Chapter 5: Southward.
At the hour named, Gregory met Captain Ewart at the station. He was nowdressed in uniform, and carried a revolver in his waist belt, and asword in its case. His luggage was not extensive. He had one largebundle; it contained a roll-up cork bed, in a waterproof casing. At oneend was a loose bag; which contained a spare suit of clothes, threeflannel shirts, and his underclothing. This formed the pillow. Ablanket and a waterproof sheet were rolled up with it. In a small sackwas the tente d'abri, made of waterproof sheeting, with its two littlepoles. It only weighed some fifteen pounds. His only other luggageconsisted of a large case, with six bottles of brandy, and theprovisions he had been recommended to take.
"Is that all your kit?" Captain Ewart said, as he joined him.
"Yes, sir. I hope you don't think it is too much."
"No; I think it is very moderate, though if you move forward, you willnot be able to take the case with you, The others are light enough, andyou can always get a native boy to carry them. Of course, you have yourpass?"
"Yes, sir. I received it yesterday, when I went to headquarters for theletter to General Hunter."
"Then we may as well take our places, at once. We have nearly an hourbefore the train starts; but it is worth waiting, in order to get twoseats next the window, on the river side. We need not sit there tillthe train starts, if we put our traps in to keep our places. I knowfour or five other officers coming up, so we will spread our thingsabout, and keep the whole carriage to ourselves, if we can."
In an hour, the train started. Every place was occupied. Ewart hadspoken to his friends, as they arrived, and they had all taken placesin the same compartment. The journey lasted forty hours, and Gregoryadmitted that the description Captain Ewart had given him, of the dust,was by no means exaggerated. He had brought, as had been suggested, awater skin and a porous earthenware bottle; together with a roll ofcotton-wool to serve as a stopper to the latter, to keep out the dust.In a tightly fitting handbag he had an ample supply of food for threedays. Along the opening of this he had pasted a strip of paper.
"That will do very well for your first meal, Hilliard, but it will beof no good afterwards."
"I have prepared for that," Gregory said. "I have bought a gum bottle,and as I have a newspaper in my pocket, I can seal it up after eachmeal."
"By Jove, that is a good idea, one I never thought of!"
"The gum will be quite sufficient for us all, up to Assouan. I have twomore bottles in my box. That should be sufficient to last me for a longtime, when I am in the desert; and as it won't take half a minute toput a fresh paper on, after each meal, I shall have the satisfaction ofeating my food without its being mixed with the dust."
There was a general chorus of approval, and all declared that theywould search every shop in Assouan, and endeavour to find gum.
"Paste will do as well," Ewart said, "and as we can always get flour,we shall be able to defy the dust fiend as far as our food goes.
"I certainly did not expect that old campaigners would learn a lessonfrom you, Hilliard, as soon as you started."
"It was just an idea that occurred to me," Gregory said.
The gum bottle was handed round, and although nothing could be done forthose who had brought their provisions in hampers, three of them whohad, like Gregory, put their food in bags, were able to seal them uptightly.
It was now May, and the heat was becoming intolerable, especially asthe windows were closed to keep out the dust. In spite of this,however, it found its way in. It settled everywhere. Clothes and hairbecame white with it. It worked its way down the neck, where theperspiration changed it into mud. It covered the face, as if with acake of flour.
At first Gregory attempted to brush it off his clothes, as it settledupon them, but he soon found that there was no advantage in this. So hesat quietly in his corner and, like the rest, looked like a dirty whitestatue. There were occasional stops, when they all got out, shookthemselves, and took a few mouthfuls of fresh air.
Gregory's plan, for keeping out the dust from the food, turned out agreat success; and the meals were eaten in the open air, during thestoppages.
On arriving at Assouan, they all went to the transport department, toget their passes for the journey up the Nile, as far as Wady Halfa. Thenext step was to go down to the river for a swim and, by dint ofshaking and beating, to get rid of the accumulated dust.
