With Kitchener in the Soudan : a story of Atbara and Omdurman

"Where should I be most likely to meet the Dervishes first?"

" I do not think any of them are much this side of Metemmeh at present. Sometimes parties ride down to Gakdul, and they have even passed on till they are within sight of this camp; but when they have found out that the wells are still unoccupied and the army here quiet, they go back again."

" If I go on horseback, Zaki, I shall want someone with me who will act as a guide, and who will look after his horse and mine at some place near the river, where he can find a hiding-place while I am away in the Dervish camp."

"Would you take me, my lord?" Zaki said quickly.

"I would much rather take you than anyone else if you are willing to go, Zaki."

"Surely I will go with my lord," the native said. "No one has ever been so good to me as he has. If my lord is killed I am ready to die with him. He may count on me to do anything that he requires, even to go with him into the Dervish camp. I might go as a slave, my lord."

"That would not do, Zaki. I do not wish to travel as a person who could ride attended by a slave. People might say, who is this man I where does he come from ? how is it that no one knows a man who rides with a slave? My great object will be to enter the camp quietly as one who has but left half an hour before. When I have once entered it, and they ask whence I came, I must tell them some likely story that I have made up: as, for example, that I have come from El Obeid, and that I am an officer of the governor there; that, finding he could not get away himself, he yielded to my request that I might come and help to drive the infidels into the sea."

Zaki nodded. "That would be a good tale, my lord, for men who have escaped from El Obeid and have come here have said that the Khalifa's troops there have not been called to join him at Omdurman, for it is necessary to keep a strong force there, as many of the tribes of the province would rise in rebellion if they had the chance; therefore you would not be likely to meet anyone from El Obeid in Mahmud's camp."

" How is it, Zaki, that when so many in the Soudan have suffered at the hands of the Dervishes, they not only remain quiet, but supply the largest part of the Khalifa's army?"

"Because, my lord, none of them can trust the others. It is madness for one tribe to rise as the Jaalin did at Metemmeh; the Dervishes wiped them out from the face of the earth. Many follow him because they see that Allah has always given victory to the Mahdists; therefore the Mahdi must be his prophet. Others join his army because their villages have been destroyed and their fields wasted, and they see no other way of saving themselves from starvation. There are many who fight because they are fond of fighting. You see how gladly they take service with you and fight against their own countrymen, although you are Christians. Suppose you were to conquer the Khalifa to-morrow, half his army would enlist in your service if you would take them. A man who would be contented to till his fields, if he could do so in peace and quiet, fears that he may see his produce eaten by others and his house set on flames, and would rather leave his home and fight—he cares not against whom. The Mahdist army are badly fed and badly paid; they can scarce keep life together. But in the Egyptian army the men are well taken care of; they have their rations and their pay. They say that if they are wounded, or lose a limb and are no more able to fight, they receive a pension. Is it wonderful that they should come to you and be faithful?"

" Well, Zaki, we won't talk any longer now. It is agreed, then, that if I go on this expedition you will accompany me?"

"Certainly, master; wherever you go I am ready to go. Whatever happens to you will, I hope, happen to me."

On the following afternoon Gregory was sent for. " I have given the matter a good deal of thought, Mr. Hilliard," the General said, "and have decided to accept your offer. I suppose that you have been thinking the matter over. Do you decide to go on foot or mounted?"

"On horseback, sir. My boy is perfectly willing to go with me. He knows the way and the position of the wells on the road. My plan is that when we get near Metemmeh he shall remain with the horses somewhere near the river, and I shall enter the camp on foot. I am less likely to be noticed that way. If questioned, my story will be that my father was at El Obeid, and that the governor there is by the Khalifa's orders holding his force in hand to put down any outbreaks there may be in the province, and that wishing to fight against the infidel I have come on my own account. If I am asked why I had not come on horseback, I shall say that I had ridden to within the last two or three miles, and that the horse had then died. But I do not expect to be questioned at all, as one man on foot is as nothing in an army of twenty or thirty thousand gathered from all over the Soudan."

" You quite understand, Mr. Hilliard, that you are taking your life in your hands, and that there is no possibility whatever of our doing anything for you if you get into trouble?"

" Quite, sir. If I am detected I shall probably be killed at once. I do not think that there is more risk in it than in going into battle. As I have told you, I have, so far as I know, no relatives in the world, and there will be no one to grieve if I never come back again. As to the clothes, I can easily buy them from one of the natives here. Many of them are dressed in the garments of the Dervishes who were killed when we came up here, except, of course, that the patches were taken off. I will get my man to buy a suit for himself and one for me; it would be better than having new clothes made, for even if these were dirtied they would not look old. When he has bought the clothes he can give them a good washing, and then get a piece of stuff to sew on as patches.

"I am afraid, sir, that there will be little chance of my being able to obtain any absolute news of Mahmud's intentions, but only to glean general opinion in the camp. It is not likely that the news of any intended departure would be kept a secret up till the last moment among the Dervishes as it would be here,"

"Quite so," the General agreed. "We may take it as certain that the matter would be one of common talk. Of course Mahmud and his principal advisers might change their minds at any moment; still, I think that were it intended to make a move against us or to Berber, it would be generally known. I may tell you that we do not intend to cross the Bayuda desert. We shall go up the river, but this is a secret that will be kept till the last moment. And before we start Ave shall do all in our power to spread a belief that we are going to advance to Metemmeh. We know that they are well informed by their spies here of our movements. We shall send a strong force to make a reconnaissance as far as Gakdul. This will appear to be a preliminary step to our advance, and should keep Mahmud inactive till too late. He will not dare advance to Berber, because he will be afraid of our cutting him off from Omdurman.

"You are satisfied with your horse? It is advisable that you should have a good one, and yet not so good as to attract attention."

"Yes; I could not want a better horse, General. He is not handsome, but I have ridden him a great deal, and he is certainly fast; and being desert bred I have no doubt has plenty of endurance. I shall of course get one for my boy."

" There are plenty in the transport yard. They have been bought up from fugitives who have come in here. I will write you an order to select any one you choose, and if you see one you think better than your own, you can take it also, and hand yours over to the transport to keep until you return. You should take a Martini-Henri with you. I will give you an order for one on one of the native regiments. They are, as you know, armed with them, and have, of course, a few cases of spare rifles. A good many have fallen into the hands of the Dervishes at one time or another, so that your carrying such a weapon will not excite any remark. It would not do to take a revolver, but no doubt you will be able to buy pistols that have been brought down by the fugitives. You will certainly be able to get them at some of those Greek shops; they buy up all that kind of thing. Of course you will carry one of the Dervish long knives. Is there anything else that you can think of?" "Nothing, sir."

"When will you be ready, do you suppose?" " By the day after to-morrow, sir. I shall start after dark, so that no one will notice my going. With your permission I will come round before I set off, so that you can see whether the disguise is good enough to pass."

CHAPTER VII

TO METEMMEH

ZAKI at once set to work to collect the articles needed for the journey, and Gregory obtained from the transport another horse and two native saddles. He was well satisfied with his own animal; and even had he found in the transport yard a better horse he would still have preferred his own, as they were accustomed to each other. He bought pistols for himself and Zaki, and a matchlock for the latter. Everything was ready by the time Gregory went to the mess to lunch, on the day fixed for his departure. Nothing whatever had been said as to his leaving, as it was possible that some of the native servants who waited upon them might have picked up sufficient English to gather that something important was about to take place. When, however, the meal was over and he said carelessly, "I shall not be at mess this evening," he saw by the expression of the officers' faces that they all were aware of the reason for his absence. One after another they either shook hands with him or gave him a quiet pat on the shoulder, with the words " Take care of yourself, lad," or " A safe journey and a speedy return," or some other kind wish.

Going to his hut he was shaved by Zaki at the back of the neck up to his ears, so that the white closely-fitting cap would completely cover the hair. Outside the tent a sauce-pan was boiling with herbs and berries, which the lad had procured from an old woman who was considered to have a great knowledge of simples. At four in the afternoon Gregory was stained from head to foot, two coats of the dye being applied. This used but a small quantity of the liquor, and the rest was poured into a gourd for future use. The dresses were ready with the exception of the Mahdi patches, which were to be sewn on at their first halting-place. Before it was dark, Gregory went across to the General's quarters. The black sentry stopped him.

"The General wants to speak to me," Gregory said in Arabic.

The man called up the native sergeant from the guard tent, who asked what he wanted.

" I am here by the orders of the General."

The sergeant looked doubtful, but went in. He returned in a minute and motioned to Gregory to follow him in. The General looked at him from head to foot.

"I suppose it is you, Hilliard," he said, "but I certainly should not have recognized you. With that yellowish-brown skin you could pass anywhere as a Soudan Arab. Will the colour last?"

"I am assured that it will last for some days, but I am taking enough with me to renew it four or five times."

"Well, unless some unexpected obstacle occurs, I think you are safe from detection. Mind you avoid men from El Obeid; if you do not fall in with them you should be safe. Of course when you have sewn on those patches your disguise will be complete. I suppose you have no idea how long you will be away?"

"It will take me five days to go there, and five days to come back. I should think that if I am three days in the camp I ought to get all the information required. In a fortnight I should be here, though, of course, I may be longer.

If I am not back within a few days of that time you will know that it is because I have stayed there in the hopes of getting more certain news. If I don't return in three weeks it will be because something has gone wrong."

"I hope it will not be so, lad. As regards appearance and language I have no fear of your being detected, but you must always bear in mind that there are other points. You have had the advantage of seeing the camps of the native regiments when the men are out of uniform—how they walk, laugh uproariously, play tricks with each other, and generally behave. These are all natives of the Soudan, and no small proportion of them have been followers of the Mahdi and have fought against us, so they may be taken as typical of the men you are going among. It is in all these little matters that you will have to be careful. Now, I will not detain you longer. I suppose your horses are on board?"

It had been arranged that Gregory should be taken down to Korti in a native craft that was carrying some stores required at that camp.

"Yes, sir; my boy put them on board two hours ago."

"Here is the pass by which you can enter or leave the British lines at any time. The boat will be there before daylight, but the landing of the stores will not, of course, take place until later. Show this pass to the first officer who comes down. It contains an order for you to be allowed to start on your journey at once. This other pass is for your return. You had better, at your first halt, sew it under one of your patches. It is, as you see, written on a piece of linen, so that however closely you may be examined, there will be no stiffness or crackling, as would be the case with paper. Now good-bye, Hilliard! It is a satisfaction to me that you have undertaken this journey on your own initiative, and on your own request. I believe that you have a fair chance of carrying it through—more so than men with wider shoulders and bigger limbs would have. If you come to grief I shall blame myself for having accepted your offer, but I shall at least know that I thought it over seriously, and that, seeing the importance of the object in view, I did not feel myself justified in refusing."

With a cordial shake of the hand he said good-bye to Gregory. The latter went off to his hut. He did not leave it until dusk, and then went down to the boat, where Zaki had remained with the horses. As soon as it started, they lay down alongside some bales on the deck of the native craft and were soon asleep. They did not wake until a slight bump told them they were alongside the wharf at Korti. Day was just breaking, so no move was made until an hour later. An officer came down with the fatigue party to unload the stores that she had brought down. When the horses were ashore, Gregory handed the pass to the officer, who was standing on the bank. He looked at it with some surprise.

"Going to do some scouting," he muttered, and then called to a native officer, "Pass these two men beyond the outposts. They have an order from General Hunter.

"Will you be away long?" he asked Gregory in Arabic.

" A week or more, my lord," the latter replied.

"Ah! I suppose you are going to Gakdul. As far as we have heard, there are no Dervishes there. Well, you must keep a sharp look-out; they may be in hiding anywhere about there, and your heads won't be worth much if they lay hands on you."

"We intend to do so, sir;" and then, mounting, they rode on, the native officer walking beside them.

" You know the country, I suppose 1" he said. " The Dervishes are bad, but I would rather fall into their hands than lose my way in the desert. The one is a musket ball or a quick chop with a knife, the other an agony for two or three days."

"I have been along the road before," Zaki said; "there is no fear of my losing my way, and even if I did so I could travel by the stars."

"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 grass 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 grass 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 inter mediate 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 faggot 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 to-morrow.

There is grass 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 compass 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 passing 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 nit, 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 to-morrow, Zaki, and betake ourselves to diet of dried dates. There is enough water left to give the horses a drink before we start, then we shall start as genuin 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 hoy 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 VIII

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 passing 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 new-comer, 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 Assouan; 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 assent. After listening for some time Gregory rose, and, passing 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 faggots, 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.

"I don't think we could find a better place, Zaki," Gregory said, when, having completed their shelter and thrown their blankets over it, they lay down in the shade. " No doubt we shall soon be joined by others, but as we are the first comers on this spot it will be for us to ask questions of them, and, after, for them to make enquiries of us. I shall go into the camp as soon as the heat abates and people begin to move about again. Remember our story:—You were carried off from a Jaalin village in a raid. Your master was a small sheik, and is now with the force at El Obeid. You had been the companion of his son, and when the latter made up his mind to come and fight here your master gave you your freedom so that you might fight by his son's side. You might say that I have not yet settled under whose banner I shall fight. All I wish is to be in the front of the battle when we meet the infidels. That will be quite sufficient. There are men here from almost every village in the Soudan, and no one will care much where his neighbours come from.

" Mention that we intend to fight as matchlock men, not on horseback, as the animals are greatly fatigued from their long journey and will require rest for some time; and being so far from home I fear that we might lose them if we went into the fight with them, and in that case might have to journey on foot for a long time before we could get others. I don't at all suppose that it will be necessary for you to say all this. People will be too much occupied with their own affairs to care much about others; still, it is well not to hesitate if questioned."

Talk and laughter in the great camp ceased now, and it was not until the sun lost its power that it again began. Gregory did not move till it began to get dusk.

"I shall be away some time," he said, "so don't be at all uneasy about me. I shall take my black blanket so that I can cover myself with it and lie down, as if asleep, close to any of the emirs' tents where I hear talk going on, and so may be able to gather some idea as to their views. I have already learned that the tribesmen have not heard of any immediate move, and are discontented at being kept inactive so long. The leaders, however, may have their plans, but will not make them known to the men until it is time for action."

The camp was thoroughly alive when he entered it. Men were sitting about in groups; the women, as before, keeping near their little shelters, laughing and chatting together, and sometimes quarrelling. From the manner of the men, who either sat or walked about, it was not difficult for Gregory to distinguish between the villagers who had been dragged away from their homes and forced to enter the service of the Khalifa, and the Baggara and kindred tribes who had so long held the Soudan in subjection. The former were quiet in their demeanour and sometimes sullen in their looks. He had no doubt that when the fighting came these would face death at the hands of the infidels as bravely as their oppressors, for the belief in Mahdism was now universal. His followers had proved themselves invincible; they had no doubt that they would destroy the armies of Egypt, but they resented being dragged away from their quiet homes, their families, and their fields.

Among these the Baggara strode haughtily. Splendid men for the most part, tall, lithe, and muscular; men with the supreme belief in themselves and in their cause, carrying themselves as the Norman barons might have done among a crowd of Saxons; the conquerors of the land, the most trusted followers of the successor of the Mahdi, men who felt themselves invincible. It was true that they had so far failed to overrun Egypt, and had even suffered reverses, but these the Khalifa had taught them to consider were due to disobedience of his orders or the result of their fighting upon unlucky days. All this was soon to be reversed. The prophecies had told that the infidels were about to be annihilated, and that then they Avould sweep down without opposition, and possess themselves of the plunder of Egypt.

