Fire and Sword in the Sudan Part 33

On Sunday, the 17th of February, Mohammed, in a few hurried words, told me that the camels would arrive the next day, that they would rest two days, and that the attempt would be made on the night of the 20th. He said that on Tuesday evening he would communicate with me by a sign by which I should know that everything was ready; and that I should then do all in my power to arrange that we should have as long a start as possible.

At last Tuesday night arrived, and I found Mohammed waiting for me at the door of the mosque. In a hurried whisper he told me that all was ready; and, after arranging a rendezvous for the following night, when the Khalifa had retired to rest, we separated.

I confess that I pa.s.sed the greater part of that night in a state of fevered excitement. Would this attempt also fail like the others? Would some unforeseen event frustrate this effort too? These thoughts kept me awake and restless; and it was not till towards morning that sleep, which was so necessary to keep up my strength during the journey, came at length, and I had two or three hours of sound repose.

The next morning, when before the Khalifa's door, I feigned sickness, and asked the chief of the mulazemin for permission to absent myself from morning prayers, as I proposed taking a dose of senna tea and tamarind, and remaining quietly at home the following day. The necessary permission was accorded, and Abdel Kerim promised to make my excuses to the Khalifa should he inquire for me. I felt sure that my master, when he knew that I was not present, would, under the pretext of solicitude for my health, send to my house to see if I was really there; but I could think of no other way of accounting for my absence.

Before sunset, I a.s.sembled my servants, and, after making them promise to keep secret what I was about to say, I told them that the brother of the man who had brought me letters, money, and watches from my relatives seven years before, had arrived with a further consignment, and that, as he had come entirely without the Khalifa's knowledge, I had decided to keep his arrival secret. I told them that I intended visiting him that night, as I wished to arrange with him without delay, and let him return at once. My good domestics, of course, believed the story implicitly; and I knew the thought that they would share some of the good things which were supposed to have come, would make them keep the secret. In continuation of my imaginary scheme, I ordered my servant Ahmed to meet me the next day at sunrise at the north end of the city, near the Fur quarter, with my mule. I told him not to be impatient if I happened to be late, as the business in hand was important, and might take some time to arrange; but that on no account was he to leave the rendezvous, as I intended to give him the money I received to take home. I impressed upon the others the necessity of maintaining perfect silence, as I ran a great risk of being discovered. Should any of the mulazemin ask for me, I told them to reply that I had been very unwell during the night, and had ridden off, accompanied by my servant Ahmed, to seek advice of some man whose whereabouts they did not know, but that they supposed he was some one who could cure illness. To make my story appear more real, I gave my servants to understand that I should receive a considerable sum of money the next day, and, in antic.i.p.ation, I presented them with several dollars apiece. My object in making these arrangements was to secure a few hours' delay before the hue and cry that I had escaped should be raised. My servant Ahmed would probably wait for some hours with the mule, while those in the household would anxiously expect my return with the money. I naturally concluded that, should the Khalifa send to inquire for me, the reply which my servants were to give, would avert suspicion for a time; and then it would take more time for them to find Ahmed, and his story of the arrival of the supposed messenger would still further perplex them. Of course they must eventually find out the deception; but to me every moment's delay in sending out search parties was of the utmost importance. After afternoon prayers, I once more returned to my house, again impressed on all my servants the immense importance of keeping the secret, and with repeated promises of reward, I stepped across the threshold, praying fervently to G.o.d that I might never set foot within my hut again.

CHAPTER XIX.

MY FLIGHT.

I escape from the Town by Night--My Guides Zeki Belal and Mohammed--A Scare--130 Miles in 21 Hours--Our Camels break down--Hiding in the Gilif Mountains--Precautions against Surprise--Arrival of Fresh Camels--Our Journey to the Nile--The Crossing--Friendly Sheikhs--Narrow Escape from a Large Armed Party of Mahdists--Difficulties with my Guides--Hamed Garhosh the Amrabi--Out of Danger--a.s.suan at last--Congratulations and Welcome--Arrival in Cairo--Meeting with Old Friends.

It was three hours after sunset. We had offered the evening prayer with the Khalifa, and he had withdrawn to his apartment. Another hour pa.s.sed without interruption. My lord and master had retired to rest. I rose, took the farwa (the rug on which we pray) and the farda (a light woollen cloth for protection against the cold) on my shoulders, and went across the mosque to the road that leads north. I heard a low cough, the signal of Mohammed, the intermediary in my escape, and I stood still. He had brought a donkey. I mounted, and was off. The night was dark. The cold, northerly wind had driven the people into their huts and houses. Without meeting a soul we reached the end of the town where a small ruined house stands obliquely to the road, from which a man led out a saddled camel.

"This is your guide. His name is Zeki Belal," said Mohammed. "He will guide you to the riding camels that are waiting concealed in the desert.

Make haste. A happy journey, and G.o.d protect you."

The man sprang into the saddle, and I got up and sat behind him. After about an hour's ride, we arrived at the spot where the camels were hidden among some low trees. All was ready, and I mounted the animal a.s.signed to me.

"Zeki," said I, "did Mohammed give you the medicine?"

"No; what medicine?"