Assouan was not a pleasant place to linger in and, as soon as they hadcompleted their purchases, Captain Ewart and Gregory climbed on to theloaded railway train, and were carried by the short line to the spotwhere, above the cataract, the steamer that was to carry them waslying. She was to tow up a large barge, and two native craft. They tooktheir places in the steamer, with a number of other officers--somenewcomers from England, others men who had been down to Cairo, torecruit. They belonged to all branches of the service, and includedhalf a dozen of the medical staff, three of the transport corps,gunners, engineers, cavalry, and infantry. The barges were deep in thewater, with their cargoes of stores of all kinds, and rails andsleepers for the railway, and the steamer was also deeply loaded.
The passage was a delightful one, to Gregory. Everything was new tohim. The cheery talk and jokes of the officers, the graver discussionof the work before them, the calculations as to time and distance, thestories told of what had taken place during the previous campaign, bythose who shared in it, were all so different from anything he had everbefore experienced, that the hours passed almost unnoticed. It wasglorious to think that, in whatever humble capacity, he was yet one ofthe band who were on their way up to meet the hordes of the Khalifa, torescue the Soudan from the tyranny under which it had groaned, toavenge Gordon and Hicks and the gallant men who had died with them!
Occasionally, Captain Ewart came up and talked to him, but he was wellcontent to sit on one of the bales, and listen to the conversationwithout joining in it. In another couple of years he, too, would havehad his experiences, and would be able to take his part. At present, hepreferred to be a listener.
The distance to Wady Halfa was some three hundred miles; but thecurrent was strong, and the steamer could not tow the boats more thanfive miles an hour, against it. It was sixty hours, from the start,before they arrived.
Gregory was astonished at the stir and life in the place. Great numbersof native labourers were at work, unloading barges and native craft;and a line of railway ran down to the wharves, where the work ofloading the trucks went on briskly. Smoke pouring out from manychimneys, and the clang of hammers, told that the railway engineeringwork was in full swing. Vast piles of boxes, cases, and bales wereaccumulated on the wharf, and showed that there would be no loss oftime in pushing forward supplies to Abu Hamed, as soon as the railwaywas completed to that point.
Wady Halfa had been the starting point of a railway, commenced yearsbefore. A few miles have been constructed, and several buildingserected for the functionaries, military and civil; but Gordon, whenGovernor of the Soudan, had refused to allow the province to be saddledwith the expenses of the construction, or to undertake theresponsibility of carrying it out.
In 1884 there was some renewal of work and, had Gordon been rescued,and Khartoum permanently occupied, the line would no doubt have beencarried on; but with the retirement of the British troops, work ceased,and the great stores of material that had been gathered there remained,for years, half covered with the sand. In any other climate this wouldhave been destructive, but in the dry air of Upper Egypt they remainedalmost uninjured, and proved very useful, when the work was again takenup.
It was a wonderful undertaking, for along the two hundred andthirty-four miles of desert, food, water, and every necessary had to becarried, together with all materials for its construction. Not only hadan army of workmen to be fed, but a body of troops to guard them; forAbu Hamed, at the other end of the line, for which they were making,was occupied by a large body of Dervishes; who might, at any moment,swoop down across the plain.
Had the Sir
dar had the resources of England at his back, the work wouldhave been easier, for he could have ordered from home new engines, andplant of every description; but it was an Egyptian work, and had to bedone in the cheapest possible way. Old engines had to be patched up,and makeshifts of all kinds employed. Fortunately he had, in the chiefengineer of the line, a man whose energy, determination, and resourcewere equal to his own. Major Girouard was a young officer of the RoyalEngineers and, like all white officers in the Egyptian service, heldthe rank of major. He was a Canadian by birth, and proved, in everyrespect, equal to the onerous and responsible work to which he wasappointed.
However, labour was cheap, and railway battalions were raised among theEgyptian peasants, their pay being the same as that of the soldiers.Strong, hearty, and accustomed to labour and a scanty diet, no mencould have been more fitted for the work. They preferred it tosoldiering; for although, as they had already shown, and were stillfurther to prove, the Egyptian can fight, and fight bravely; he is, bynature, peaceable, and prefers work, however hard. In addition to thesebattalions, natives of the country and of the Soudan, fugitives fromruined villages and desolated plains, were largely employed.