Gregory passed wholly unnoticed among the crowd. There was nothing to distinguish him from others, and the thought that an Egyptian spy, still less one of the infidels, should venture into their camp had never occurred to one of that multitude. Occasionally he sat down near a group of the Baggara, listening to their talk. They were impatient too, but they were convinced that all was for the best, and that when it was the will of Allah they would destroy their enemy. Still, there were expressions of impatience that Mahmud was not allowed to advance. "We know," one said, "that it is at Kirbekan that the last great destruction of the infidel is to take place, and that these madmen are coming to their fate; still, we might move down and destroy those at Dongola and along the river, and possess ourselves of their arms and stores. Why should we come thus far from Omdurman if we are to go no farther ?"

" Why ask questions?" another said contemptuously. "Enough that it is the command of the Khalifa, to whom power and knowledge has been given by the Mahdi, until he himself returns to earth. To the Khalifa will be revealed the day and the hour on which we are to smite the infidel. If Mahmud and the great emirs are all content to wait, why should we be impatient?"

Everywhere Gregory went he heard the same feelings expressed. The men were impatient to be up and doing, but they must wait the appointed hour. It was late before he ventured to approach the tents of the leaders. He knew that it was impossible to get near Mahmud himself, for he had his own bodyguard of picked men. The night, however, was dark, and, enveloping himself from head to foot in his black blanket, he crawled out until well beyond the line of tents, and then very cautiously made his way towards them again. He knew that he should see the white figures of the Dervishes before they could make him out, and he managed, unnoticed, to crawl up to one of the largest tents and lie down against it. He heard the chatter of the women in an adjoining tent, but there was no sound in that against which he lay.

For an hour all was quiet. Then he saw two white figures coming from Mahmud's camp, which lay some fifty yards away. To his delight they stopped at the entrance of the tent by which he was concealed, and one said : " I can well understand, Ibrahim Khalim, that your brother Mahmud is sorely vexed that your father will not let him advance against the Egyptians at Merawi. I fully share his feelings, for could I not with my cavalry sweep them before me into the river, even though no foot-men came with me? According to accounts they are but two or three thousand strong, and I have as many horsemen under my command."

" That is so, Osman Azrakyet. But methinks my father is right. If we were to march across the desert we should lose very many men and great numbers of animals, and we should arrive weakened and dispirited. If we remain here it is the Egyptians who will have to bear the hardships of the march across the desert. Great numbers of the animals that carry the baggage and food, without which the poor infidels are unable to march, would die, and the weakened force would be an easy prey for us."

"That is true," the other said, "but they may come now, as they came to Dongola, in their boats."

"They have the cataracts to ascend, and the rapid currents of the Nile at its full to struggle against. There is a strong force at Abu Hamecl, and our governor at Berber will move down there with all his force when he hears that the Egyptians are coming up the cataracts. Should it be the will of Allah that they should pass them and reach Berber, we shall know how to meet them. Mahmud has settled this evening that many strong forts are to be built on the river bank here, and if the infidels try to advance farther by water they will be all sunk. I agree with you and Mahmud, and wish that it had been otherwise, and that we could hurl ourselves at once upon the Egyptians and prevent their coming farther, but that Avould be but a partial success. If Ave wait, they will gather all their forces before they come, and we shall destroy them at one blow. Then we shall seize all their stores and animals, cross the desert to Dongola, march forward to Assouan, and there wait till the Khalifa brings his own army, and then who is to oppose us? We will conquer the land of the infidel. I am as eager for the day of battle as you are, but it seems to me that it is best to wait here until the infidels come, and I feel that it is wise of the Khalifa thus to order. Now I will to my tent."

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?"

" I should say to the left, my lord. There is another caravan route from Metemmeh to Ambukol. It cannot be more than fifteen miles to the west."

"Do you know anything about it?"

" I have never been along there. It is a shorter route than the one to Korti, but not so much used, I believe, because the wells cannot be relied upon."

"Well, I feel sure we shall not be able to get at the wells on the other line, so we had better take that. As we shall be fairly safe from pursuit, we may as well bear towards the north-west. By doing so we shall be longer in striking the track, but the journey will be a good bit shorter than if we were to ride due west. Now we can safely dismount. It is getting pitch-dark, and we will lead our horses. I can feel that mine is nearly dead-beat. In a few minutes we will halt and give them half a gourdful of water each. After that we had better go on for another six or seven miles, so as to be well out of sight of anyone on the hills."

Ten minutes later they heard the dull sound of horses' hoofs on the sand. They waited five minutes until it died away in the distance, and then continued their course. It was slow work, as they had to avoid every bush carefully, lest if their pursuers halted they should hear the crackling of a dry stick in the still air. Zaki, who could see much better in the dark than his master, went on ahead, while Gregory led the two horses. A good hour passed before they stopped. They gave the horses a scanty drink and took a mouthful or two each, and then, throwing themselves down, allowed the horses to crop the scanty herbage. After four hours' halt they pursued their way on foot for three hours, laying their course by the stars. They calculated that they must have gone a good fifteen miles from the point where they turned off, and feared that they might miss the caravan track if they went on before daybreak.

CHAPTER IX

SAFELY BACK

AS soon as the sun was up they pursued their journey, Gregory's compass being now available. In half an hour Zaki said, "There is a sign of the track, my lord," and he pointed to the skeleton of a camel

•'How many more miles do you think we have to go, Zaki?"

" We must be a good half-way," my lord.

"Yes, quite that, I should think. Looking at the map, I should say that we must be about abreast of the line of Gakdul. This route is only just indicated, and there art no halting-places marked upon it. Still, there must be water, otherwise caravans could not use it. We have about sixty miles farther to go, so that if the horses were fresh we might be there this evening; but as it is, we have still two, if not three days' journey before us. Well, we must hope that we shall find some water. Just let the horses wet their mouths; we can keep on for a bit before we have a drink. How much more is there left?" he asked, after the lad had given a little water to each horse.

"Not above two gourdfuls."

" Well, we must ride as far as we can, and at any rate must keep one gourdful for to-morrow. If we cover twenty-five miles to-day—and I don't think the horses can do more—we can manage, if they are entirely done up, to walk the other thirty-five miles. However, as I said, there must be wells, and even if they are dry we may be able to scratch the sand out and find a little water. What food have we got?"

"Only about two pounds of dates."

" That is a poor supply for two days, Zaki, but we must make the best of them. We will only eat a few to-day, so as to have a fair meal in the morning. We shall want it if we have to walk thirty-five miles over the sand."

"It will not be all sand," Zaki said; "there is grass for the last fifteen miles near the river, and there were cultivated fields about ten miles out before the Dervishes came."

"That is better. Now we will be moving." The herbage the horses had cropped during the halt had served to a certain degree to supply the place of water, and they proceeded at a brisker pace than Gregory had expected. "Keep a sharp look-out for water. Even if the wells are dry, you will see

a difference in the growth of the bushes round them, and as it is certain that this route has not been used for some time there may even be grass."

They rode on at an easy canter, and avoided pressing the horses in the slightest degree, allowing them to walk whenever they chose. The heat was very great, and after four hours' riding Gregory called a halt. "We must have done twenty miles," he said. "The bushes look green about here, and the horses have got something of a feed."

"I think this must be one of the old halting-places," Zaki said, looking round as they dismounted. " See, my lord, there are some broken gourds and some rags scattered about."

" So there are," Gregory said. " We will take the bridles out of the horses' mouths, so that they can chew the leaves up better, and then we will see if we can find where the wells were."

Twenty yards farther away they found a deep hole. "This was one of them," the lad said, "but it is quite dry. See, there is an old bucket lying at the bottom. I will look about; there may be some more of them."

Two others were discovered, and the sand at the bottom of one of them looked a somewhat darker colour than the others. "Well, we will dig here," Gregory said. "Bring down those two half-gourds; they will help us to shovel the sand aside."

The bottom of the hole was some six feet across, and they set to work in the middle of it. By the time they had got down two feet the sand was soft and clammy. "We will get to water, Zaki, if we have to stay here all day!" said Gregory.

It was hard work, and it was not until after four hours' toil that, to their delight, they found the sand wet under their feet. They had taken it by turns to use the scoop, for the labour of making the hole large enough for them both to work at once would have been excessive. In another hour there was half an inch of water in the hole. Gregory took a gourd and buried it in the soft soil until the water flowed

in over the brim. "GiA^e me the other one down, Zaki. I will fill that too, and then we will both start drinking to gether."

Five minutes later the two took a long draught. The scoops were then refilled and carried to the horses, who drank with an eagerness that showed how great was their thirst. Three times the gourds were filled and emptied. Now hand me down that water-bag." This was half-filled, and then, exhausted with their work, they threw themselves down and slept for some hours. When they awoke the sun was setting. "Bring up the horses, Zaki. Let them drink as much as they like."

The gourds had each to be filled six times before the animals were satisfied. The riders then took another deep drink, ate a handful of dates, and mounted. "We are safe now, and only have to fear a band of marauding Arabs; and it would be hard luck were we to fall in with them. We had better ride slowly for the first hour or so; we must not press the horses after they have had such a drink."

" Very well, master."

"There is no particular reason for hurry, and even if we miss the trail we know that by keeping straight on we shall strike the river somewhere near Korti or Ambukol."

For an hour they went at a walk, and then the horses broke into their usual pace of their own accord. It was getting dark now, and soon even Zaki could not make out the track. "The horses will keep to it, my lord," he said; "their sight is a great deal better than ours, and I dare say their smell may have something to do with it. Besides, the track is clear of bushes, so we should know at once if they strayed from it."

They rode for five hours, and then felt that the horses were beginning to fag. " We will halt here," Gregory said. " We certainly cannot be more than five-and-twenty miles from the river, and, if we start at dawn, shall be there before the heat of the day begins. We can have another handful of dates, and

give the horses a handful each, and that will leave us a few for the morning." The horses, after being given the dates, were again turned loose, and it was not long before they were heard pulling the leaves off bushes.

"Our case is a good deal better this evening than it was yesterday," Gregory said. " Then it looked as if it would be rather a close thing, for I am sure the horses could not have gone much farther if we had not found the water. I wish we had a good feed to give them."

a They will do very well on the bushes, my lord. They get little else when they are with the Arabs; a handful of durra occasionally when they are at work, but at other times they only get what they can pick up. If their master is a good one they may get a few dates. They will carry us briskly enough to the river to-morrow."

They did not talk long, and were soon sound asleep. Zaki was the first to wake. "Day is just breaking, master."

"You don't say so!" Gregory grumbled sleepily. "It seems to me that we have only just lain down." They ate the remainder of their dates, took a drink of water, and gave two gourdfuls to the horses, and in a quarter of an hour were on their way again. They had ridden but two or three miles when Zaki exclaimed, "There are some horsemen!"

" Eight of them, Zaki, and they are evidently riding to cut us off! As far as I can see, only four of them have guns; the others have spears. I think we can manage them. With my breech-loader I can fire two shots to their one, and we have pistols as well."

The Arabs drew up ahead of them and remained quiet there until the others came to within fifty yards and checked their horses. A man who appeared to be the leader of the party shouted the usual salutation, to which Gregory replied.

The leader said, " Where are my friends going and why do they halt?"

"We are on a mission. We wish to see if the infidels are still at Ambukol."

"For that you will not want guns," the man said, "and we need them badly. I beg of you to give them to us."

"They may be of use to us; we may come upon infidel scouts."

"Nevertheless, my friends, you must hand them over to us. We are, as you see, eight, and you are only two. The law of the desert is that the stronger take and the weaker lose."

" It may be so sometimes," Gregory said quietly, " but not in this case. I advise you to ride your way and we will ride ours." Then he said to Zaki, "Dismount and stand behind your horse, and fire over the saddle, but don't fire the first shot now." He threw himself from his saddle. Scarcely had he done so when four shots were fired, and Gregory took a steady aim at the chief. The latter threw up his arms and fell. With a yell of fury the others dashed forward. Zaki did not fire until they were within twenty yards, and directly afterwards Gregory fired again. There were now but five assailants. "Now for your pistols, Zaki!" he cried, glancing round for the first time. He then saw why Zaki had not fired when he first did so—his horse was lying dead in front of him, shot through the head. "Stand by me; don't throw away a shot! You take the man on the other side of the horse; I will take the others."

Steadily the four pistols were fired. As the Arabs rode up two of them fell, and another was wounded. Dismayed at the loss of so many of their number, the three survivors rode off at full speed.

"Are you hurt, Zaki?"

"A spear grazed my cheek, my lord, that is all. It was my own fault; I kept my last barrel too long. However, it tumbled him over. Are you hurt, master?"

"I have got a ball in the shoulder. That fellow without a spear has got pistols, and fired just as I did, or rather an instant before. That shook my aim, but he has a ball in him somewhere.

"Just see if they have got some dates on their saddles," for the horses of the fallen men had remained by the side of their masters' bodies.

"Yes, my lord," Zaki said, examining them; "two bags nearly full."

" That is satisfactory. Pick out the best horse for yourself, and then we will ride on. But before we go we will break the stocks of these four guns, and carry the barrels off and throw them into the bushes a mile or two away."

As soon as this was done they mounted and rode on. They halted in a quarter of an hour, and after Gregory's arm had been bound tightly to his side with his sash, both they and their horses had a good meal of dates. Then they rode on again, and in three hours saw some white tents ahead. There was a slight stir as they were seen coming, and a dozen black soldiers sprang up and ran forward, fixing bayonets as they did so.

"We are friends!" Gregory shouted in Arabic, and Zaki repeated the shout in his own language. The soldiers looked doubtful, and stood together in a group. They knew that the Dervishes were sometimes ready to throw away their own lives if they could but kill some of their enemy. One of them shouted back, "Stay where you are until I call an officer!" He went back to the tents, and returned with a white officer whom Gregory at once recognized as one of those who had come up with him from Wady Haifa.

"Leslie," he shouted in English, "will you kindly call off your soldiers ? one of their muskets might go off accidentally. I suppose you don't remember me. I am Hilliard, who came up with you in the steamer."

The officer had stopped in astonishment at hearing this seeming Dervish address him by name in English. He then advanced, giving an order to his men to fall back.

"Is it really you, Hilliard?" he said as he approached the horsemen, who were coming forward at a walk. " Which of you is it? for I don't see any resemblance in either of you."

"It is I, Leslie; I am not surprised that you don't know me."

" But what are you masquerading for in this dress, and where have you come from?"

"Perhaps I had better not say, Leslie. I have been doing some scouting across the desert with my boy here. We have had a long ride. In the first place, my arm wants attending to, I have a bullet in the shoulder. The next thing we need is something to eat; for the last three days we have had nothing but dates, and not too many of them. Is there any chance of getting taken up to Merawi ? We came down from there to Korti in a native vessel."

"Yes; a gun-boat with some native craft will be going up this afternoon. I will give orders at once that your horses shall be put on board."

When the ball had been extracted from his shoulder, and the wound dressed and bandaged by the surgeon in charge, Gregory went up to the tents again, where he was warmly received by the three white officers of the negro regiment. Breakfast had already been prepared, Zaki being handed over to the native officers. After having made a hearty meal, Gregory related the adventure with the Arabs in the desert, merely saying that they had found there were no Dervishes at Gakdul.

"But why didn't you go straight back instead of coming-down here?"

