one the other ladies gave up hope and returned to England, but Annie stayed on. Misfortune might have befallen the arm} 7 , but Gregory might have escaped in disguise. She had, like the other ladies, put on mourning for him, for had she declared her belief that he might still be alive she could not have applied for the pension, and this was necessary for the child's sake. Of one thing she was determined: she would not go with him as beggars to the father who had cast Gregory off, until, as he had said, she received absolute news of his death. She was not in want; but as her pension was a small one, and she felt that it would be well for her to be employed, she asked Lady Hicks, before she left, to mention at the houses of the Egyptian ladies to whom she went to say good-bye, that Mrs. Hilliard would be glad to give lessons in English, French, or music.