The line had now been carried three-quarters of the distance to AbuHamed, which was still in the hands of the Dervishes. It had beenconstructed with extraordinary rapidity, for the ground was so levelthat only occasional cuttings were needed. The organization of labourwas perfect. The men were divided into gangs, each under a head man,and each having its own special work to do. There were the men whounloaded the trucks, the labourers who did the earth work, and the moreskilled hands who levelled it. As fast as the trucks were emptied,gangs of men carried the sleepers forward, and laid them down roughlyin position; others followed, and corrected the distance between each.The rails were then brought along and laid down, with the fish plates,in the proper places; men put these on, and boys screwed up the nuts.Then plate layers followed and lined the rails accurately; and, whenthis was done, sand was thrown in and packed down between the sleepers.
By this division of labour, the line was pushed on from one to twomiles a day, the camp moving forward with the line. Six tank trucksbrought up the water for the use of the labourers, daily, andeverything worked with as much regularity as in a great factory athome. Troops of friendly tribesmen, in our pay, scoured the country andwatched the wells along the road, farther to the east, so as to preventany bands of Dervishes from dashing suddenly down upon the workers.
At Wady Halfa, Captain Ewart and two or three other officers left thesteamer, to proceed up the line. Gregory was very sorry to lose him.
"I cannot tell you, Captain Ewart," he said, "how deeply grateful Ifeel to you, for the immense kindness you have shown me. I don't knowwhat I should have done, had I been left without your advice andassistance in getting my outfit, and making my arrangements to come uphere."
"My dear lad," the latter said, "don't say anything more. In any case,I should naturally be glad to do what I could, for the son of a man whodied fighting in the same cause as we are now engaged in. But in yourcase it has been a pleasure, for I am sure you will do credit toyourself, and to the mother who has taken such pains in preparing youfor the work you are going to do, and in fitting you for the positionthat you now occupy."
As the officers who had come up with them in the train from Cairo wereall going on, and had been told by Ewart something of Gregory's story,they had aided that officer in making Gregory feel at home in his newcircumstances; and in the two days they had been on board the boat, hehad made the acquaintance of several others.
The river railway had now been carried from Wady Halfa to Kerma, abovethe third cataract. The heavy stores were towed up by steamers andnative craft. Most of the engines and trucks had been transferred tothe desert line; but a few were still retained, to carry up troops ifnecessary, and aid the craft in accumulating stores.
One of these trains started a few hours after the arrival of thesteamer at Wady Halfa. Gregory, with the officers going up, occupiedtwo horse boxes. Several of them had been engaged in the last campaign,and pointed out the places of interest.
At Sarras, some thirty miles up the road, there had been a fight on the29th of April, 1887; when the Dervish host, advancing strong in thebelief that they could carry all before them down to the sea, weredefeated by the Egyptian force under the Sirdar and General Chermside.
The next stop of the train was at Akasheh. This had been a veryimportant station, before the last advance, as all the stores had beenaccumulated here when the army advanced. Here had been a stronglyentrenched camp, for the Dervishes were in force, fifteen miles away,at Ferket.
"It was a busy time we had here," said one of the officers, who hadtaken a part in the expedition. "A fortnight before, we had no ideathat an early move was contemplated; and indeed, it was only on the14th of March that the excitement began. That day, Kitchener received atelegram ordering an immediate advance on Dongola. We had expected itwould take place soon; but there is no doubt that the sudden order wasthe result of an arrangement, on the part of our government with Italy,that we should relieve her from the pressure of the Dervishes roundKassala by effecting a diversion, and obliging the enemy to send alarge force down to Dongola to resist our advance.
"It was a busy time. The Sirdar came up to Wady Halfa, and the Egyptiantroops were divided between that place, Sarras, and Akasheh. The 9thSoudanese were marched up from Suakim, and they did the distance to theNile (one hundred and twenty miles) in four days. That was somethinglike marching.
"Well, you saw Wady Halfa. For a month, this place was quite as busy.Now, its glories are gone. Two or three huts for the railway men, andthe shelters for a company of Egyptians, represent the whole camp."
As they neared Ferket the officer said:
"There was a sharp fight out there on the desert. A large body ofDervishes advanced, from Ferket. They were seen to leave by a cavalrypatrol. As soon as the patrol reached camp, all the available horse,two hundred and forty in number, started under Major Murdoch. Fourmiles out, they came in sight of three hundred mounted Dervishes, witha thousand spearmen on foot.
