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

A few of the men waved their guns and shouted; the rest looked grave. However, they obeyed their chief's orders, and the cavalcade at once started. As they did so, Gregory drew his horse up alongside Zaki.

"Look here," he said, "if we see the Dervishes coming in force, I shall come to you at once. You shall take my horse, it is faster than yours. I shall give you a note for the General, and you will ride back at full gallop and give it to him. The horse is fast, and there will be no fear of their catching you even if they chase, which they will not be likely to do, as they will be thinking of attacking us,"

"Very well, master; I will do as you order me, but I would rather stop and fight by your side."

"That you may be able to do some other time, Zaki; this time you have got to fetch aid."

Then he rode on to join the chief. There was no talking along the line, every man had his rifle unslung and in his hand, every eye scanned the country. Hitherto they had had unlimited faith in the power of the gun-boat to protect them; now that they might have to face the Dervishes unaided, they felt the danger a serious one. They had come to fight the Dervishes, and were ready to do so in anything like equal numbers, but the force they might meet would possibly be greatly stronger than their own,—so strong that although they might sell their lives dearly they would in the end be overpowered. For the first three hours the camels were kept going at the top of their speed, but as they neared Berber there was a perceptible slackness. Ahmed Bey and Gregory rode backwards and forwards along the line, keeping them together and encouraging them.

"We shall get in without fighting," the Bey said, "we should have heard before this, had they been there. Do you think that they would have remained so long in the town if they had learned that there are but two hundred of vis and one steamer? Mahmud would never have forgiven them had they not fallen upon us and annihilated us. I only hope that two hundred will have been left there; it will add to our glory to have won a battle as well as taken the town. Your children will talk of it in their tents, your women Avill be proud of you, and the men of the black regiments will say that we have shown ourselves to be as brave as they are. We will halt for half an hour, rest the camels, and then push on at full speed again; but mind, you have my orders: if you should see the enemy coming in force, you are to ride at once to the river bank, dismount, and make the camels lie down in a semicircle; then we have but to keep calm and shoot straight and we need not fear the Dervishes, however many of them there may be."

After the halt they again pushed forward. Gregory saw with pleasure that the Arabs were now thoroughly wound up to fighting point. The same vigilant watch was kept up as before, but the air of gloom that had hung over them when they first started had now disappeared; each man was ready to fight to the last. As the town was seen, the tension was at its highest, but the pace quickened rather than relaxed.

"Now is the moment!" the Bey shouted. "If they are there they will come out to fight us; if in five minutes they do not appear, it will be because they have all gone."

But there were no signs of the enemy, no clouds of dust rising in the town that would tell of a hasty gathering. At last they entered a straggling street; the women looked timidly from the windows, and then, on seeing that their robes did not bear the black patches worn by the Dervishes, they broke into loud cries of welcome.

"Are the Dervishes all gone?" Ahmed Bey asked, reining in his camel.

"They are all gone, the last left four days ago."

The sheik waved his rifle over his head, and his followers burst into loud shouts of triumph and pressed on, firing their muskets in the air. As they proceeded, the natives poured out from their houses in wild delight. The Arabs kept on till they reached the house formerly occupied by the Egyptian governor.

" I should say that you had better take possession of this, Bey. There seems to be a large courtyard where you can put your camels. It is not likely that the Dervishes will return, but it is as well to be prepared. The house is strong, and we could hold out here against a host unless they were provided with cannon. I have money, and you had better buy up as much food as possible, so that we could stand a siege for some time. I shall give my horse a good feed and an hour's rest, and then send my man down to the General, telling him that the Dervishes have deserted the town, and that we have taken possession of the place and can defend it for a long time should they return."

An hour later Zaki started with Gregory's report. The inhabitants, finding that they would be paid, brought out their hidden stores, and by evening enough was collected to last the garrison ten days. Zaki returned at noon next day with a letter from General Hunter to the Sheik, praising him highly for the energy and courage of his men and himself. He also brought a note for Gregory, saying that he hoped to get the repairs finished the next day, and that he expected by that time the other two steamers would be up, when he should at once advance to Berber. On the third day the smoke of the steamers was seen in the distance, and an hour later the gun-boats arrived, and were greeted with cries of welcome by the natives who thronged the bank. The three boats carried between three and four hundred men. These were disembarked on an island opposite the town, and the gunboats moored alongside. General Hunter at once landed with those of his staff who had accompanied him. He shook hands very cordially with the sheik.

" You have done well indeed!" he said. " It was a dangerous enterprise, and had I not known your courage and that of your men, I should not have ventured to send you forward. You have fully justified my confidence in you. In the first place I will go and see the house you have occupied. I shall leave you still in possession of it, but I do not intend that you should hold it. In case Mahmud comes down upon you, at once embark in boats and cross to the islands. It will be some time before I can gather here a force strong enough to hold the town against attack. Indeed it will probably be some weeks, for until the railway is finished to Abu Hamed, I can only get up stores sufficient for the men here; certainly we have no transport that could keep up the supply for the Avhole force. However, all this will be settled by the Sirdar, who will very shortly be with us."

It was now the 6th of September, and the same afternoon two gun-boats were sent up to Ed Darner, an important position lying a mile or two beyond the junction of Atbara river with the Nile. On the opposite bank of the Nile they found encamped the Dervishes who had retired from Berber. The guns opened fire upon them, and they retired inland, leaving behind them fourteen large boats laden with grain. These were at once sent down to Berber, where they were most welcome, and a portion of the grain was distributed among the almost starving population, nearly five thousand in number, principally women and children. Supplies soon began to arrive from below, being brought up in native craft from Abu Hamed as far as the cataract, then unloaded and carried up past the rapids on camels, then again placed in boats and so brought to Berber. Macdonald's brigade started a fortnight after the occupation, their place at Abu Hamed having been taken by a brigade from Kassinger, each battalion having towed up boats carrying two months' supply of provisions.

A fort was now erected at the junction of the two rivers, and occupied by a small force under an English officer. Two small steamers were employed in towing the native craft from Abu Hamed to Berber. Still, it was evident that it would be impossible to accumulate the necessary stores for the whole force that would take the field; accordingly, as soon as the railway reached Abu Hamed the Sirdar ordered it to be carried on as far as Berber. He himself came up with Colonel Wingate, the head of the Intelligence Department, and diligently as all had worked before, their exertions were now redoubled.