" I wanted to see whether this line was open, and whether there were any wells on it. We only found one, and it took us four or five hours' hard work to get at the water. It is lucky indeed that we did so, for our horses were getting very done up, and I had begun to think that they would not reach our destination alive."

In the afternoon the adventurers started with the boats going up to Merawi, and the next morning arrived at the camp. The Dervish patches had been removed from their clothes as soon as they arrived at Ambukol. Gregory could have borrowed a white suit there, but as the stain on his skin, although somewhat lighter than when first put on, was too dark, he declined the offer.

"No one may notice me as I land now," he said, "but everyone would stare at a man with a brown face and white uniform."

Leaving Zaki to get the horses on shore, Gregory went straight to t>he General's quarters. He told the sentry that he wished to see the General on business. "You cannot go in," the man said, " the General is engaged."

"If you send in word to him that his messenger has returned, I am sure he will see me."

"You can sit down here then," the sentry said. "When the officer with him comes out, I will give your message to his orderly."

Gregory, however, was in no humour to be stopped, and in an authoritative voice called, " Orderly!" A soldier came down directly from the guard-room. " Tell the General at once that Mr. Hilliard has returned."

With a look of wonder the orderly went into the tent. Half a minute later he returned. " You are to come in," he said.

As the General had seen Gregory in his disguise before starting, he of course recognized him. "My dear Hilliard," he said, getting up and shaking him cordially by the hand, " I am heartily glad to see you back. You have been frequently in my thoughts, and though I had every confidence in your sharpness I have regretted more than once that I allowed you to go. I suppose you failed to get there. It is hardly possible that you should have done so in the time. I suppose when you got to Gakdul you learned that the Dervishes were at Abu Klea."

" They were at Abu Klea, General, but I made a detour and got into their camp at Metemmeh."

"You did, and have returned safely! I congratulate you most warmly. I told you, Macdonald," he said, turning to the officer with whom he had been engaged, " that I had the greatest hope that Mr. Hilliard would get through. He felt so confident in himself that I could scarce help feeling confidence in him too."

"He has done well indeed!" Colonel Macdonald said. "I should not have liked to send any of my officers on such an adventure, though they have been here for years."

"Well, will you sit down, Mr. Hilliard," the General said, " and give us a full account. In the first place, what you have learned, and in the second, how you have learned it."

Gregory related the conversations he had heard among the soldiers, and then that of Mahmud's brother and the commander of the Dervish cavalry. Then he described the events of his journey there, his narrow escape from capture, and the pursuit by the Dervishes at Abu Klea; how he gave them the slip, struck the Ambukol caravan road, had a fight with a band of robber Arabs, and finally reached the Egyptian camp.

"An excellently-managed business!" the General said warmly. "You have certainly had some narrow escapes, and seem to have adopted the only course by which you could have got off safely. The information you have brought is of the highest importance. I shall telegraph at once to the Sirdar that there will assuredly be no advance on the part of Mahmud from Metemmeh, which will leave him free to carry out the plans he has formed. I shall of course, in my written dispatch, give him full particulars of the manner in which I have obtained that information."

"It was a very fine action," Macdonald agreed. "The lad has shown that he has a good head as well as great courage. You will make your way, Mr. Hilliard,—that is, if you don't try this sort of thing again. A man may get through it once, but it would be just tempting providence to try it a second time."

" Now, Mr. Hilliard," the General said, "you had best go to your quarters. I will ask the surgeon to attend to you at once. You must keep quiet and do no more duty until you are discharged from the sick list."

Ten days later orders were issued that the brigade under Macdonald, consisting of the 3rd Egyptians, and the 9th, 10th, and 11th Soudanese, together with a mule battery, were to move forward the next day to Kassinger, the advanced post some ten miles higher up the river. This seemed only a preliminary step, and the general opinion was that another fortnight would elapse before there would be a general movement. A reconnaissance with friendly Arabs had, however, been made ahead towards Abu Hamed, and had obtained certain information that the garrison at that place was by no means a strong one. The information Gregory had gathered had shown that Mahmud had no intention of advancing against Merawi, and that no reinforcements had as yet started to join the force at Abu Hamed, the Dervish leader being convinced that the Nile was not yet high enough to admit of boats going up the cataract. Thus everything favoured the Sirdar's plan to capture Abu Hamed, and enable the railway to be constructed to that place before Mahmud could receive the news that the troops were in motion. He therefore directed General Hunter to push forward with only one brigade, leaving the rest to hold Merawi, and ordered the camel corps and the friendly Arabs to advance across the desert as far as the Gakdul wells, where their appearance would lead Mahmud to believe that they were the advance-guard of the coming army. Two days later Gregory, on going to the head-quarters tent, was told that General Hunter and his staff would start in an hour's time to inspect the camp at Kassinger.

"Do you think you are fit to ride?" the chief of the staff asked him.

" Perfectly, sir. The doctor discharged me yesterday as fit for duty, but advised me to keep my arm in a sling for a time."

" In that case you may accompany us. It is a little uncertain when we shall return," the officer said with a smile, " therefore I advise you to take all your belongings with you. Have them packed up quietly; we do not wish any suspicions to arise that we are not returning this evening."

* c Thank you, sir!" Gregory said gratefully; "I shall be ready to start in an hour."

He returned in high glee to his hut, for he felt certain that an immediate advance was about to take place. "Zaki," he said, "I am going to ride with the General; and as it is possible I may be stationed at Kassinger for a short time, you had better get the camel brought up, and start as soon as you have packed the things on it. I am going to ride over with the staff in an hour, and shall overtake you by the way. How long will you be?"

" Half an hour, bey."

"I will be here by that time, and will take my horse; then you can go on with the camel."

Behind the head-quarter camp the work of packing up was also going on, the camels being sent off in threes and fours as they were laden, so "as to attract no attention. Half an hour later the General came out, and without delay started with the staff, Captain Fitton remaining behind to see that the rest of the stores were sent off and a small tent for the use of the General. All heavy packages were to be taken up by water. The arrival of the General at Kassinger excited no surprise, as he had ridden over the day before; but when in the afternoon orders were issued that the camels should all be laden in preparation for a march that evening, the Soudanese could with difficulty be restrained from giving vent to their exuberant joy that at length their long halt was at an end, and they were to have another chance of getting at the enemy.

A large train of camels had been quietly collected at Kassinger, sufficient to carry the necessary supplies for the use of the column for some three weeks' time, and it was hoped that before long the gun-boats and many of the native craft with stores would join them at Abu Hamed. The force started at sunset. The distance to be travelled was a hundred and eighteen miles, and the road was a very difficult one. The ground rose steeply almost from the edge of the river, and at times had to be traversed in single file. As night came on,

the scene was a weird one. On one side the rocky ascent rose black and threatening; on the other, the river rushed foaming, only broken by the rocks and little islands of the cataract.

Gregory had been ordered to remain with the camel train, to keep them as much as possible together, and prevent wide gaps from occurring in the ranks. It was tedious work, and the end of the train did not arrive until broad daylight at the spot where the infantry halted. He at once told Zaki to pitch his little tent, which he had already shown him how to do, while he went to see if there were any orders at head-quarters. He found the staff were just sitting down to a rough breakfast. Being told after the meal that he would not be wanted during the day, but that at night he was to continue his work with the camels, he went back to his tent and threw himself on his bed. But, in spite of the fly being fastened up and a blanket thrown over the tent, the heat was so great that he was only able to doze off occasionally.

He observed that even the black troops suffered from the heat. They had erected screens with their blankets placed end to end, supported by their guns, and lay there, getting what air there was, and sheltered from the direct rays of the sun. Few slept; most of them talked or smoked. There was some argument among the officers as to the relative advantages of night and day marches. All agreed that if only one march had to be done it was better to do it at night; but when, as in the present case, it would last for seven or eight days, many thought that, terrible as would be the heat, it would be better to march in the day and permit the troops to sleep at night. This opinion certainly seemed to be justified, for at the end of the third day the men were so completely worn out from want of sleep that they stumbled as they marched, and were with difficulty restrained from throwing themselves down to get the much-needed rest.

Gregory always went down as soon as the column arrived at its halting-place, as he did before starting in the evening, to bathe in some quiet pool or back-water; and much as he had set himself against taking spirits, he found that he was unable to eat his meals unless he took a spoonful or two with his water or cold tea.

On the evening of the third day they passed the battle-field of Kirbekan, where General Earle fell when the River Expedition was attacked by the Dervishes. Next day they halted at Hebbeh, where Colonel Stewart, on his way down with a number of refugees from Khartoum, was treacherously murdered; a portion of the steamer was still visible in the river. Day after day the column plodded on, for the most part strung out in single file, the line extending over many miles, and late on the evening of the 6th of August they reached a spot within a mile and a half of Abu Hamed, the hundred and eighteen miles having been accomplished in seven days and a half.

So far as they knew, the enemy had as yet received no news of their approach. Three hours' rest was given the troops, and then they marched out in order of battle. A fail idea of the position had been obtained from the friendly natives. Abu Hamed lay on the river. The desert sloped gradually down to it on all sides, with a sharp, deep descent within two hundred yards of the town. The houses were all loopholed for defence. When within a mile of the town they must have been sighted by the Dervish sentries on a lofty watch-tower. No movement, however, was visible, and there was a general feeling of disappointment as the impression gained ground that the enemy had retreated. The 9th and 10th Soudanese made a sweep round to attack from the desert side; the 11th, and half of the Egyptian battalion—the other half having been left to guard the baggage—followed the course of the river.

Major Kincaid rode forward to the edge of the steep slope that looked down to the town. He could see no one moving about. The Dervish trenches, about eighty yards away, appeared empty, and he was about to write a message to the General saying that the place was deserted, when a sharp fire suddenly opened upon him. He turned to ride back to warn the General, but he was too late, for at the same moment Hunter with his staff galloped up to the edge of the slope and was immediately saluted by a heavy volley, which, however, was fired so wildly that none of the party were hit. The artillery were now ordered to bombard the place. At first they could only fire at the tops of the houses, but, changing their position, they found a spot where they could command the town. For half an hour this continued. The infantry were drawn up just beyond the brow, where they could not be seen by the defenders. The Dervishes gave no signs of life, and as the artillery could not depress their guns sufficiently to enable them to rake the trenches, the infantry were ordered to charge.

As soon as they reached the edge of the dip a storm of musketry broke out from the Dervish trenches, but fortunately the greater portion of the bullets flew overhead. Macdonald had intended to carry the place at the point of the bayonet without firing, but the troops, suddenly exposed to such a storm of musketry, halted and opened fire without orders, the result being that they suffered a great deal more than they would have done had they crossed the eighty yards which divided them from the trench by a rush. Standing as they did against the sky-line, the Dervishes were able to pick them off, they themselves showing only their heads above the trenches. Two of the mounted officers of the 10th were killed, and two had their horses shot under them. Macdonald and his officers rushed along in front of the line, knocking up the men's muskets, and abusing them in the strongest terms for their disobedience to orders.

The moment the fire ceased the troops rushed forward, and the Dervishes at once abandoned their trenches and ran back to the line of houses. These were crowded together, divided by narrow winding lanes, and here a desperate struggle took place. The Dervishes defended themselves with the greatest

tenacity, sometimes rushing out and hurling themselves upon their assailants, and defending the houses to the last, making a stand when the doors were burst open, until the last of the inmates were either shot or bayoneted. So determined was the defence of some of the larger houses, that it was necessary to bring up the guns and batter an entrance. Many of the houses were found, when the troops burst in, to be tenanted only by dead, for the Soudanese always heralded their attack by firing several volleys, and the bullets made their way through and through the mud walls as if they had been paper. About seventy or eighty horsemen and a hundred Dervish infantry escaped, but the rest were either killed or made prisoners, together with Mahomed Zein, the governor. A quantity of arms, camels, and horses were also captured. The loss on our side was two British officers killed and twenty-one of the black troops, and three Egyptian officers and sixty-one men wounded.

When the convoy halted previous to the troops marching to the attack, Gregory, whose duties with the baggage had now ended, joined the General's staff and rode forward with them. Hunter had glanced round as he rode up, and answered with a nod when he saluted and asked if he could come. He felt rather scared on the Dervishes opening fire so suddenly, when the General's impatience had led him to ride forward without waiting for Major Kincaid's report. After the troops rushed into the town the General maintained his position at the edge of the clip, for the narrow streets were so crowded with men that a group of horsemen could hardly have forced their way in, and it would be impossible to see what was going on and to issue orders.

Mahomed Zein had not followed the example of some of his followers and died fighting to the last. He was found hiding under a bed, and was brought before General Hunter, who asked him why he fought when he must have known that it was useless, to which he replied: " I knew that you had only three times as many as I had, and every one of my men is worth four of yours. You could not fire till you were quite close up, and at that range our rifles are as good as yours." The General asked what he thought Mahmud would do, to which he replied: "He will be down here in five days and wipe you out! "

It was necessary to halt at Abu Hamed until stores came up. Captain Keppel, R.N., and the officers commanding the gunboats were toiling at the cataracts to bring them up; nevertheless one of these was capsized, and only three got through safely. Major Pink with a large number of troops from Merawi succeeded in hauling the sailing boats through. A large column of laden camels was at the same time being pushed forward by the caravan route from Korosko. It was a time of much anxiety till stores began to arrive, for had Mahmud advanced at once the passage up the river would have been arrested and the land column cut off, in which case the little force would have been reduced to sore straits, as they must have stood on the defensive until reinforcements reached them. There was, too, some anxiety as to the safety of the forces at Ambukol and Korti, for Mahmud, on learning that the garrisons had been weakened by the dispatch of troops to Abu Hamed, might have crossed the desert with all his force and fallen upon them. Mahmud had indeed, as it turned out, believed that the expedition to Abu Hamed was only undertaken to cover the flank of the Egyptian army from attack from that quarter, and still believed that it was from Merawi that the main British force would advance against him.

Before the supplies had all arrived the position changed, as news came that Berber was being evacuated by the Dervishes. The information was telegraphed to the Sirdar, who at once ordered that a force of the friendly Arabs, escorted by a gunboat, should go up to Berber to find if the news was true. One gun-boat had already arrived, and General Hunter decided on going up in her himself. Two hundred of the Arabs, under Ahmed Bey, were to ride along the bank. They were to be mounted on the fastest camels that could be picked out, so that if they encountered the Dervishes they would have a fair chance of escaping and getting under cover of the gunboat's fire.

"Mr. Hilliard," the General said, "I shall be obliged if you will accompany Ahmed Bey; the Arabs are always more steady if they have an English officer with them. They will be ready to start in an hour. A signaller from the 11th Soudanese shall go with you, and you can notify to us the approach of any strong party of the enemy and their direction, so that the gun-boat can send a shell or two among them as a hint that they had better keep out of range."

As his baggage-camel was by no means a fast one, Gregory at first decided to leave it behind in charge of Zaki, but on going across to the Arab camp Ahmed Bey at once offered to place a fast one at his disposal. He accordingly sent his own animal into the transport yard, committed the heavy wooden case with the greater portion of his remaining stores to the charge of the sergeant of the mess, retaining only three or four tins of preserved milk, some tea, four or five tins of meat, a bottle of brandy, and a few other necessaries; to these were added half a sheep and a few pounds of rice. These, with his tent and other belongings, were packed on the Arab camel, and Zaki rode beside it with great satisfaction, for he had been greatly cast down when his master first told him that he would have to remain behind. All the preparations were made in great haste, but they were completed just as Ahmed Bey moved out of his camp with his two hundred picked men and camels.