"The ground was rough, and unfavourable for a cavalry charge; so thecavalry retired to a valley, between two hills, in order to get betterground. While they were doing so, however, the Dervishes charged downupon them. Murdoch rode at them at once, and there was a hand-to-handfight that lasted for twenty minutes. Then the enemy turned, andgalloped off to the shelter of the spearmen. The troopers dismountedand opened fire; and, on a regiment of Soudanese coming up, the enemydrew off.
"Eighteen of the Dervishes were killed, and eighty wounded. Our losswas very slight; but the fight was a most satisfactory one, for itshowed that the Egyptian cavalry had, now, sufficient confidence inthemselves to face the Baggara.
"Headquarters came up to Akasheh on the 1st of June. The spies had keptthe Intelligence Department well informed as to the state of things atFerket. It was known that three thousand troops were there, led byfifty-seven Emirs. The ground was carefully reconnoitred, and allpreparation made for an attack. It was certain that the Dervishes alsohad spies, among the camel drivers and camp followers, but the Sirdarkept his intentions secret, and on the evening of June 5th it was notknown to any, save three or four of the principal officers, that heintended to attack on the following morning. It was because he wasanxious to effect a complete surprise that he did not even bring up theNorth Staffordshires.
"There were two roads to Ferket--one by the river, the other throughthe desert. The river column was the strongest, and consisted of aninfantry division, with two field batteries and two Maxims. The totalstrength of the desert column, consisting of the cavalry brigade, camelcorps, a regiment of infantry, a battery of horse artillery, and twoMaxims--in all, two thousand one hundred men--were to make a detour,and come down upon the Nile to the south of Ferket, thereby cutting offthe retreat of the enemy.
"Carrying two days' rations, the troops started late in the afternoonof the 6th
, and halted at nine in the evening, three miles from Ferket.At half-past two they moved forward again, marching quietly andsilently; and, at half-past four, deployed into line close to theenemy's position. A few minutes later the alarm was given; and theDervishes, leaping to arms, discovered this formidable force in frontof them; and at the same time found that their retreat was cut off, byanother large body of troops in their rear; while, on the opposite bankof the river, was a force of our Arab allies.
"Though they must have seen that their position was hopeless, theDervishes showed no signs of fear. They fought with the desperation ofrats in a trap. The Egyptians advanced with steady volleys. The Baggarahorsemen attacked them furiously, but were repulsed with heavy loss.There was hand-to-hand fighting among their huts; and the secondbrigade carried, with the bayonet, that rough hill that you see overthere.
"It was all over, by seven o'clock. Our loss was only twenty killed,and eighty wounded. About one thousand of the Dervishes were killed,including their chief Emir and some forty of the others, while fivehundred were taken prisoners. It was a great victory, and a veryimportant one; but it can hardly be said that it was glorious, as weoutnumbered them by three to one. Still, it was a heavy blow to theDervishes, and the fact that the Khalifa was obliged to send troopsdown to the Nile, to check an advance that had proved so formidable,must have greatly relieved the pressure on the Italians at Kassala.
"There was a pause, here. It was certain that we should have to meet amuch stronger force before we got to Dongola. Well as the Egyptiantroops had fought, it was thought advisable to give them a strongerbacking.
"The heat was now tremendous, and cholera had broken out. We moved toKoshyeh, and there encamped. The only change we had was a terrificstorm, which almost washed us away. In the middle of August, we managedto get the gunboats up through the cataract, and were in hopes ofadvancing, when another storm carried away twenty miles of the railway,which by this time had come up as far as the cataract."
At Ginnis, twenty miles from Ferket, they passed the ground where, onthe 31st of December, 1885, on the retirement of General Wolseley'sexpedition, Generals Grenfel and Stevenson, with a force of Egyptiantroops and three British regiments, encountered the Dervish army whichthe Khalifa had despatched under the Emir Nejumi, and defeated it. Itwas notable as being the first battle in which the newly raisedEgyptian army met the Mahdists, and showed that, trained anddisciplined by British officers, the Egyptian fellah was capable ofstanding against the Dervish of the desert.
From this point the railway left the Nile and, for thirty miles,crossed the desert. Another twenty miles, and they reached Fareeg.
