With Kitchener in the Soudan Part 15

"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 gra.s.s 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 gra.s.s, 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 intermediate 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 f.a.ggot 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 tomorrow. There is gra.s.s in abundance there.

"When the moon rises, we can make our way round to avoid Abu Klea, and halt in the middle of the day for some hours. We could then ride on as soon as the sun is low, halt when it becomes too dark to ride, and then start again when the moon rises. In that way we shall reach the river, before it is light."

"I think that would be a very good plan, Zaki. We should find it very difficult to explain who we were, if we met any Dervishes at Abu Klea.

I will have a look at my sketch map; we have found it very good and accurate, so far; and with that, and the compa.s.s the General gave me before starting, we ought to have no difficulty in striking the river, as the direction is only a little to the east of south."

He opened a tin of preserved meat, of which he had four with him, and placed it to warm near the fire.

"We should have had to throw the other tins away, if we had gone on to Abu Klea," he said. "It would never have done for them to be found upon us, if we were searched."

When the meat was hot they ate it, using some biscuits as plates.

Afterwards they feasted on a melon they had brought with them, and were glad to hear their horses munching the leaves of some shrubs near.

When the moon rose, they started. It was slow work at first, as they had some difficulty in pa.s.sing the rough country lying behind the hill.

Once past it, they came upon a level plain, and rode fast for some hours. At ten o'clock they halted, and lay down under the shelter of the shrubs; mounting again at four, and riding for another three hours.

"How far do you think we are from the river now? By the map, I should think we cannot be much more than twenty miles from it."

"I don't know, my lord. I have never been along here before; but it certainly ought not to be farther than that."

"We have ridden nine hours. We travelled slowly for the first four or five, but we have come fast, since then. We must give the horses a good rest, so we will not move on till the moon rises, which will be about a quarter to two. It does not give a great deal of light, now, and we shall have to make our way through the scrub; but, at any rate, we ought to be close to the river, before morning."

When the sun was low they again lit a fire, and had another good meal, giving the greater portion of their stock of biscuits to the horses, and a good drink of water.

"We must use up all we can eat before tomorrow, Zaki, and betake ourselves to a diet of dried dates. There is enough water left to give the horses a drink before we start, then we shall start as genuine Dervishes."

They found that the calculation they had made as to distance was correct and, before daybreak, arrived on the bank of the Nile, and at once encamped in a grove. In the morning they could see the houses of Metemmeh, rising from the line of sandy soil, some five miles away.

"There seems to be plenty of bush and cover, all along the bank, Zaki.

We will stay here till the evening, and then move three miles farther down; so that you may be handy, if I have to leave the Dervishes in a hurry."

"Could we not go into the camp, my lord?"

"It would be much better, in some respects, if we could; but, you see, you do not speak Arabic."

"No, master; but you could say I was carried off as a slave, when I was a boy. You see, I do speak a little Arabic, and could understand simple orders; just as any slave boy would, if he had been eight or ten years among the Arabs."

"It would certainly be a great advantage to have you and the horses handy. However, at first I will go in and join the Dervishes, and see how they encamp. They are, no doubt, a good deal scattered; and if we could find a quiet spot, where a few mounted men have taken up their station, we would join them. But before we did that, it would be necessary to find out whether they came from Kordofan, or from some of the villages on the White Nile. It would never do to stumble into a party from El Obeid."

They remained quiet all day. The wood extended a hundred and fifty yards back from the river, and there was little fear that anyone coming down from Omdurman would enter it, when within sight of Metemmeh. At dusk they rode on again, until they judged that they were within two miles of the town; and then, entering a clump of high bushes by the river, halted for the night.

Chapter 8: Among The Dervishes.

In the morning Gregory started alone, as soon as it was light. As he neared the town, he saw that there were several native craft on the river; and that boats were pa.s.sing to and fro between the town and Shendy, on the opposite bank. From the water side a number of men were carrying what appeared to be bags of grain towards the hills behind the town, while others were straggling down towards the river.

Without being questioned, Gregory entered Metemmeh, but stopped there for a very few minutes. Everywhere were the bodies of men, women, and children, of donkeys and other animals. All were now shrivelled and dried by the sun, but the stench was almost unbearable, and he was glad to hurry away.

Once beyond the walls he made for the hill. Many tents could be seen there, and great numbers of men moving about. He felt sure that, among so many, no one would notice that he was a newcomer; and after moving among the throng, he soon sat down among a number of Dervishes who were eating their morning meal. Taking some dates out of his bag, he munched them quietly.

From the talk going on, he soon perceived that there was a considerable amount of discontent at the long delay. Some of the men were in favour of moving to Berber, on the ground that they would at least fare better there; but the majority were eager to march north, to drive the infidels from Merawi and Dongola.

"Mahmud would do that, I am sure," one of them said, "if he had but his will; but how could we march without provisions? It is said that Mahmud has asked for a sufficient supply to cross the Bayuda, and has promised to drive the infidels before him to a.s.souan; but the Khalifa says no, it would be better to wait till they come in a strong body, and then to exterminate them. If we are not to fight, why were we sent here? It would have been better to stay at Omdurman, because there we had plenty of food; or, if it ran short, could march to the villages and take what we wanted. Of course the Khalifa knows best, but to us it seems strange, indeed."

There was a general chorus of a.s.sent. After listening for some time Gregory rose and, pa.s.sing over the ridge, came upon the main camp. Here were a number of emirs and sheiks, with their banners flying before the entrance of their tents. The whole ground was thickly dotted with little shelters, formed of bushes, over which dark blankets were thrown to keep out the rays of the sun. Everywhere women were seated or standing--some talking to each other, others engaged in cooking.

Children played about; boys came in loaded with f.a.ggots, which they had gone long distances to cut. In some places numbers of horses were picketed, showing where the Baggara cavalry were stationed.

In the neighbourhood of the emirs' tents there was some sort of attempt at order, in the arrangement of the little shelters, showing where the men of their tribes were encamped. Beyond, straggling out for some distance, were small encampments, in some of which the men were still erecting shelters, with the bushes the women and boys brought in. Most of these were evidently fresh arrivals, who had squatted down as soon as they came up; either from ignorance as to where their friends had encamped, or from a preference for a quiet situation. This fringe of new arrivals extended along the whole semicircle of the camp; and as several small parties came up while Gregory wandered about, and he saw that no notice was taken of them by those already established, he thought that he could bring Zaki, and the horses up without any fear of close questioning. He therefore walked down again to the spot where he had left them; and, mounting, they rode to the camp, making a wide sweep so as to avoid the front facing Metemmeh.

"We could camp equally well, anywhere here, Zaki, but we may as well go round to the extreme left; as, if we have to ride off suddenly, we shall at least start from the nearest point to the line by which we came."

There was a small clump of bushes, a hundred yards or so from the nearest of the little shelters. Here they dismounted, and at once began, with their knives, to cut down some of the bushes to form a screen from the sun. They had watered the horses before they left the river, and had also filled their water skins.