Five minutes later a whistle from the steamer told them that General Hunter and the party with him were also on the point of starting. The distance to be traversed to Berber was a hundred and thirty miles, and the expedition was undoubtedly a hazardous one. Even if the news was true that the five thousand Dervishes who had been holding Berber had evacuated the town, it was quite possible that a part of the force had been sent down the river to oppose any advance that might be made, or, if unable to do this, to carry the news of the advance to Mahmud. The Arabs were to keep abreast of the gun-boat, and would, where the shores were flat, be covered by its guns. But at spots where the ground was high and precipitous this assistance could scarcely avail them in case of an attack, unless the hundred soldiers on board the steamer could be landed.

As they rode along, Ahmed Bey explained to Gregory the plan that he should adopt if they were attacked in such a position and found their retreat cut off. "The camels will all be made to lie down, and we shall fight behind them, as in an entrenchment. My men are all armed with rifles the government has given them, and we could beat off an attack by a great number, while if we were on our camels and pursued we should soon lose all order, and our shooting would be bad."

" I think that would be by far the best plan, sheik. Your two hundred men and the hundred the gun-boat could land ought to be able to make a tough fight of it against any number of the enemy. How long do you think we shall be on the way?"

"About four days. The camels can easily travel thirty-five miles a day. We have six days' provisions with us, in case the gun-boat cannot make its way up. Fortunately we have not to carry water, so that each camel only takes twenty pounds of food for its rider and forty pounds of grain for itself. If we were pursued, we could throw that away, as we should only have to ride to some point where the gun-boat could protect us. We could not hope to escape by speed, for the Dervishes could ride and run quite as fast as the camels could go."

CHAPTER X

AFLOAT

THE first three days' journey passed without any adventure. From the natives who still remained in the little villages ihey passed, they learned that the report that the Dervishes had left Berber was generally believed; but whether they had marched for Metemmeh or for some other point was unknown. The people were delighted to see the gun-boat, as until its arrival they had been in hourly fear of raiding parties. They had heard of the capture of Abu Hamed by the British from horsemen who had escaped, but all these had said confidently that Mahmud would speedily drive them out again, and they had been in hourly fear that the Dervishes would swoop down upon them and carry off the few possessions still remaining to them. When within thirty miles of Berber the Arabs had halted on the bank, watching the gun-boat as, with great difficulty, it made its way up a cataract. Suddenly it was seen to stop, and a great bustle was observed on board. An exclamation of grief burst from the Arabs.

" She has struck on a rock!" Ahmed Bey exclaimed.

"I am afraid she has," said Gregory, who had all along ridden by his side at the head of the party. "I am afraid so; I hope she is not injured."

Unfortunately the damage was serious. A hole had been knocked through her side under water, and the water poured in in volumes. A rush was made by those on board, and beds, pillows, and blankets were stuffed into the hole. This succeeded to some extent, and she was brought alongside the bank. The sheik and Gregory went down to meet her. General Hunter came to the side.

"A large hole has been knocked in her," he said to the sheik; "we shall have to get the guns and stores on shore to lighten her, and then heel her over to get at the hole. It

will certainly take two or three days; by that time I hope the other gun-boat will be up. In the meantime, you must go on to Berber. I think there can be no doubt that the Dervishes have all left, but it is most important that we should know it for certain. You must push straight on, and as soon as you arrive there, send word on to me by the fastest camel you have. If you are attacked, you will, of course, defend yourselves. Take up a position close to the river, and hold it until you are relieved. If you can send off news to me by a camel, do so; if not, seize a boat—there are some at every village—and send the news down by water. I will come on at once with everyone here to assist you."

"I will do as you order," the sheik said, "and if you see us no more, you will know that we died as brave men."

"I hope there is no fear of that," the General said cheerfully. " You will defend yourselves as brave men if you are attacked I am sure; but as I am convinced that the Dervishes have left Berber, I think there is little fear of your falling in with them."

Then he went on in English to Gregory.

" Keep them moving, Mr. Hilliard. Let them go as fast as they can; they are less likely to get nervous if they are riding hard than they would be if they dawdled along. If they press their camels they will be in Berber this afternoon. See that a man starts at once to bring me the news."

"Very well, sir; I will keep them at it if I can."

The sheik rejoined his band, which gathered round to hear the result of his interview with the white general.

"The steamer is injured," he said, "but she will soon be made right and will follow us. We are to have the honour of going on and occupying Berber, and will show ourselves worthy of it. There is little chance of our meeting the Dervishes; had they been in Berber we should have heard of them before this. If we meet tham we will fight, and you, Abu, who have the fastest camel among us, will ride back here at all speed, and the General and his soldiers will come up to help us. Now, let us not waste a moment, but push forward. In five hours we shall be at Berber, and throughout your lives you will be proud to say that you were the first to enter the town that the Dervishes have so long held."

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.

On the morning after the Sirdar's arrival, an orderly came across to General Hunter's quarters with a request that Mr. Hilliard should at once be sent to head-quarters. Gregory had to wait nearly half an hour until the officers who had been there before him had had their audience and received their orders. He was then shown in.

"You have done very valuable service, Mr. Hilliard," the Sirdar said, "exceptionally valuable, and obtained at extraordinary risk. I certainly did not expect, when I saw you a few months ago in Cairo, that you would so speedily distinguish yourself. I was then struck with your manner, and thought that you would do well, and you have much more than fulfilled my expectations. I shall keep my eye upon you, and shall see that you have every opportunity of continuing as you have begun."

That evening General Hunter suggested to Colonel Wingate that Gregory should be handed over to him. " There will be nothing for him to do with me at present," he said, "and I am sure that you will find him very useful. Putting aside the expedition he undertook to Metemmeh, he is a most zealous young officer. Although his wound was scarcely healed, he took charge of the baggage animals on the way up from Merawi to Abu Hamed, and came forward here with Ahmed Bey and his followers, and in both cases he was most useful. But at the present I cannot find any employment for him."

"I will have a talk with him," Colonel Wingate said. "I think I can make good use of him. Captain Keppel asked me this morning if I could furnish him with a good interpreter.

He is going up the river in a day or two, and as neither he nor the other naval officers know much Arabic, Mr. Hilliard would be of considerable service to them in questioning any prisoners who may be captured as to hidden guns or other matters. I should think, from what you tell me, Mr. Hilliard will be very suitable for the post."

" The very man for it. He is a very pleasant lad—for he is not more than that,—quiet and gentlemanly, and yet full of life and go, and will be certain to get on well with a naval man." On returning to his quarters General. Hunter sent for Gregory.

"You will please go to Colonel Wingate, Mr. Hilliard. I have been speaking to him about you, and as it may be months before things are ready for the final advance, and I am sure you would prefer to be actively employed, I proposed to him that he should utilize your services, and it happens, fortunately, that he is able to do so. The gun-boats will be running up and down the river, stirring up the Dervishes at Metemmeh and other places, and as neither Keppel nor the commanders of the other two boats can speak Arabic with anything like fluency, it is important that he should have an interpreter. I think you will find the berth a pleasant one. Of course I don't know what arrangements will be made, or whether you would permanently live on board one of the boats. If so, I think you would be envied by all of us, as you would get away from the dust and all the discomforts of the encampment."

" Thank you very much, sir! It would indeed be pleasant, and I was beginning to feel that I was very useless here."

"You have not been useless at all, Mr. Hilliard. The Sirdar asked me about you, and I was able to give him a very favourable report of your readiness to be of service for whatever work I have found for you to do. I have told him that I had great doubts whether Ahmed Bey would have pushed forward to this place after he had lost the protection of the gun-boats if you had not been with him."

Gregory at once went to the quarters of Colonel Wingate and sent in his name. In two or three minutes he was shown in. A naval officer was in the room with the colonel. "You have come at the right time, Mr. Hilliard. I was just speaking of you to Captain Keppel. I suppose General Hunter has told you how I proposed utilizing your services?"

"Yes, sir, he was good enough to tell me."

"You speak both Arabic and the negro dialect perfectly, I am told?"

" I speak them very fluently, almost as well as English."

" Just at present you could not be of much use to me, Mr. Hilliard. Of course I get all my intelligence from natives, and have no occasion to send white officers out as scouts. Otherwise, from the very favourable report that I have received from General Hunter, I should have been glad to have you with me ; but I have no doubt that you would prefer to be in one of the gun-boats. They are certain to have a more stirring time of it for the next few weeks than we shall have here."

"I should like it greatly, sir, if Captain Keppel thinks I shall do."

" I have no doubt about that," the officer said with a smile. " I shall rate you as a first lieutenant and midshipman all in one, and I may say that I shall be very glad to have a white officer with me. There are one or two spare cabins aft, and you had better have your traps moved in at once; I may be starting to-morrow."

"Shall I take my servant with me, sir?"

" Yes, you may take him if you like. I suppose you have a horse?"

" Yes, sir, a horse and a camel; but I shall have no difficulty in managing about them. Excuse my asking, sir, but I have a few stores, shall I bring them on board?"

" No, there is no occasion for that. You will mess with me. Thank goodness, we left naval etiquette behind us when we came up the Nile, and it is not imperative that I should dine in solitary state. Besides, you have been on Hunter's staff, have you not?"

"Yes."

" I know his staff all mess together. I shall be very glad to have you with me. It is lonely work always messing alone. My boat is the Zafir, you know. You had better come on board before eight o'clock to-morrow morning, that is my breakfast hour."

Gregory needed but little time to make his arrangements. The transport department took over Zaki's horse and camel and gave him a receipt for them, so that when he returned, those or others could be handed over to him. One of the staff who wanted a second horse was glad to take charge of his mount. The tent, and the big case, and his other belongings were handed over to the stores. Zaki was delighted when he heard that he was going up in a gun-boat that would probably shell Metemmeh and knock some of the Dervish fortifications to pieces.

" What shall I have to do, master?" he asked.

"Not much, Zaki. You will brush my clothes and make my bed, and do anything that I want done, but beyond that I cannot tell you. I am really taking you, not because I think you will be of much use, but because I like to have you with me. Besides, I sha'n't have much to do, and the English officer who commands will have plenty to look after, so that I shall be glad to talk occasionally with you. However, as I know the gun-boats carry Maxim guns, and each have two sergeants of the marine artillery, I will hand you over to them, and ask them to put you in the Maxim crew. Then you will have the satisfaction of helping to fire at your old enemies."

Zaki's eyes glistened at the prospect. "They killed my mother!" he said, " and carried off my sisters, and burned our house. It will be good to fire at them; much better this, bey, than to load stores at Merawi."

Gregory was much gratified that evening after mess at the kindly manner in which the members of the staff all shook hands with him, and said that they were sorry that he was going to leave them, General Hunter was dining with the Sirdar. The next morning, when Gregory went to say " Goodbye " to him, he said:

" I was telling Sir Herbert Kitchener yesterday evening that you were transferred to the naval branch. He said:The gun-boats Avill all take up troops, and there will be native officers on board. It is a rule in our army, you know, that all white officers have the honorary rank of major, so as to make them senior to all Egyptian officers. Will you tell Mr. Hilliard that I authorize him to call himself Bimbashi? There is no occasion to put it in orders; my authorization is sufficient. As long as he was on your staff it did not matter, but as presently he may be attached to an Egj'ptian regiment it is as well that he should bear the usual rank, and it may save misunderstanding in communicating with the natives. He will be much more respected as Bimbashi than he would be as lieutenant, a title that they would not understand.' A good many lieutenants in the British army are Bimbashies here, so that there is nothing unusual in your holding that honorary rank."

" I would just as soon be lieutenant, sir, so far as I am concerned myself, but of course I feel honoured at receiving the title. No doubt it would be much more pleasant if I were attached to an Egyptian regiment. I do not know whether it is the proper thing to thank the Sirdar. If it is, I shall be greatly obliged if you will convey my thanks to him."

"I will tell him that you are greatly gratified, Hilliard. I have no doubt you owe it not only to your ride to Metemmeh, but to my report that I did not think Ahmed Bey would have ventured to ride on into Berber had you not been with him, and that you advised him as to the defensive position he took up here, and prepared for a stout defence until the boats could come up to his assistance. He said as much to me."

At the hour named Gregory went on board the Zafir, Zaki accompanying him with his small portmanteau and blanket.

"I see you are punctual, Mr. Hilliard," the commander said cheerily; "a great virtue everywhere, but especially on board ship, where everything goes by clock-work. Eight bells will sound in two minutes, and as they do so my black fellow will come up and announce the meal. It is your breakfast as much as mine, for I have shipped you on the books this morning, and of course you will be rationed. Happily we are not confined to that fare. I knew what it was going to be, and laid in a good stock of stores. Fortunately, we have the advantage over the military that we are not limited as to baggage."

The breakfast was an excellent one. After it was over, Commander Keppel asked Gregory how it was that he had— while still so young—obtained a commission, and expressed much interest when he had heard his story.

" Then you do not intend to remain in the Egyptian army?" he said. " If you have not any fixed career before you, I should have thought that you could not do better. The Sirdar and General Hunter have both taken a great interest in you. It might be necessary perhaps for you to enter the British army and serve for two or three years, so as to get a knowledge of drill and discipline; then from your acquaintance with the languages here you could, of course, get transferred to the Egyptian army, where you would rank as a major at once."

"I have hardly thought of the future yet, sir; but of course I shall have to do so as soon as I am absolutely convinced of my father's death. Really, I have no hope now, but I promised my mother to do everything in my power to ascertain it for a certainty. She placed a packet in my hands, which was not to be opened until I had so satisfied myself. I do not know what it contains, but I believe it relates to my father's family.

" I do not see that that can make any difference to me, for I certainly should not care to go home to see relations to whom my coming might be unwelcome. I should greatly prefer

THE GUN-BOATS OPENED FIRE AT THE TWO NEAREST FORTS

to stay out here for a few years until I had obtained such a position as would make me absolutely independent of them."

" I can quite understand that," Captain Keppel said. "Poor relations seldom get a warm welcome, and as you were born in Alexandria they may be altogether unaware of your existence. You have certainly been extremely fortunate so far, and if you preferred a civil appointment you would be pretty certain of getting one when the war is over. There will be a big job in organizing this country after the Dervishes are smashed up, and a biggish staff of officials will be wanted. No doubt most of these will be Egyptians, but Egyptian officials want looking after, so that a good many berths must be filled by Englishmen, and Englishmen with a knowledge of Arabic and the negro dialect are not very easily found. I should say that there will be excellent openings for young men of capacity."

"I have no doubt there will," Gregory said. "I have really never thought much about the future. My attention from childhood has been fixed upon this journey to the Soudan, and I never looked beyond it, nor did my mother discuss the future with me. Doubtless she would have done so had she lived, and these papers I have may give me her advice and opinion about it."

"Well, I must be going on deck," Captain Keppel said. " We shall start in half an hour."

The three gun-boats were all of the same design. They were flat-bottomed, so as to draw as little water as possible, and had been built and sent out in sections from England. They were constructed entirely of steel, and had three decks, the lower one having loophole shutters for infantry fire. On the upper deck, which was extended over the whole length of the boat, was a conning-tower. In the after-portion of the boat, and beneath the upper deck, were cabins for officers. Each boat carried a twelve-pounder quick-firing gun forward, a howitzer, and four Maxims. The craft were a hundred and thirty-five feet long, with a beam of twenty-four feet, and drew only three feet and a half of water. They were propelled by a stern-wheel.