"It was here," the officer said, "that the North Staffordshires came upand joined the Egyptians. The Dervishes had fallen back before weadvanced, after a halt at Sadeah, which we sha'n't see, as the railwaycuts across, to Abu Fetmeh. We bivouacked five miles from their camp,and turned out at three next morning. The orders were passed by mouth,and we got off as silently as an army of ghosts.
"I shall never forget our disgust when a small cavalry force, sent onahead to reconnoitre, reported that the Dervishes had abandoned theplace during the night, and had crossed the river in native boats. Itwas a very clever move, at any rate, on the part of fellows who did notwant to fight. There were we facing them, with our whole infantry andcavalry useless, and we had nothing available to damage the enemyexcept our artillery and the gunboats.
"These opened fire, and the Dervishes replied heavily. They hadearthworks, but the boats kept on, pluckily, till they got to a narrowpoint in the stream; when a couple of guns, which had hitherto beenhidden, opened upon them at close range; while a strong force ofDervish infantry poured in such a hot fire that the boats had to fallback.
"After our field guns had peppered the enemy for a bit, the gunboatstried again, but the fire was too hot for them, and the leading boathad to retire.
"Things did not look very bright, till nine o'clock; when we foundthat, at one point, the river was fordable to a small island, oppositethe enemy's lines. Four batteries, and the Maxims, at once moved over,with two companies of Soudanese, and opened fire. The distance acrosswas but six hundred yards, and the fire was tremendous--shell,shrapnel, and rockets--while the Soudanese fired volleys, and theMaxims maintained a shower of bullets.
"It seemed that nothing could stand against it, but the Dervishes stuckto their guns with great pluck. However, their fire was so far keptdown, that the three gunboats succeeded in forcing their way up; and,passing the Dervish works, sank a steamer and a number of native boats.
"The Dervishes now began to give way, and the gunboats steamed up theriver, making for Dongola. The Dervishes, as soon as they had gone,reopened fire, and the duel continued all day; but the great mass ofthe enemy soon left, and also made their way towards Dongola.
"It was awfully annoying being obliged to remain inactive, on our side,and it was especially hard for the cavalry; who, if they could have gotover, would have been able to cut up and disperse the enemy.
"The next morning the Dervishes were all gone, and that was practicallythe end of the fighting. The gunboats went up and shelled Dongola; andwhen we got there, two days later, the Dervishes had had enough of it.Of course, there was a little fighting, but it was the effort of aparty of fanatics, rather than of an enemy who considered resistancepossible.
"We were greeted with enthusiasm by the unfortunate inhabitants, whohad been subject to the Dervish tyranny. As a whole, however, they hadnot been badly treated here, and had been allowed to continue tocultivate their land, subject only to about the same taxation as theyhad paid to Egypt. Of course, from what they have done elsewhere, thecomparative mildness of the conduct of the Dervishes was not due to anyfeeling of mercy, but to policy. As the most advanced position, withthe exception of scattered and temporary posts lower down the river, itwas necessary that there should be food for the considerable body oftribesmen encamped at Dongola; especially as an army invading Egyptwould provide itself, there, with stores for the journey. It wastherefore good policy to encourage the cultivators of land to staythere."
"Thank you very much!" Gregory said, when the officer had concluded hissketch of the previous campaign. "Of course, I heard that we had beatenthe Khalifa's men, and had taken Dongola, but the papers at Cairo gaveno details. The Staffordshire regiment went down, directly the placewas taken, did they not?"
"Yes. They had suffered heavily from cholera; and as there was now nofear that the Egyptians and Soudanese would prove unequal towithstanding a Dervish rush, there was no necessity for keeping themhere."
At Abu Fetmeh they left the train, and embarked in a steamer. Of theparty that had left Assouan, only four or five remained. The rest hadbeen dropped at other stations on the road.
The boat stopped but a few hours at Dongola, which had for a time beenthe headquarters of the advanced force. Great changes had been made,since the place was captured from the Dervishes. At that time thepopulation had been reduced to a handful, and the natives who remainedtilled but enough ground for their own necessities; for they knew that,at any time, a Dervish force might come along and sweep everythingclear. But with the advent of the British, the fugitives who hadscattered among the villages along the river soon poured in.
