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

"It will take me five days to go there, and five days to come back. I should think that if I am three days in the camp I ought to get all the information required. In a fortnight I should be here, though, of course, I may be longer.

If I am not back within a few days of that time you will know that it is because I have stayed there in the hopes of getting more certain news. If I don't return in three weeks it will be because something has gone wrong."

"I hope it will not be so, lad. As regards appearance and language I have no fear of your being detected, but you must always bear in mind that there are other points. You have had the advantage of seeing the camps of the native regiments when the men are out of uniform—how they walk, laugh uproariously, play tricks with each other, and generally behave. These are all natives of the Soudan, and no small proportion of them have been followers of the Mahdi and have fought against us, so they may be taken as typical of the men you are going among. It is in all these little matters that you will have to be careful. Now, I will not detain you longer. I suppose your horses are on board?"

It had been arranged that Gregory should be taken down to Korti in a native craft that was carrying some stores required at that camp.

"Yes, sir; my boy put them on board two hours ago."

"Here is the pass by which you can enter or leave the British lines at any time. The boat will be there before daylight, but the landing of the stores will not, of course, take place until later. Show this pass to the first officer who comes down. It contains an order for you to be allowed to start on your journey at once. This other pass is for your return. You had better, at your first halt, sew it under one of your patches. It is, as you see, written on a piece of linen, so that however closely you may be examined, there will be no stiffness or crackling, as would be the case with paper. Now good-bye, Hilliard! It is a satisfaction to me that you have undertaken this journey on your own initiative, and on your own request. I believe that you have a fair chance of carrying it through—more so than men with wider shoulders and bigger limbs would have. If you come to grief I shall blame myself for having accepted your offer, but I shall at least know that I thought it over seriously, and that, seeing the importance of the object in view, I did not feel myself justified in refusing."

With a cordial shake of the hand he said good-bye to Gregory. The latter went off to his hut. He did not leave it until dusk, and then went down to the boat, where Zaki had remained with the horses. As soon as it started, they lay down alongside some bales on the deck of the native craft and were soon asleep. They did not wake until a slight bump told them they were alongside the wharf at Korti. Day was just breaking, so no move was made until an hour later. An officer came down with the fatigue party to unload the stores that she had brought down. When the horses were ashore, Gregory handed the pass to the officer, who was standing on the bank. He looked at it with some surprise.

"Going to do some scouting," he muttered, and then called to a native officer, "Pass these two men beyond the outposts. They have an order from General Hunter.

"Will you be away long?" he asked Gregory in Arabic.

" A week or more, my lord," the latter replied.

"Ah! I suppose you are going to Gakdul. As far as we have heard, there are no Dervishes there. Well, you must keep a sharp look-out; they may be in hiding anywhere about there, and your heads won't be worth much if they lay hands on you."

"We intend to do so, sir;" and then, mounting, they rode on, the native officer walking beside them.

" You know the country, I suppose 1" he said. " The Dervishes are bad, but I would rather fall into their hands than lose my way in the desert. The one is a musket ball or a quick chop with a knife, the other an agony for two or three days."

"I have been along the road before," Zaki said; "there is no fear of my losing my way, and even if I did so I could travel by the stars."

"I wish we were all moving," the native said. "It is dull work staying here month after month."

As soon as they were beyond the lines they thanked the officer, and went off at a pace native horses are capable of keeping up for hours.

" Korti is a much pleasanter camp to stay in than Merawi," Gregory said. " It really looks a delightful place. It is quite evident that the Mahdists have never made a raid here."

The camp stood on a high bank above the river. There were spreading groves of trees, and the broad avenues that had been constructed when the Gordon relief expedition was encamped there could still be seen. Beyond it was a stretch of land which had been partly cultivated. Sevas grass grew plentifully, and acacia and mimosa shrubs in patches.

They rode to the wells of Hambok, a distance of some five-and-thirty miles, which they covered in five hours. There they halted, watered their horses, and after giving them a good feed turned them out to munch the shrubs or graze on the grass as they chose. They then had a meal from the food they had brought with them, made a shelter of bushes, for the heat was intense, and afterwards sewed the Mahdi patches upon their clothes.

When the sun went down they fetched the horses in, gave them a small feed, and then fastened them to some bushes near. As there was plenty of water in the wells they took an empty gourd down and, stripping, poured water over their heads and bodies; then, feeling greatly refreshed, dressed and lay down to sleep. The moon rose between twelve and one, and after giving the horses a drink they mounted and rode to Gakdul, which they reached soon after daybreak. They had stopped a mile away, and Zaki went forward on foot, hiding himself as much as possible from observation. On his return he reported that no one was at the wells, and they therefore rode on, taking every precaution against surprise. The character of the scenery had completely changed, and they had for some miles been winding along at the foot of the Jebel-el-Jilif

hills. These were steep and precipitous, with spurs and inter mediate valleys. The wells differed entirely from those at Hambok, which were merely holes dug in the sand, the water being brought up in one of the skin bags they had brought with them, and poured into shallow cisterns made in the surface. At Gakdul the wells were large pools in the rock at the foot of one of the spurs of the hill, two miles from the line of the caravan route. Here the water was beautifully clear, and abundant enough for the wants of a large force.

" It is lucky I had you with me, Zaki, for I should certainly have gone straight on past the wells without knowing where they were; and as there are no others this side of Abu Klea, I should have had rather a bad day.

The three forts which the Guards had built when they came on in advance of General Stewart's column were still standing, as well as a number of smaller ones which had been afterwards added.

"It is rather a bad place for being caught, Zaki, for the ground is so broken and rocky that the Dervishes might creep up without being seen."

"Yes, sir, it is a bad place," Zaki agreed. "I am glad that none of the Dervishes were here, for we should not have seen them until we were quite close."

Zaki had on the road cut a large faggot of dried sticks, and a fire was soon lighted.

"You must give the horses a good allowance of grain," Gregory said, " for they will be able to pick up nothing here, and it is a long ride to Abu Klea."

"We shall have to be very careful there, my lord; it is not so very far from Metemmeh, and we are very likely to find Baggaras at the wells. It was there they met the English force that went through to Metemmeh. I think it would be better for us to halt early this evening and camp at the foot of Jebel Sergain; the English halted there before advancing to Abu Klea. We can take plenty of water in the two skins, to give the horses a drink and leave enough for to-morrow.