At half-past nine the Zafir's whistle gave the signal, and she and her consorts—the Nazie and Fatteh —cast off their warps and steamed out into the river. Each boat had on board two European engineers, fifty men of the 9th Soudanese, two sergeants of royal marine artillery, and a small native crew.

" I expect that we shall not make many more trips down to Berber," the Commander said, when they were once fairl} T off. "The camp at Atbara will be our head-quarters, unless indeed Mahmud advances, in which case of course we shall be recalled. Until then we shall be patrolling the river up to Metemmeh, and making, I hope, an occasional rush as far as the next cataract."

When evening came on, the steamer tied up to an island a few miles north of Shendy. So far they had seen no hostile parties—indeed the country was wholly deserted. Next morning they started before daybreak; Shendy seemed to be in ruins; two Arabs only were seen on the bank. A few shots were fired into the town, but there was no reply. Half an hour later Metemmeh was seen. It stood half a mile from the river. Along the bank were seven mud forts with extremely thick and solid walls. Keeping near the opposite bank the gun-boats, led by the Zafir, made their way up the river. Dervish horsemen could be seen riding from fort to fort, doubtless carrying orders. The river was some four thousand yards wide, and at this distance the gun-boats opened fire at the two nearest forts. The range was soon obtained to a nicety, and the white sergeants and native gunners made splendid practice, every shell bursting upon the forts, while the Maxims speedily sent the Dervish horsemen galloping off to the distant hills, on which could be made out a large camp.

The Dervish gunners replied promptly, but the range was too great for their old brass guns. Most of the shot fell short, though a few, fired at a great elevation, fell beyond the boats. One shell, however, struck the Zafir, passing through the deck and killing a Soudanese, and a shrapnel-shell burst over the Fatteh. After an hour's fire at this range the gun-boats moved up opposite the position and again opened fire with shell and shrapnel, committing terrible havoc on the forts, whose fire presently slackened suddenly. This was explained by the fact that as the gun-boats passed up they saw that the embrasures of the forts only commanded the approach from the north, and that, once past them, the enemy were unable to bring a gun to bear upon the boats. Doubtless the Dervishes had considered it was impossible for any steamer to pass up under their fire, and that it was therefore unnecessary to widen the embrasures so that the guns could fire upon them when facing the forts or going beyond them.

Suddenly, as all on board were watching the effect of their fire, an outburst of musketry broke out from the bushes that lined the eastern bank a hundred yards away. Fortunately the greater part of the bullets flew overhead, but many rattled against the side. The Maxims were instantly turned upon the unseen enemy, the Soudanese fired volleys, and their rash assailants went at once into the thicker bush, many dropping before they gained it. The gun-boats now steamed slowly up the river, and then turning, retired down stream again, shelling the enemy's position as they passed. As they were going down they came upon a number of Dervishes who were busy unloading half a dozen native craft. The Maxim soon sent them flying, and the boats, which contained horses, donkeys, grain, and other goods, were taken in tow by the gun-boats, which anchored at the same island as on the previous night.

"Well, Bimbashi," Captain Keppel said, when the work for the day was over, " so you have had your first brush with the enemy. What do you think of it?

" I would rather that you did not call me Bimbashi, Captain Keppel. The title is ridiculous for me, and it was only given me that it might be useful when with Egyptian or Soudanese soldiers. I should feel really obliged if you would simply call me Hilliard. I felt all right, sir, during the fight, except that I envied the gunners, who were doing something while I had nothing to do but look on. It certainly made me jump when that shell struck the boat, because I had quite made up my mind that their guns would not carry so far, and so it was a complete surprise to me."

" Yes, it was a very harmless affair; still, it was good as a preparation for something more severe. You have got accustomed to the noise now, and that is always as great a trial to the nerves as actual danger."

"I wish I could be doing something, sir; everyone else had some duty, from yourself down to the black firemen,—even my servant made himself useful in carrying up shot."

"I tell you what I will do, Mr. Hilliard; I will get those marine sergeants to instruct you in the working of the Maxim and in the duties of the men attending on it. Then next time we come up I will put you in command of one of them. Your duties will not be severe, as you would simply direct the men as to the object at which they are to aim, watch the effect and direction of the bullets, and see that they change their aim as circumstances may direct. The black gunners are well trained and know their work; still, if by any chance the gun jams, it will be useful for you to be able to show them what to do even though they know it as well as, or better than, you do yourself. The blacks like being commanded by a white officer, and will feel pleased rather than otherwise at your being appointed to command their gun. Your lessons cannot begin for a day or two, for I have not done with Metemmeh yet."

" I am very much obliged to you indeed," Gregory said warmly. " I will take care not to interfere with the men's working of the gun."

"No, you will not have to do that; but a word or two of commendation when they make good practice pleases them immensely, and they will work all the better and faster for your standing by them."

At daybreak next morning the gun-boats went up again and engaged the forts as before. The Dervishes had placed more guns in position, but again the shells fell short, while those of the boats played havoc with the enemy's defences. Some ten thousand of the Dervish horse and foot came down near the town in readiness to repel any attempt at a landing. After some hours' bombardment the gun-boats retired. As they steamed away, the Dervish host were shouting and waving their banners, evidently considering that they had won a great victory. Having fulfilled their object, which was to retain Mahmud at Metemmeh by showing him that if he advanced against Merawi and Dongola we had it in our power to occupy the town, and so cut off his retreat and prevent reinforcements or stores from reaching him from Omdurman, the gun-boats returned to Berber.

So far Gregory had had no duties to perform in his capacity of interpreter, for no prisoners had been taken. On the way down the river one of the artillery sergeants explained the working of the Maxim to him, taking the weapon to pieces and explaining to him how each part acted, and then showing him how to put it together again. The sergeant having done this several times, Gregory was then told to perform the operation himself, and the lessons continued after their arrival at Berber. In the course of a week he was able to do this smartly, and had learned, in case of a breakdown, which parts of the mechanism would most probably have given way, and how to replace broken parts by spare ones carried up for the purpose. There was no long rest at Berber, and on the 1st of November the gun-boats again went up the river, reinforced by the Metemmeh, which had now arrived. Each boat, as before, carried fifty soldiers, and Major Stuart-Wortley went up as staff-officer. The evening before starting they received the welcome news that the railway line had that day reached Abu Hamed. This time there was but a short pause made opposite Metemmeh, and after shelling the forts, which had been added to since the last visit, they proceeded up the river

Shortly after passing the town a large Dervish camp was seen in a valley, and this, they afterwards found, was occupied by the force that had returned from Berber. A heavy fire of shell and shrapnel was opened upon it, and it was speedily destroyed. The gun-boats then went up as high as the sixth cataract. The country was found to be absolutely deserted, neither a peasant nor a Dervish being visible. Having thus accomplished the object of their reconnaissance, the flotilla returned, exchanged fire with the Metemmeh batteries, and then kept on their way down to Berber.

CHAPTER XI

A PRISONER

RATHER than remain unoccupied on board the gun-boat, Gregory went to Colonel Wingate's head-quarters and said that he should be very glad if he would allow him, while the flotilla remained at Berber, to assist in interrogating the fugitives who arrived from the south, and the spies employed to gain early information of the intentions and movements of the enemy. The position of the Dervishes at Metemmeh was becoming critical. The Khalifa was desirous that Mahmud should return with his force to Omdurman, there to take part in the battle in which, as he was convinced, the invaders would be annihilated. Mahmud, who was of an eager and impetuous disposition, was anxious to take the offensive at once, and either to march upon Merawi and Dongola, or to drive the British out of Berber.

There could be no doubt that his view was a more sagacious one than that of his father, and that the best tactics to be adopted were to harass the British advance, fall upon their convoys, cut their communications, and so oblige them to fall back for want of supplies. The Khalifa's mistake was similar to that made by Theodore in Abyssinia and Koffee Kalkalli in Ashanti. Had either of these leaders adopted the system of harassing the invaders from the moment they left the coast, it would have been next to impossible for the latter to arrive at their destination. But each allowed them to march on unmolested until within striking distance, then hazarded everything on the fortune of a single battle, and lost. Mahmud made no movement in obedience to the Khalifa's orders to retire to Omdurman, and the latter thereupon refused to send any further supplies to him, and Mahmud's army was therefore obliged to rely upon raids and plunder for subsistence.

These raids were carried out with great boldness, and villages situated within a few miles of Berber were attacked. The Dervishes, however, met with a much warmer reception than they had expected, for rifles and ammunition had been served out freely to the villagers; and these, knowing the fate that awaited them were the Dervishes victorious, offered so obstinate a resistance that the latter fell back discomfited. Early in January the Sirdar learned that the Khalifa had changed his mind, and had sent peremptory orders to Mahmud to advance and drive the British out of Berber and destroy the railway. Mahmud had now been joined by Osman Digna with five thousand men; and as the Egyptian troops, well as they had fought, had never yet been opposed to so formidable a force as that which Mahmud commanded, the Sirdar telegraphed to England for white troops. His request was at once complied with. The Warwickshires, Lincolnshires, and Cameron Highlanders were ordered to proceed from Cairo and Alexandria to the front, and the Seaforth Highlanders at Malta and the Northumberland Fusiliers at Gibraltar were also dispatched without delay. Major-general Gatacre was appointed to the command of the brigade.

At the end of the third week in January the three regiments from Lower Egypt had arrived at Wady Haifa, and the Seaforths at Assouan. At the beginning of February the British brigade was carried by railway to Abu Dis. Here they remained until the 26th, when they marched to Berber, and then to a camp ten miles north of the Atbara, where they arrived on the 4th of March, having covered a hundred and forty-four miles in six days and a half, a great feat in such a climate. Mahmud had made no movement until the 10th of February, when he began to cross the Nile to Shendy. This movement had not been expected by the Sirdar, and was hailed by him with satisfaction. Had Mahmud remained at Metemmeh he could, aided by the forts, his artillery, and the walled town, have offered a very formidable resistance. Had he marched along the banks of the Nile he would have been exposed to the fire of the gun-boats, but these could not have arrested his course. The country round Berber was favourable to the action of his cavalry, and if defeated he could have fallen back unmolested through Metemmeh on Omdurman; but by crossing the river he practically cut himself off from the Dervish base, and now had only a desert behind him, for we had taken over Kassala from the Italians, and the Egyptian battalion there and a large force of friendly Arabs would prevent him from retiring up the banks of the Atbara.

Mahmud's plan was to march along the Nile to Aliab, then to cross the desert to Hudi at an angle of the river whence a direct march of twenty-five miles would take him to Berber, and in this way he would avoid our strong position at the junction of the Atbara and the Nile. It would have been easy for the gun-boats to prevent Mahmud from crossing the Nile, but the Sirdar was glad to allow him to do so. The movement afforded him time to concentrate his force and to get up large supplies. For each day the distance that these could be transported by the railway had increased, and he saw that when the time for fighting came the victory would be a decisive one, and that few indeed of Mahmud's men would ever be able to make their way to Omdurman and swell the Khalifa's force there.

On one occasion, however, the gun-boats went up to watch what was going on, and take advantage of any opportunity that might offer to destroy some of Mahmud's boats, and thus render the work of his getting his force over slower and more difficult.

An entrenchment had been thrown up at the point where the Dervishes crossed, and this had been manned by two hundred and fifty riflemen. The Zafir steamed up close to the bank and opened fire with her Maxims. Another gun-boat sank one large craft and captured two others, and the troops landed and, covered by the fire of the guns, captured a fourth which had grounded in shallow water. A smaller boat was half-way across the river when the gun-boats arrived. It was seen that there were several women on board, and as the capture would have been of no value, no regard was paid to it. As it would have been as dangerous to return as to keep on, the boatmen plied their hardest to get across, but the stream carried them down near the Zafir. The boat was quite unnoticed, all eyes being intent upon the shore. She was passing about thirty yards astern of the gun-boat when a badly-aimed shell from a Dervish battery struck her, and she sank almost instantly.

Gregory, who was superintending the working of the Maxim nearest the stern, looked round at the sound of the explosion. Several of the occupants had evidently been killed, but two or three of the boatmen started to swim to shore. Only two of the women came to the surface, struggling wildly and screaming for help. With scarcely a thought of what he was doing, Gregory unclasped his sword-belt, dropped his pistol, and sprang overboard. One of the women had sunk before he reached them, the other was on the point of doing so when he caught her by the arm. She at once clung to him, and he had hard work to disengage her arm from his neck; then, after turning her so that her face was above water, he looked round. The gun-boat was already a hundred yards away. Her wheel was revolving, so as to keep her in her place facing the redoubt, and the stream was driving him fast away from her. Within ten yards of him was a black head, and a moment later Zaki was beside him. He had been working at Gregory's Maxim, and had suddenly missed his master.

Looking round he had seen him struggling with the woman in the stream, and without hesitation had leapt overboard.

"I am sorry you came," Gregory said, "for it is only throwing away your life. It is of no use shouting, for they could not hear us in that din, and if they happened to catch sight of us would take us for two of the black boatmen. I Bee the stream is taking us nearer to the bank."

Zaki had taken hold of the woman while he was speaking, " We might swim a long way down, master, if we let go oi her."

" I won't do that, Zaki. I know now that I was a fool to jump overboard, but now that I have done so I will save her life. Besides, I could not swim very far even without her; I am feeling the weight of my boots and clothes. Will you swim with us till I can touch the ground, and then leave us? Strike right into the river again—I know that you are a good swimmer—and drop down the stream until you reach one of the islands, and then you can land and hail the gun-boats as they come down. Tell Captain Keppel why I jumped over."

" I am not going to leave you, master. No doubt the Dervishes will shoot me, but my life is of no consequence, and I shall be glad to die by the side of so good a master."

The woman, who had ceased to struggle when Gregory shook off her grasp, was now conscious, as, with one of them supporting her on each side, her head was above water.

" They will not kill you," she said; " you have saved me, and they will be grateful."

Gregory had no faith whatever in Dervish gratitude.

"Well, Zaki," he said, "if you will not leave us we will strike at once for the shore. The gun-boats are nearly half a mile away now. There is just a chance that we may not have been noticed by the Dervishes, and may be able to hide in the bushes till the gun-boats return. When they see me they will at once send a boat ashore under cover of their fire, and take us off."

"There is a good chance of that, master," Zaki said cheerfully, "and the Dervishes are busy up there fighting, and will not think much of a little boat."

Three or four minutes later they were in shallow water. As soon as they landed, Gregory threw himself down utterly exhausted, and the woman sank down beside him, but not before hastily rearranging her veil. In a couple of minutes Gregory roused himself.

" I can climb the bank now," he said, " and the sooner we are hidden among the bushes the better." But as he spoke he heard the sound of galloping horsemen, and almost immediately an Emir on a magnificent animal, followed by a dozen Dervishes, dashed up. "Mahmud!" the woman cried as she rose to her feet, "it is I, Fatma!"

Mahmud gave a cry of joy, and waved his hand to his followers, who had already pointed their rifles at Gregory.

" These have saved me, my lord," the woman went on. " They jumped from their boat and reached me just as I was sinking, and have borne me up. For my sake you must spare their lives."

Mahmud frowned. He dismounted and went up to his wife. "Have I not sworn, Fatma," he said, "that I would slay every unbeliever who falls into my hands? How, then, can I spare even one who has saved your life?"