"They call them ether pills. They keep off sleep and strengthen you on the journey."

He laughed. "Sleep!" said he. "Have no fear on that account. Fear is the child of good folk, and will keep sleep from our eyes, and G.o.d in his mercy will fortify us." The man was right enough. We rode in a northerly direction. The halfa gra.s.s and the mimosa-trees, which in places grew rather close together, prevented the camels from making rapid progress in the darkness. At sunrise we reached Wadi Bishara, a valley extending here to a breadth of about three miles, which is sown in the rainy season with millet by the Jaalin tribes who live along the Nile.

With daylight I was now able to see my guides. Zeki Belal was a young fellow, with his beard still downy; Hamed Ibn Hussein, a man in the prime of life.

"Of what race are you?"

"We are from the Gilif mountains, master; and if G.o.d will, you will be satisfied with us."

"How long a start have we got from our enemies? When will they miss you?" the elder one asked me.

"They will look for me after the morning prayer; but before all doubt is over as to my escape, and before the men and the beasts are found with which to pursue me, some time must elapse. We may at least reckon on twelve or fourteen hours' start."

"That is not very much," answered Hamed. "But if the animals are up to their work, we shall have left a good bit of ground behind us."

"Don't you know our animals? Have they not been tried?" I asked.

"No. Two of them are stallions of the Anafi breed, and the third a Bisharin mare, bought expressly for your flight from friends," was the answer. "We must hope the best of them."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Slatin Pasha flying from Omdurman.]

We drove the creatures at their swiftest pace. The country in these parts was flat, broken now and then by solitary shrubs, with here and there small stony hillocks. We rode without stopping until near midday, when suddenly my guide called out,--

"Halt! Let the camels kneel down at once. Be quick!"

I stopped. The camels knelt.

"Why?"

"I see camels a long way off and two led horses, and fear we have been seen."

I loaded my Remington to be prepared for any issue. "But if we have been seen," I said, "it is better to ride quietly on. Our making the animals lie down will excite their suspicion. In what direction are they going?"

"You are right," said Hamed Ibn Hussein. "They are marching northwest."

We rose and changed our line of march to the northeast, and were almost confident that we had pa.s.sed un.o.bserved when, to our despair, we perceived one of the party, which was about two thousand metres away from us, jump on his horse and gallop swiftly towards us.

"Hamed," said I, "I will go slowly on with Zeki. Do you stop the man, and answer his questions, and in any case prevent him from seeing me close. You have the money on you?"

"Good; but march slowly!"

I rode on quietly with Zeki, hiding my face with my farda, so as not to be recognised as a white man.

"Hamed is greeting the man, and has made his camel kneel," said Zeki, looking back. After about twenty minutes, we saw the man remount his horse, and Hamed urging his camel on to rejoin us.

"You must thank G.o.d for our safety," he cried, as he came up. "The man is a friend of mine, Mukhal, a Sheikh, on his way to Dongola with camels to bring dates to Omdurman. He asked me where I was going with the 'white Egyptian.' The man has the eyes of a hawk."

"And what did you answer?"

"I adjured him as my friend to keep our secret, and gave him twenty Maria Theresa dollars. We Arabs are all a little avaricious. The man swore a sacred oath to me to hold his tongue if he happened to fall in with our pursuers; and his people are too far off to tell black from white. Urge the camels on; we have lost time."

At sunset, we pa.s.sed the hills of Hobegi, and camped nearly an hour later in the open country about a day's journey west of the Nile, so as to give our exhausted animals some rest. We had been riding twenty-one hours without stopping, had eaten nothing all day, and only once drunk water. In spite of fatigue we ate bread and dates with a good appet.i.te.

"We will feed our beasts and then get on," said my guide. "You are not tired?"

"No," I replied. "In Europe we say time is money. Here one might say time is life. Make haste."

But to our despair the beasts refused the food which was placed before them. Hamed made a little fire, took a piece of burning wood and a little resin, which he laid on the wood, then walked round the camels muttering some words which I could not understand.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, with some surprise.

"I fear the fikis of the Khalifa have bewitched our camels, and am trying the Arab's antidote."

"For my part," I replied, "I fear that they are second-rate market camels, or are sick. Let us give them a little more rest. Perhaps they will pick up."

As, after another half-hour's rest, the beasts still refused food, and longer delay was out of the question, we tightened up the saddle-girths again and mounted. The tired animals refused to trot, would only walk at a good pace, and as the sun rose we found ourselves on the high ground to the northwest of Metemmeh. The diminis.h.i.+ng strength of our mounts filled us with anxiety, and it became clear to us that they would never hold out till the spot, about a day's journey north of Berber, on the edge of the desert, where we were to change camels. Towards afternoon, we let the exhausted animals rest in the shade of a tree, and agreed to make for the Gilif range, distant a good day's journey to the northwest, where I should remain concealed in the uninhabited hills until my guides could succeed in securing other mounts.

About sunset we struck camp. The animals had so far recovered that they could walk at a good pace, and we reached, in the early morning, the foot of the Gilif mountain, which at this spot is quite uninhabited. We dismounted, driving our camels before us after an extremely difficult march of about three hours in a valley hemmed in by sheer rocks.