Numbers of Greek traders arrived, with camels and goods, and the townassumed an aspect of life and business. The General established a courtof justice, and appointed authorities for the proper regulation ofaffairs; and by the time Gregory came up, the town was showing signs ofrenewed prosperity.
But the steamer stopped at Dongola only to land stores needed for theregiment stationed there. The headquarters had, months before, beenmoved to Merawi, some eighty miles higher up, situated at the foot ofthe fourth cataract.
Although he had enjoyed the journey, Gregory was glad when the steamerdrew up against a newly constructed wharf at Merawi. Now he was tobegin his duties, whatever they might be.
At the wharf were a large number of Soudanese soldiers. A telegram,fro
m the last station they touched at, had given notice of the hour atwhich the boat would arrive; and a battalion of native troops hadmarched down, to assist in unloading the stores. A white officer hadcome down with them, to superintend the operation, and the otherofficers at once went on shore to speak to him.
Gregory had got all his traps together and, as the Soudanese poured onboard, he thought it better to remain with them; as, if his belongingsonce got scattered, there would be little chance of his being able tocollect them again. After a short time, he went up to one of the nativeofficers.
"This is my first visit here," he said in Arabic, "and as I have notbrought up a servant with me, I do not like to leave my baggage here,while I go and report myself to General Hunter. Will you kindly tell mewhat I had better do?"
"Certainly. I will place one of my corporals in charge of your things.It would be as well to get them ashore at once, as we shall want thedecks clear, in order that the men may work freely in getting thestores up from below. The corporal will see that your baggage iscarried to the bank, to a spot where it will be out of the way, andwill remain with it until you know where it is to be taken."
Thanking him for his civility, Gregory went on shore. The officer whohad told him the story of the campaign was still talking, to the Majorwho had come down with the blacks. As Gregory came up, he said:
"I wondered what had become of you, Hilliard. I have been telling MajorSidney that a young lieutenant had come up, to report himself to theGeneral for service."
"I am glad to see you, sir," the Major said, holding out his hand."Every additional white officer is a material gain, and I have no doubtthat General Hunter will find plenty for you to do. I hear you canspeak the Negro language, as well as Arabic. That will be speciallyuseful here, for the natives are principally Negro, and speak verylittle Arabic.
"How about your baggage?"
"One of the native officers has undertaken to get it ashore, and to puta corporal in charge of it, until I know where it is to go."
"Well, Fladgate, as you are going to the General's, perhaps you willtake Mr. Hilliard with you, and introduce him."
"With pleasure.
"Now, Mr. Hilliard, let us be off, at once. The sun is getting hot, andthe sooner we are under shelter, the better."
Ten minutes' walk took them to the house formerly occupied by theEgyptian Governor of the town, where General Hunter now had hisheadquarters. The General, who was a brevet colonel in the BritishArmy, had joined the Egyptian Army in 1888. He had, as a captain in theLancashire regiment, taken part in the Nile Expedition, 1884-85; hadbeen severely wounded at the battle of Ginnis; and again at Toski,where he commanded a brigade. He was still a comparatively young man.He had a broad forehead, and an intellectual face, that might havebetokened a student rather than a soldier; but he was celebrated, inthe army, for his personal courage and disregard of danger, and wasadored by his black soldiers.
He rose from the table at which he was sitting, as Captain Fladgatecame in.
"I am glad to see you back again," he said. "I hope you have quiteshaken off the fever?"
"Quite, General. I feel thoroughly fit for work again. Allow me topresent to you Mr. Hilliard, who has just received a commission aslieutenant in the Egyptian Army. He has a letter from the Sirdar, toyou."
"Well, I will not detain you now, Captain Fladgate. You will find yourformer quarters in readiness for you. Dinner at the usual time; thenyou shall tell me the news of Cairo.
"Now, Mr. Hilliard," and he turned to Gregory, "pray take a seat. Thisis your first experience in soldiering, I suppose?"
"Yes, sir."
"I think you are the first white officer who has been appointed, whohas not had experience in our own army first. You have not beenappointed to any particular battalion, have you?"
"No, sir. I think I have come out to make myself generally useful.These are the letters that I was to hand to you--one is from the Sirdarhimself, the other is from his chief of the staff, and this letter isfrom Captain Ewart."