" Others have been spared who have been of service, my lord," she said. "There are Greeks and Egyptians who work your guns, and they were spared because they were useful. There is Neufeld, who lives under the protection of the Khalifa. Surely these men have done far more to deserve not only life but honour at your hands. They risked their lives to save mine. What follower of the Prophet could do more? They could not have known who I was, a woman they saw drowning. Are there any among the bravest of the tribes who would have done the same?"

" I have sworn an oath," Mahmud said gloomily.

" But you have not sworn to slay instantly. You can keep them at least until you can take them before the Khalifa, and say to him: 'Father, I have sworn to kill unbelievers, but these men have saved Fatma's life; and I pray you to absolve me from the oath or order them to be taken from me, and then do you yourself pardon them and set them free for the service that they have rendered me'. If he refuses, if these men are killed, I also swear that as my life is due to them, I myself will perish by my own hands if they die for saving it!'"'

" It needs not that, Fatma. You think that I am ungrateful, that I do not feel that these men have acted nobly thus to risk their lives to save a strange woman whose face they have never seen. It is my oath that lies heavily upon me; I have never been false to an oath."

"Nor need you be now," Fatma said earnestly. "You swore to slay any unbeliever that fell into your hands. This man has not fallen into your hands. I have a previous claim to him. He is under my protection. I cover him with my robe" —and she swept a portion of her garment round Gregory— "and as long as he is under it he is, according to tribal laws, safe even from the vengeance of my husband! As to the other, he is not an unbeliever. Your oath concerns him not. Him you can honour and reward according to the value you place upon my life."

The Arab's face cleared. " Truly you have discovered a way out of it, Fatma, at any rate for the present." He turned to Gregory for the first time. " Do you speak our tongue ?" he asked.

"Yes, Emir, as Avell as my own."

" Then you understand what we have said. Had I not been bound by my oath I would have embraced you as a brother. We Arabs can appreciate a brave deed, even when it is done by an enemy. When one of the boatmen ran into the battery where I was directing the guns against your boat, and said that the boat in which my wife with other women were crossing had been sunk by a shell from our batteries on the other side, I felt that my blood was turned to water. He said he believed that all had been killed or drowned, but that he looked back as he swam and saw a white man jump overboard, and a short time after another followed him, and that when he reached the shore they were supporting a woman in the water. I rode hither, having but small "hope indeed that it was my wife, but marvelling much that a white officer should thus risk his life to save a drowning woman. My oath pressed heavily upon me as I rode. Even had it been but a slave girl whom you rescued, I should no less have admired your courage. I myself am said to be brave, but it would never have entered my mind thus to risk my life for a stranger. When I found that it was my wife who was saved, I still more bitterly regretted the oath that stood between me and her preserver, and truly glad am I that she has herself shown me how I can escape from its consequences. Now I see you I wonder even more than before at what you have done, for indeed in years you are little more than a boy."

"What I did, Emir, I believe any white officer who was a good swimmer would have done. No Englishman would see a woman drowning without making an effort to save her, if he had it in his power. As to the fact that she was not of the same race or religion, he would never give it a thought. It would be quite enough for him that she was a woman."

" And you," Mahmud said, turning to Zaki; " you are a Jaalin, are you not ?"

"I am."

"Jaalin or Baggara, you are my friend," Mahmud said, placing his hand on Zaki's shoulders. " And so you, too, leapt overboard to save a woman?"

"No, Emir," he replied, " I jumped over because my master jumped over. I had not thought about the woman. I jumped over to aid him, and it was to give him my help that I took my share in supporting the woman. The Bimbashi is a good master, and I would die for him."

Mahmud smiled at this frank answer. " Nevertheless, whatever may have been your motive, you were enabled to save the life of my wife, and henceforth you are my friend." Then he turned to the horsemen who were still grouped on the bank above. " You have heard what has been said? The white man is under the protection of my harem ; the Jaalin is henceforth my friend."

Mahmud was a fine specimen of the tribesmen of the Soudan—tall, well-built, and with pure Arab features. He was the Khalifa's favourite son, and was generous, with kindly impulses, but impatient of control. Of late he had given way to outbursts of passion, feeling acutely the position in which he was placed. He had advanced from Omdurman confident that he should be able to drive the infidels before him and carry his arms far into Egypt. His aspirations had been thwarted by the Khalifa. His requests for stores and camels that would have enabled him to advance had been refused, and he had been ordered to fall back. His troops had been rendered almost mutinous from the want of supplies. He had seen the invaders growing stronger and stronger, and accomplishing what had seemed an impossibility —the bringing up of stores sufficient for their sustenance—by pushing the railroad forward towards Berber. Now that their forces had been very greatly increased, and the issue of the struggle had become doubtful, he had received the order for which he had been craving for months, and had been directed to march down and attack the Egyptian army, drive them across the Nile, and destroy the railway.

By means of spies he had heard that ere long a large force of British soldiers would come up to reinforce the Egyptians. so that what might have been easy work two months before, had now become a difficult and dangerous enterprise. The manner in which the Dervishes had been defeated in their attacks upon Wolseley's desert column, and in the engagements that had since taken place, showed how formidable was the fighting power, not only of the British troops, but of the native army they had organized, and his confidence in the power of the tribesmen to sweep all before them had been shaken.

The Dervishes scowled when they heard that they were not to have the satisfaction of massacring this Englishman whose countrymen were still keeping up a terrible fire on their redoubt. It was not one of their wives who had been rescued, and Gregory's act of jumping overboard seemed to them to savour of madness, and if that plea had been advanced they would have recognized it as rendering the person of the man who had performed it inviolable. However, as he was under the protection of their leader's harem there was nothing more to be said, and at an order from Mahmud all but four of them rode off, while the others fell in behind him. Mahmud did not mount again, but walked with his wife to a deserted mud-hut two hundred yards away. There he left her, telling Gregory and Zaki to sit down outside, and placing the four men on guard.

"I must rejoin my men," he said as he mounted. "When your vessels have gone I will return."

Half an hour later the fire ceased. Soon afterwards Mahmud rode up with a score of men, followed by some dozen women, and a slave leading a donkey. On this Fatma took her seat, and the women surrounded her. Gregory and Zaki walked close behind them; Mahmud, with his horsemen, rode in front. After proceeding for a mile they came upon a group of tents. Mahmud's banner was flying on a pole in front of the largest of these. Behind, and touching it, was another almost as large. This was the abode of the ladies of Mahmud's harem; the other tents were occupied by his principal Emirs. A hundred yards away was the encampment of the army, which was sheltered in hastily-constructed huts, or arbours made of bushes. By Mahmud's order a small tent was erected with blankets close to the after-entrance into the harem tent, for Gregory's use, so that, should he be attacked by fanatics, he could at once take refuge in the harem, whose sanctity not even the most daring would dare to violate.

A handsome robe was brought for Zaki, and as Mahmud presented it to him he said, " You are my friend, but you

must now go back to your vessels or to Berber. My orders were to kill all the Jaalin, and we have spared none who fell into our hands at Metemmeh or since. I cannot keep you here. As long as you stay by my side you will be safe, but you could not leave me for a moment. It is as much as I can do to save the life of this infidel officer, and it is to him that I owe most, for it was he who first leapt into the river. The white men's boats have already fastened up behind the island where they before stationed themselves. Make your way down there at daybreak and wave a white cloth. Doubtless they will send a boat ashore, thinking that you bear a message from me; or if you see they do not do this, you can swim out to them."

" I would rather stay with my master. Cannot you let him go too?"

"That is impossible," Mahmud said shortly. "It is known throughout the camp that I have a white man here. The news will travel fast to the Khalifa. My actions have already been misrepresented to him, and were I to let this officer go, my father might recall me to Omdurman and send another to command here. He must stay, but you may go without harm. You can scarcely have been noticed yet, and I can well declare, should the Khalifa hear of you, that you have escaped."

"May I speak with my master?" Zaki said. "If he says stay, I shall stay, though it might cost me my life; if he says go, I must go."

" You may speak to him," Mahmud said.

Zaki went round to Gregory's tent and told him what Mahmud had said.

" Go, certainly, Zaki. You can do me no good by remaining here, and might even do me harm, for if you were killed I also might be murdered. Moreover, I wish to send the news of my capture and how it occurred. I do not think any save yourself noticed that I was missing, and when the fight was over, and they found that I was absent, they might suppose that I had been shot and had fallen overboard, I will write a note for you to carry. It is in all respects better that you should go. Were we to be seen talking together it might be supposed that we were planning some way of escape, and I should be more closely watched. As it is, I see that Mahmud will have difficulty in protecting me. Were you to ride about Avith him, as he says, your presence would remind his followers that he has a white man a captive here; whereas if I remain almost in concealment near the harem, the fact that there is a white man here will pass out of the minds of those who know it, and will not become the common talk of the camp. Mahmud is running some risk in having spared my life, and I do not wish to make it harder for him. Go therefore and tell him that you will leave to-night. I cannot write now; my pocket-book is soaked through. But I will tear out some leaves and dry them in the sun, and write what I have to say before you start. I shall speak highly of you in my letter and recommend you to Colonel Wingate, who will, I have no doubt, give you employment. I hope I shall see you again before long. I am very sorry that we must part, but it is best for us both."

Very reluctantly Zaki returned to Mahmud. " My master says I must go, Emir, and I must obey his orders, though I would rather stay with him. To-night I will leave."

" It is well. I would that I could let him go also, but my oath prevents me from giving him his freedom. I trust, however, that when the Khalifa hears of his noble action, and how he has made me his debtor, he will say that Allah himself would not blame me for that. Gratitude is even more binding than an oath; still, until I hear from him I can do nothing. We have not seen matters in the same light for some time. When I wanted to strike he was unwilling that I should do so. Now, when it seems to me that the time for that has passed, and that I had best retire on Omdurman, he says go forward and fight. It is not for me to question his commands or his wisdom. But I may not give him cause for anger. My advice to you is, when you get to Berber do not stay there. We shall assuredly be there before long, and as none would know that you were under my protection, you would be slain. Go straight to Abu Hamed, and when you hear that we have defeated the infidels and have entered Berber, leave by this road they have made, upon which, as they tell me, carriages run without horses, and stay not until you reach Cairo. There you can live quietly until you hear that the Khalifa's army is approaching. After that fly. I cannot say whither, but seek a shelter until the black flag waves over the whole of the land. When there is no more fighting, then come to me and I will give you a post of honour."

"I will do so, Emir. AVhen the time comes I will remind you of your promise."

" I have neither silver nor gold with which I can reward you now, but we shall gather these things in Egypt, and I will make you wealthy."

Zaki thought that it would be unwise to wander from Mahmud's encampment, and he accordingly sat down by his tent. Presently one of the slaves came out with a large dish of food that Mahmud had sent him. As evening approached he went round to Gregory's little tent with the intention of trying to persuade him to attempt to escape with him, but two of the tribesmen with rifles in their hands were stationed there. They offered no opposition to his entry, but their presence showed that Mahmud was determined that his master should appear to be a close prisoner, as indeed his escape might well jeopardize the Emir's position even among his followers.

Gregory had a letter ready for him to carry to Captain Keppel. It ran as follows:—

Dear Captain Keppel,

I am a prisoner in Mahmud's hands. This is the result of my own impetuosity —7" will not say folly, for I cannot regret that I yielded to the sudden impulse that seized me. A boat containing some women was sunk by a shell when but a few yards astern of the gun-boat. Most of its occupants were killed, but I saw a tvoman struggling in the water, and without thinking of the consequences jumped overboard to save her, my servant following me. When we reached her we found that the current was too strong to regain the gun-boat, and so landed about half a mile down, hoping to find shelter in the bushes until the boat came down the stream. What I did, however, had been observed by the Dervishes, and as soon as I landed a party rode up, headed by Mahmud himself who was aware that his favourite wife was in the boat that had sunk. Most fortunately it turned out that she was the woman I had saved. Upon her appeal Mahmud spared our lives. He has released my man, who will carry this to you; but having sworn that he would spare no white man, he retains me in his hands as a prisoner until he can lay the facts before the Khalifa and obtain his permission to let me go. I trust that all will be well, and that some day I may rejoin the army. However, there is no saying how matters may turn out. I am happy in knowing that there is no one who, if the worse comes to the worst, will grieve over my loss. I recommend my faithful servant to you. I should wish the balance of pay coming to me to be handed to him, as well as my camel and horse, and all other belongings. By the sale of these he would be able at the end of the war to hey a piece of land and settle down among his own people. Will you kindly report my capture to Colonel Wingate or General Hunter? Thanking you for your kindness to me,

I remain,

Yours faithfully,

GREGORY HILLIARD.

P.S. — In my cabin is a tin box containing documents of importance to me. I shall be greatly obliged if you will take charge of these until — as I hope will be the case —I rejoin you.

He handed the paper to Zaki, who took his hand and raised it to his forehead with tears in his eyes. " I go because you order me, master," he said in a broken voice, " but I would a thousand times rather remain and share your fate, whatever it might be." Then he turned and abruptly left the tent.

Twice that day Gregory had received food from a female slave of the harem. Although he knew that he should miss Zaki greatly, he was very glad that he had been sent away, for he felt that, although for the time he had been reprieved, his position was very precarious, and that his servant's would have been still more so. A white prisoner was a personage of some consequence, but the death of a Jaalin was a matter that would disturb no one; thousands of them had been massacred, and one more or less could not matter at all. But however much the Dervishes might hate a white infidel, it would be a serious matter for even the most powerful Emir to harm a prisoner under the protection of the harem of the Khalifa's son.

Mahmud had been very popular among them, but his position had been gravely shaken by the events of the last six months. Having unlimited confidence in themselves, the Baggara had seen with increasing fury the unopposed advance of the Egyptians. They could not understand why they should not have been allowed, after the capture of Metemmeh, to march across the desert to Merawi and annihilate the infidels assembled there. It was true that these had repulsed the force defending Dongola, but this was a comparatively small body, and it was the gun-boats and not the Egyptian troops who had forced them to evacuate the town. The fall of Abu Hamed had added to their discontent, and they were eager to march with all speed to Berber to join the five thousand men comprising its garrison, and to drive the invaders back across the Nile. But they had been kept inactive by the orders of the Khalifa and by the want of stores. They had for months been suffering great privations, and while remaining in enforced inactivity they had known that their enemy's strength was daily increasing, and that what could have been accomplished with the greatest of ease in August had now become a very serious business. Mahmud himself had chafed at the situation in which he found himself placed by his father's refusal to support him or to allow him to take any action. This had soured his temper, and he had taken to drinking heavily— he had become more harsh with his men, more severe in the punishment inflicted for any trifling disobedience of orders. Although no thought that the rule of the Khalifa could be seriously threatened entered their minds, fanatical as they were, they could not but feel some uneasiness at the prospect.

A great army was gathering at Berber; Kassala was in the hands of the British, and the forces that had been beleaguering it had been defeated with heavy loss; Abyssinia had leagued itself against them; the insurrection of the Jaalin had been crushed, but there were signs of unrest in Kordofan and other parts. Of course all this would be put right. An army of sixty thousand men was at Omdurman, and this with Mah-mud's command would suffice to sweep away all their enemies. Their enthusiasm would never have wavered had they been called upon for action; but these months of weary waiting and of semi-starvation without the acquisition of any booty or plunder—for little indeed had been obtained at the capture of Metemmeh—sapped their energy, and the force that crossed the Nile for an advance upon Berber was far less formidable than it would have been had it been led forward against Merawi and Dongola directly after the capture of Metemmeh, —still, it needed only the prospect of a battle to restore its spirits.

