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

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 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 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?"