The General read the Sirdar's letter first. He then opened that fromthe chief of the staff. This was the more bulky of the two, andcontained several enclosures.
"Ah! this relates to you," the General said as, after glancing over thetwo official despatches, he read through the letter of Captain Ewart,who was a personal friend of his.
The latter had given a full account of Gregory's history, and said thatthe Sirdar had especially asked him to put him in the way of things;that he had seen a great deal of him on the journey up, and was verygreatly pleased with him.
"The lad is a perfect gentleman," he said, "which is certainlyastonishing, he being a product of Cairo. I consider him in allrespects--except, of course, a classical education--fully equal to theaverage young officer, on first joining. He is very modest andunassuming; and will, I feel sure, perform with credit any work thatyou may give him to do."
"I see," he said, laying it down, "you have only joined the armytemporarily, and with a special purpose, and I am told to utilize yourservices as I think best. You have a perfect knowledge of Arabic, andof the Negro dialect. That will be very useful, for though we all speakArabic, few speak the Negro language, which is more commonly used here.
"Your father fell with Hicks Pasha, I am told, and you have joined uswith the object of obtaining news as to the manner in which he met hisdeath?"
"That is so, sir. It was always my mother's wish that I should, when Iwas old enough, come up to the Soudan to make enquiries. As my fatherwas a good Arabic scholar, my mother always entertained a faint hopethat he might have escaped; especially as we know that a good many ofthe Egyptian soldiers were not killed, but were taken prisoners, andmade to serve in the Mahdi's army."
"Yes, there are several of them among the Khalifa's artillerymen, but Iam very much afraid that none of the officers were spared. You see,they kept together in a body, and died fighting to the last."
"I have hardly any hopes myself, sir. Still, as my father wasinterpreter, he might not have been with the others, but in some otherpart of the square that was attacked."
"That is possible; but he was a white man, and in the heat of thebattle I don't think that the Dervishes would have made any exception.You see, there were two correspondents with Hicks, and neither of themhas ever been heard of; and they must, I should think, have joined inthat last desperate charge of his.
"Well, for the present I must make you a sort of extra aide-de-camp,and what with one thing and another, I have no doubt that I shall findplenty for you to do. As such, you will of course be a member ofheadquarters mess, and therefore escape the trouble of providing foryourself. You have not brought a servant up with you, I suppose?"
"No, sir. Captain Ewart, who most kindly advised me as to my outfit,said that, if I could find an intelligent native here, it would bebetter than taking a man from Cairo."
"Quite right; and the fellows one picks up at Cairo are generally lazy,and almost always dishonest. The men you get here may not know much,but are ready enough to learn; and, if well treated, will go throughfire and water for their master.
"Go down to the stores, and tell the officer in charge there that Ishall be glad if he will pick out two or three fellows, from whom youmay choose a servant."
When Gregory had given his message, the officer said:
"You had better pick out one for yourself, Mr. Hilliard. Strength andwillingness to work are the points I keep my eye upon; and, except forthe foremen of the gangs, their intelligence does not interest me. Youhad better take a turn among the parties at work, and pick out a manfor yourself."
Gregory was not long in making his choice. He selected a young fellowwho, although evidently exerting himself to the utmost, was clearlyincapable of doing his share in carrying the heavy bales and boxes,that were easily handled by older men. He had a pleasant face, andlooked more intelligent than most of the others.
"To what tribe do you belong?" Gregory asked him.
"The Jaalin. I come from near M
etemmeh."
"I want a servant. You do not seem to be strong enough for this work,but if you will be faithful, and do what I tell you, I will try you."
The young fellow's face lit up.
"I will be faithful, bey. It would be kind of you to take me. I am notat my full strength yet and, although I try my hardest, I cannot do asmuch as strong men, and then I am abused. I will be very faithful, andif you do not find me willing to do all that you tell me, you can sendme back to work here."
"Well, come along with me, then."
He took him to the officer.
"I have chosen this man, sir. Can I take him away at once?"
"Certainly. He has been paid up to last night."
"Thank you very much! I will settle with him for today."
And, followed by the young tribesman, he went to the headquarters camp,near which an empty hut was assigned to him.