A fortnight after Gregory's capture the Dervish army was set in motion. A few thousand men had already been sent forward along the banks of the river to check any advance that might be made from Fort Atbara. Had it not been for this Gregory might have attempted to escaoe. It would not have been very difficult for him to creep out at the back of his little tent unperceived by his guards, but the dangers to be encountered in making his way to the British fort would have been immense. It would have been necessary for him to keep by the river, for from this source alone could Avater be obtained.

The country had been stripped of its crops of all kinds by the Dervishes, the villages had been razed to the ground, and the last head of maize and other grain gleaned by the starving people who had taken refuge in the bush and jungle.

Therefore, although by keeping near the river he could quench his thirst at will, he would assuredly have to face starvation. Moreover, he would have no chance of searching for any ears of corn which might have escaped the eyes of the searchers, for he must travel only by night and lie up by day, to avoid capture by one or other of the bands that had gone on, in which case he would at once be killed, being beyond the influence of Mahmud and the protection of the harem.

On the other hand, he had nothing to complain of except the monotony and uncertainty of his position. Fatma kept him well supplied with food, and from the gossip of the slaves who brought this to him he learnt how matters were progressing. He was longing for the Dervish army to make a move, for he felt that when they neared the British position the greater would be the chances of escape, and none among the followers of Mahmud rejoiced more than he did when he knew that the long-expected advance was about to take place.

Once in motion, the spirits of the Dervishes revived. At last they were going to meet these insolent invaders, and none doubted that they would easily defeat them. The greater portion of the harem and attendants were left behind at Shendy, for but few camels were available. Fatma and another of Mahmud's wives rode on one; a tent was carried by another. Half a dozen slaves followed, and Gregory walked with these. He could not help admiring the attitude of the tribesmen—tall, powerful men, inured to hardship, and walking or riding with an air of fierce independence which showed their pride in themselves and their confidence in their prowess.

The party always started early in the morning, so as to get the tents erected at the halting-place before the main body of the Dervishes came up. On the march they kept some distance from the river, and being but a small group the gunboats did not waste their shot upon them; but each day there was a sharp exchange of fire between them and Mahmud's force.

Gregory supposed that Mahmud's plan was to cross the Atbara, which was fordable at several points, and to attack the fort there, in which case he had no doubt the Arabs would be driven off with much loss. The Sirdar was of the same opinion, and in order to tempt them to do so he maintained only one Egyptian brigade in the fort, the remainder of the force being concentrated at Kennur, four miles away. From this point they would be able to advance and take the Dervishes in flank while they were engaged in the attack of the fort. Mahmud, however, was kept well informed of the movements of the troops, and instead of continuing his course down the river-bank when he reached Gabati, he struck across the desert, and after two days' march crossed the Atbara at Nakheila. From this point, owing to the bend in the river, he would be able to march direct to Berber, avoiding the Atbara fort and the force gathered round it.

Altogether the desert march, although only lasting two days, was a trying one. The heat was overpowering, and even the ladies of the harem had the scantiest supply of water. They had at starting given Gregory a gourd of water for his own use. This he had taken sparingly, and it lasted him until they reached the Atbara.

It was now dead low water, and the river offered no obstacle to crossing, as the bed was for the most part dry, with pools here and there. The Arab encampment was formed in a thick grove of trees, which afforded some shelter from the sun.

Day after day passed. Mahmud was now informed as to the strength of the force he should have to encounter, and for the first time felt some doubt as to the issue of the fight. He determined, therefore, to stand on the defensive. This decision, however, he kept to himself. The Dervishes were burning to be led to the assault, and became almost mutinous on account of the delay. Mahmud was obliged to take the strongest measures, and several of those who were loudest in their dissatisfaction were summarily executed. The rest were pacified with the assurance that he was only waiting for a fortunate day. In the meantime the men were employed in fortifying the position. Deep holes were dug along the edge of the wood, and behind these were trenches and pitfalls.

Mahmud's own temper grew daily more sullen and fierce. His own fighting instinct was in favour of the attack his followers longed to deliver, but in his heart he was afraid that the result might be fatal. It was not the rifles of the infantry that he feared—of these he had no experience—but the artillery, which he had learned already could be used with terrible effect.

As Mahmud was drinking heavily, and as the fact that the white soldiers were near at hand added to the fanatical hatred of the emirs and tribesmen, Fatma sent a message by a slave to Gregory, warning him not to show himself outside the little shelter tent composed of a single blanket, in which he now lived.

At length it became known that the English host was approaching. As soon as the gun-boats brought down news that the Dervishes were no longer following the river-bank, but were disappearing into the desert, the Sirdar guessed their intentions. Nothing could have suited him better. A battle now must be a decisive one. There was no way of retreat open to the Dervishes except to cross the waterless desert, or to fly south keeping to the course of the Albara, which would take them farther and farther from the Nile with every mile they marched. Bringing up all his force, therefore, from Kennur and the Atbara fort, which one battalion was left to guard, the Sirdar took up his post at Hudi.

The position was well chosen. It lay half-way between Mahmud's camp at Nakheila and the Atbara fort, and left Mahmud only the option of attacking him or of making a long detour through the desert to the east in order to reach Berber. The British, on the other hand, could receive their supplies by camels from the Atbara fort. The cavalry went out to reconnoitre, and had constant skirmishes with the enemy's horse, but when day after day passed and Mahmud did not come, as the Sirdar had expected, to attack him, it was determined to take the offensive. General Hunter was ordered to move forward, with the whole of the cavalry and a Maxim-gun battery, to discover the exact position of the enemy.

The camp had been well chosen, for, like Abu Hamed, it lay in a depression, and could not be seen until an enemy came within six hundred yards of it. Thus the superiority of range of the British rifles was neutralized, and their guns could not be brought into play until within reach of the Dervish muskets. The wood was surrounded by a high zareba, behind which a crowd of Dervishes were assembled. They had anticipated an attack, and held their fire until the cavalry should come nearer. This, however, General Hunter had no intention of doing, and he retired with the information he had gained. His account of the strength of the position showed the difficulty of taking it by assault.

Next day he again went out with the same force, but this time the Dervishes were prepared. Their mounted men dashed out from the wood and galloped round to cut off the cavalry, while the foot-men crowded out to attack them in front. The cavalry fell back in perfect order, and one squadron charged forty of the Dervish cavalry, who barred the line of retreat. These they drove off, but the main body still pressed forward, and the Maxims opened upon them. The hail of bullets was too much for the horsemen, and they drew off. Several times they gathered again for a charge, but on each occasion the Maxims dispersed them. The unmounted Dervishes were soon left behind, but the horsemen, in spite of the lesson they had received, followed almost to the camp.

On the afternoon of the 7th of April the Anglo-Egyptian force marched out. They started at five in the afternoon, and halted at seven. The horses were first taken down to water, the infantry by half-battalions; all then lay down to sleep. At one o'clock the word to advance was passed round quietly. The moon was full and high overhead, so there was no difficulty in avoiding obstacles. Each brigade marched in square, accompanied by the guns and the Maxims, and the camels with provisions and spare ammunition.

At four o'clock they halted again. They had been well guided, and were now but a short distance from the enemy's position. At sunrise the men were again on their feet, and advanced to within two hundred yards of the position from which they were to deliver their attack. The British brigade —the Camerons, Warwicks, Seaforths, and Lincolns—were on the left. Next to them came Macdonald's brigade—the three Soudanese regiments in front, the 2nd Egyptian in support. Farther still to the right, and touching the river, was Maxwell's brigade, comprising also three Soudanese regiments and an Egyptian one. Two of the three Egyptian battalions of Lewis's brigade were placed on the left rear of the British brigade, the third battalion was in square round the camels. Two field-batteries were in front of the infantry and two to the right of Maxwell's brigade.

Half a mile from the zareba the infantry halted, and the artillery and Maxims opened fire. For an hour a tremendous fire was poured into the enemy's position, but not a shot was fired in reply, although the Dervishes could be seen moving among the trees, apparently unconcerned at the storm of shell and bullets.

Gregory's position had been growing more critical everyday. Food was extremely short; the scanty supplies that the force had brought with them had been long since exhausted, and they were now subsisting upon palm nuts. Of these, two were served out daily to each man, a quantity barely sufficient to keep life together. In spite of the vigilant watch kept by the more fanatical of Mahmud's followers, desertions had become frequent, notwithstanding the certain death that awaited those who were overtaken. The evening after the cavalry made their first reconnaissance the slave who brought Gregory's food told him that Fatma wished to speak to him. It was but three paces to the entrance of the tent, and his guards made no objection. The entrance was closed as the slave entered, but half a minute later it was opened an inch or two, and, without showing herself, Fatma said:

"Listen to me."

" I am listening," Gregory replied.

" I am in great fear for you; you are in much danger. The emirs say to Mahmud that you ought to be killed; their followers are well-nigh starving,—why should an infidel prisoner be eating? His friends are now close to us, and there will be a battle; none will be spared on either side,—why should this man be spared? Mahmud has many cares; the men are furious because he will not lead them out to fight. Even the emirs are sullen; and Osman Digna, who was on bad terms with him a short time ago, and who, Mahmud suspects, is intriguing with them against him, is foremost in urging that an attack should take place, though every one knows he is a coward and never shows himself in battle, always running away directly he sees that things are going against him. Still, he has five thousand followers of his own. Mahmud told me to-day that he had done all in his power, but, placed as he was, he could not withstand the words of the emirs and the complaints of the tribesmen. When the battle comes—as it must come in a day or two—it will need all his influence and the faith of the men with him to win; and with so much at stake, how can he risk everything for the sake of a single life, and that the life of an infidel? If you would agree to aid in working his guns, as the Greeks and Egyptians do, it would content the emirs."

"That I cannot do," Gregory said. "If I am to be killed it is the will of God, but better that a thousand times than turn traitor!"

" I knew that it would be so," Fatma said sorrowfully. "What can we do? At other times the protection of the harem would cover even one who had slain a chief, but now that the Baggara are half-starving, and mad with anger and disappointment, even that no longer avails. If they would brave the anger of the son of the Khalifa, they would not regard the sanctity of the harem. I wish now that I had advised you to try and escape when we left Shendy, or even when we first came here. It would have been difficult-but not impossible; but now I can see no chance. There is the thorn hedge round the wood, with few openings, and with men on watch all round to prevent desertion. Several tried to escape last night—all were caught and killed this morning. Even if it were possible to pass through, there are bands of horsemen everywhere out on the plain, keeping watch alike against the approach of the enemy and the desertion of cowards.

" I have been in despair all day that I cannot save the life of one who saved mine. I have told Mahmud that my honour is concerned, and that I would give my life for yours. Months ago he would have braved the anger of all his army for me, but he has changed much of late. It is not that he loves me less, but that he has been worried beyond bearing, and in his troubles he drinks until he forgets them. My only hope is that your people will attack to-morrow. Mahmud says that they will assuredly be beaten; they will be shot down as they approach, and none will ever be able to get through the hedge. Then, when they fall back, the Baggara will pour out horse and foot and destroy them. They will then see how right he has been in not letting them go out into the plain to fight. His influence will be restored, and your life will be safe. We are to be removed to the farther side of the wood when the fighting begins, and there all the women are to be gathered and wait till the infidels are utterly destroyed. If your people come to-morrow morning, you may be saved; otherwise I fear the worst."

"I thank you for what you have done for me," replied Gregory, " and whatever comes of it, be sure that I shall feel grateful to you, and shall not blame you for not having been able to do what was impossible. I hope my friends may come to-morrow, for, whatever my fate may be, anything is better than uncertainty."

"May Allah protect you!" the woman said with a sob; "and go now, I hear Mahmud calling me."

CHAPTER XII

THE BATTLE OF ATBARA

GREGORY had little sleep that night. It was clear to him that there was absolutely no chance of making his escape. Even were his two guards withdrawn it would not improve his position. He had no means of disguise, and even if he had an Arab dress and could stain his face, he could not hope to make his way through the crowds of sleeping men, the pitfalls and trenches, and pass out through the jealously-guarded zareba. There was nothing for him but to wait till the end. He could not blame Mahmud. A leader on the eve of a great battle could not, for the sake of a single captive, risk his influence and oppose the wishes of his followers. It was much that he had for his wife's sake postponed the fulfilment of his oath, and had so long withstood the wishes of his most influential emirs; more could not be expected. At any rate he was better off than others who had been in the same position. He had not, so far as he knew, a relation in the world,— no one who would be anywise affected by his death, and at least he would have the satisfaction of knowing that it was a kind action which had brought him to his end. He prayed earnestly, not that his life might be spared, but that his death might be a painless one, and that he might meet it as an English officer should, without showing signs of fear.

The next day he heard orders given and a great stir in camp, and he gathered from those who passed near the tent that the enemy's cavalry Avere again approaching, and that the mounted men were to ride out and cut them off from retreating, while the dismounted men were to pour out and annihilate them. Then for a time all was silence in the camp. Suddenly an outburst of shouts and cries broke out, and almost simultaneously he heard the rattle of Maxim guns,— the fight had begun. Would the Egyptian horsemen stand firm, or would they give way to panic? If they broke and fled, none whatever would return to their camp through the host of Baggara horsemen. For a time the roll of the fire from the machine-guns was incessant, then there was a pause. Two or three minutes later it broke out again, but it was evidently somewhat farther off; and so it went on, with intervals of silence, but ever getting farther away. It was clear that the horsemen had not been able to bring the cavalry to a standstill, and that these were steadily falling back, covered by the fire of the Maxims. At last the sound grew faint in the distance, and soon afterwards the noise in the camp showed that the infantry were returning. It was not till two hours later that he heard the mounted men ride in, and gathered from the talk outside that they had lost nearly two hundred men, and had been unable to prevent the Egyptian cavalry from returning to camp. Towards evening he heard angry talking, and could distinguish Mahmud's voice. Then the blanket was pulled off its supports, and two men ordered him to follow them.

This was doubtless the end, and he nerved himself for what was to come, and with head erect and a steady face he accompanied the men to the front of Mahmud's tent. The chief was standing with frowning face, and several emirs were gathered in front of him,-while a number of tribesmen stood a short distance away.

"Now," Mahmud said, "let one of you speak."

One of the emirs stepped forward. " I, Osman Digna, demand that this infidel be put to death. His countrymen have slain many of my men and yours."

Feeling now that Mahmud, after doing his best, had ceased to struggle for him, and that his death was certain, Gregory took a step forward towards the speaker and said scornfully, "So you are Osman Digna! I am one of the first of my countrymen to see your face, though many have seen your back at a distance."

Instead of provoking a pistol-shot, as he had intended, his remark was followed by a roar of laughter from the emirs, for Osman's cowardice was a byword among them, and his nickname was "One who always runs". Osman indeed had put his hand on the stock of one of the pistols in his belt, but Mahmud said imperiously, " The man's life is mine, not yours, Osman Digna. If you shoot him, I shoot you!" The fearlessness of the lad had pleased the other emirs, for, recklessly brave themselves, the Baggara appreciated and esteemed courage and honour. One of the others said: " This is a brave young fellow, and infidels as his people are, we admit that they are brave. Were it for ourselves only, we would say let him live until we see what comes of it. But our people complain. They say his folk, with whom we had no quarrel, come here and aid the Egyptians against us. They slew many yesterday. It is not right that this man should be living among us when his countrymen are fighting against us."

There was a murmur of assent among the others, then Mahmud spoke. " I have promised that he should not be killed unless by order of the Khalifa. But this I will do: he shall be placed in the front rank. If Allah wills it, he will be killed by the bullets of his countrymen. If when the fight is over he is unharmed, you shall all agree that the matter be left for the Khalifa to decide. But, mind, I wash my hands of his death. On the eve of a battle it is not for me to set my wishes above those of my emirs and my tribesmen, and I yield to your demands because it is necessary that all be of one mind. If he is killed, which surely he will be unless Allah protects him, his blood be upon your heads!"

He waved his hand, and the men came forward and again took Gregory to his tent. The latter was well contented with the decision that he should be killed. He had no doubt that at least his death would be swift and sudden- he would not be speared or cut to pieces with knives. He would see his countrymen advancing; he would know that he would be speedily avenged. Two days passed, when the news came that the Egyptians had advanced to Umdabieh, seven miles nearer, and on the following morning the Dervish camp was disturbed early. There was joy in every face, and renewed vigour in the bearing of the men. Scouting Dervishes had brought in word that the infidels had marched during the night, and were now halting but a mile and a half away. The hour had come at last. They were confident in themselves, and their trust in their leader was renewed. The fight two days before had shown them that the guns of the white men were terrible on the plain, and that it was, after all, wise to await them in the position which had been made impregnable, and against which the foe would hurl themselves in vain; then they were to pour out and annihilate them.

The slave came to Gregory's tent at daybreak. "Fatma is praying to Allah for your safety," he said. There was no time for more, for already the tents were being pulled down, and soon the women were hurried away to the rear. Four men surrounded Gregory and led him to the edge of the camp, and there fastened him to the stump of a tree that had been cut off six feet from the ground, the upper portion being used in

the construction of the zareba. Ten or twelve men were similarly fastened in a line with him. These had been detected in trying to sneak away. Gregory had not seen anything of the camp before, and as he was taken along he was astounded at the amount of work that had been done. Everywhere the ground was pitted with deep holes capable of sheltering from fifteen to twenty men. The hedge was a high one, and was formed for the most part of prickly bushes. The position was indeed a formidable one, manned as it was by nearly twenty thousand desperate fighters.

At six o'clock the first gun was fired, and for an hour and a half the camp was swept with shell, shrapnel, and Maxim bullets. Most of the Baggara were lying in the pits. Many, however, walked about calmly, as if in contempt of the fire. More than half of the wretched men bound to the trees were killed. At last the fire of the guns slackened, and on the crest of the position, in a semicircle round the wood, a long line of steadily-marching men appeared. The assault was about to begin. The Dervishes sprang from their hiding-places and lined the trenches behind the zareba. The troops halted and waited. The Maxims moved in front of the British brigade, and then opened fire. A bugle sounded, and the whole line, black and white, advanced like a wall. When within three hundred yards the men knelt down and opened fire in volleys of sections. At the same instant the Dervishes, with difficulty restrained until now, opened fire in return.

The Maxims and the storm of British bullets swept the wood, filling the air with a shower of falling leaves. Gregory murmured a prayer, shut his eyes, and awaited death. Suddenly he felt his ropes slacken and fall from him, and a voice" said, "Drop on your face, master!" Almost mechanically he obeyed, too astonished even to think what was happening; then a body fell across him. "Lie still and don't move, master; they must think you are dead."

"Is it you, Zaki ?" Gregory said, scarcely able, even now, to believe that it was his faithful follower.

" It is I, master. I have been in the camp three days, and have never had a chance of getting near you before."

"Brave fellow! good friend!" Gregory said, and then was silent.

Speech was almost inaudible amid the roar of battle. The pipes of the Camerons could, however, be heard above the din. The men advanced steadily in line, maintaining their excellent volley-firing. The three other regiments, in close order, followed, bearing away farther to the right so as to be able to open fire and advance. On that side the black regiments were advancing no less steadily, and the half-brigade of Egyptians were as eager as any. Steadily and well under control all pushed forward at a run, firing occasionally, but thirsting to get hand to hand with those who had desolated their land, destroyed their villages, and slain their friends.

The British were suffering, but the blacks suffered more, for the volleys of the Camerons kept down the fire of those opposed to them better than the irregular fire of the Soudanese. The latter, however, first reached the zareba, and, regardless of thorns or of fire, dashed through it with triumphant shouts and fell upon the defender's. It was but a minute or two later that the Camerons reached the hedge. Formidable as it looked, it took them but a short time to tear down gaps, through which they rushed, while close behind them the Seaforths, the Lincolns, and the Warwicks were all in, bursting through the low stockade and trenches behind it, and cheering madly. Now from their holes and shelters the Dervishes started up. Brave though they were, the storm that had burst upon them with such suddenness scared them, and none attempted to arrest the course of the Highlanders and red coats. Firing as they ran, the Dervishes made for the river. Many remained in their pits till the last, firing at the soldiers as they rushed past, and meeting their death at the point of the bayonet.

Hotly the troops pursued, often falling into the pits, which were half hidden by thorns and long grass. There was no attempt at regularity in these holes—nothing to show where they were. It was a wild and confused combat. The officers kept their men as well together as it was possible on such ground, but it was sharp work, for from flank and rear, as well as in front, the shots rang out from their hidden foes, and these had to be dispatched as they pushed forward. As the troops burst through, Gregory sprang to his feet, seized a rifle that had dropped from the hands of a Dervish who had fallen close by, and shouting to Zaki "Lie still as if dead!" joined the first line of troops. No questions were asked. Every man's attention was fixed on the work before him, and no thought was given to this white officer, who sprang from they knew not where. He had no cartridges, and the Dervishes did not carry bayonets, but, holding the rifle club-wise, he kept in the front line, falling into pits and climbing out again, engaged more than once with desperate foemen.

Striking and shouting he fought on until the troops reached the river bank, and having cleared all before them, poured volleys into the mass of fugitives crossing its dry bed. Other hordes were seen away to the left, similarly driven out by Lewis's Egyptians, by whom a terrible fire was kept up until the last of the fugitives disappeared in the scrub on the opposite bank, leaving the river bed thickly dotted with dead bodies; while on the right Macdonald's and Maxwell's blacks similarly cleared the wood. Then the Soudanese and whites alike burst into cheers; men shook each other by the hand, while they waved their helmets over their heads. The Soudanese leapt and danced like delighted children. Presently an officer left a group of others who had been congratulating each other on their glorious victory and came up to Gregory.

"May I ask who you are, sir?" he said courteously but coldly.

"Certainly, sir; my name is Hilliard. I have been a captive in the hands of the Dervishes, who, when you attacked, tied me to the stump of a tree as a target for your bullets; and I should certainly have been killed had not a faithful servant of mine, a black, taken the opportunity, when the Dervishes rushed into the trenches and opened fire upon you, to cut my ropes. I have no doubt, sir," he went on, as he saw the officer look somewhat doubtful, "that General Hunter is here. I am known personally to him, and served for a time on his staff."

" That is quite sufficient," the officer said more cordially. " I congratulate you on your escape. I confess it astonished us all when a strange white officer whom none of us knew suddenly joined us. You will find General Hunter somewhere over on the left; he is certain to have led the charge of the Soudanese."

" Thank you! I will go and find him; but first, I must return to where I left my man. He had, of course, the Mahdist's patch on his clothes, and I told him to lie still as if dead till I came for him, as in the melee it would have been impossible for me to have protected him."

Gregory found Zaki still lying where he left him, head downward and arms thrown forward, in so good an imitation of death that he feared for a moment the lad had been shot after he left him. At the sound of his master's voice, however, the native sprang to his feet.

"You have saved my life, Zaki," Gregory said, taking his hand. "I must have fallen—every man tied to a tree is, as you see, dead; but before we say anything else cut that patch off your clothes or you might be shot as a Dervish by the first man you come across. Keep close to me; I am going to General Hunter. At present I know none of the officers of the white regiments; when I get among the Soudanese I shall be more at home."

In ten minutes he came to where General Hunter was speaking to the Sirdar. Gregory stopped at a short distance before the general's eyes fell upon him, and he gave an exclamation of pleasure.

"That is Hilliard, General, the young fellow who jumped from one of the gun-boats off Metemmeh to rescue the woman.

The act was unnoticed at the time, but a black he had with him was released and brought word that his master was a prisoner in their camp."

"I heard of it at the time," the Sirdar said, and motioned to Gregory to come up. "I am glad to find that you have escaped the fate we feared had befallen you, but your action was altogether wrong. An officer's life is no longer his own, but belongs to the country he serves, and you had no right whatever to risk it when on duty, even in an action which at any other time would do you great credit."

He spoke sharply and sternly; Gregory again saluted.

" I knew afterwards that I had done wrong, sir, but I did not stop to think, and acted on the impulse of the moment."

"That may be," the Sirdar said; "but officers should think, and not act on the impulse of the moment." Gregory again saluted and fell back. Three or four minutes later the two generals separated. General Hunter came up to him and shook him warmly by the hand.

"You must not mind what the Sirdar said, Hilliard. It was a very noble action and did you credit, and I can assure you that that was the opinion of all who knew you; but to the Sirdar, you know, duty is everything, and I think you are lucky in not being sent down at once to the base. However, he said to me, after you had left him, 'I shall be too busy this evening, but bring the young fellow with you tomorrow evening, I must hear how it was that Mahmud spared him.' I told him that I understood from your black that the woman was Mahmud's favourite wife, and that she took you under her care.

"By the way, have you heard that Mahmud is captured? Yes, he is caught, which is a great satisfaction to us, for his being sent down a prisoner will convince the tribesmen that we have gained a victory, as to which they would otherwise be incredulous. I hear that the Egyptian brigade, which was to the extreme left, has captured Mahmud's wife and a great number of women,"

''With your permission, sir, I will go over there at once and ask Colonel Lewis that she may receive specially good treatment. She has been extremely kind to me, and it is to her influence over Mahmud that I owe my life. Up to this morning Mahmud would have spared me, but Osman Digna insisted that I should be killed, and he was obliged to give way. They fastened me to a tree behind the trench just inside the zareba, and I should certainly have been killed by our own musketry fire, had not my boy, who had come into the camp in disguise, cut my cords. I fell as if shot, and he threw himself down on me until the Camerons burst in, when I at once joined them and did what little I could in the fight."

"I will give you a line to Colonel Lewis, to tell him that Mahmud's wife, whom you will point out, is to be treated with respect, and that her people may be allowed to make her an arbour of some sort until the Sirdar decides what is to be done with her. Probably she will be sent down to Berber. No doubt we shall all fall back."

"Then you will not pursue, sir?"

" No. The cavalry have already gone off in pursuit of their horsemen, but they are not likely to catch them, for we hear that Osman Digna is with them, and he seems to enjoy a special immunity from capture. As for the other poor beggars, we could not do it if we wanted to. I expect the campaign is over for the present; certainly nothing can be done till the railway is completed, then the gun-boats can tow the native craft abreast of us as we march along the river bank. Shendy has been captured, and we found twelve thousand Jaalin prisoners there, women and children, and a large quantity of stores. That is what makes the position of the Dervish fugitives so hopeless. There is nothing before them but to find their way across the desert to Omdurman, and I fancy that few of them will get there alive.

" No doubt some will keep along by the Atbara, and others by the Nile. The latter will have the best chance, for the friendlies at Kassala will be on the look-o^t for fugitives. I am sorry for the poor wretches, though they richly deserve the worst that can befall them. They have never shown mercy. For twenty years they have murdered, plundered, and desolated the whole land, and have shown themselves more ferocious and merciless than wild beasts."

He took out his pocket-book, wrote the order to Colonel Lewis, and then, tearing the leaf out, handed it to Gregory, who at once made his way, followed closely by Zaki, to the spot where two Egyptian battalions had halted. They had no difficulty in finding Colonel Lewis, who was receiving a report from the officers of the two battalions of the casualties they had sustained. Gregory had met the Colonel several times at Berber, and the latter recognized him at once.

"Ah! Major Hilliard," that officer said as he came up, "I am glad to see you. I heard that you had been captured by the Dervishes and killed, but I suppose, as I see you here, that it was only the usual canard."

" No, sir. I was captured, but, as you see, not killed, though it has been a pretty close thing. This is a note, sir, that General Hunter requested me to give you."

Colonel Lewis read the order. " The women are down over there, a couple of hundred yards away,." he said. " I will send a sergeant and four men with you. If you will point out Mahmud's wife, I will see that she is made as comfortable as possible."

" Thank you, sir! It is to her I owe my life, and I am most anxious to do all I can to repay the debt."

" You came along through the other brigades; do you know what their losses have been 1"

"The British losses are not heavy, sir, considering the fire they have been exposed to. Macdonald's brigade suffered most, I believe."

"Yes; I saw one of the officers just now. It seems they came down upon Mahmud's picked body-guard, and these fought desperately. They found Mahmud in the usual attitude in which the Dervish emirs await death when they are conquered. He was sitting quietly on his mat, with his arms laid down beside him, and was, I should imagine, somewhat surprised at finding that he was not cut to pieces at once."

" I am glad he was not, sir, for he certainly behaved well to me. It was through the influence of his wife, I admit, but in sparing me he really risked serious disaffection among his followers, and at last gave way only to coercion."

The sergeant and men had now come up, and Gregory went off with them. Three or four hundred women were seated on the ground together, with half a dozen Egyptian soldiers standing as sentry over them. More or less closely veiled as they were, Gregory could not distinguish Fatma among them; and indeed, except when he first reached her in the water, he had not got a glimpse of her features. The question, however, was speedily settled when a woman rose in the middle of the group with a cry of gladness. "So you are saved!" she exclaimed. " I have feared so that you were killed. Have you news of Mahmud?"

" Yes, lady. He is a prisoner, but well and unharmed. I have obtained an order from the General that you are to be treated with honours as his wife. We cannot do much for you at present, but all that is possible will be done. I have represented your kindness to me, and these soldiers will at once erect an arbour for you, and food will be brought for you all as soon as matters have settled down a little."

The Egyptian soldiers had already begun to cut down saplings. Accustomed as they were to the work, in half an hour they had erected an arbour. Fatma was then assisted into it with the other women of the harem. The sergeant gave orders to the sentries that no one was to be allowed to interfere in any way with them, and then Gregory took his leave, saying that he would return later on. He again joined General Hunter, who seemed to be his natural chief now that his service in the gun-boat was over.

The list of casualties was now being brought in. The Uamerons, who had led the attack in line, had lost most heavily; they had fifteen killed and forty-six wounded, among them being two officers killed and one mortally wounded. The Sea-forths had one officer killed and one mortally wounded, and four others less severely; in all, six killed and twenty-seven wounded. The Lincolns had one killed and eighteen wounded; the Warwicks two killed and eighteen wounded. Many of the wounded afterwards died. The Egyptians had lost more heavily. The casualties among them were: fifty-seven killed, and four British and sixteen native officers and three hundred and sixty-seven non-commissioned officers and men wounded. The Dervish loss was terrible. Three thousand men were killed, among whom were nearly all the emirs, and two thousand were taken prisoners. The rest were hopeless fugitives, and a vast number of these must have been wounded.

There was but a short rest for the troops. When the wounded had been collected and carried to a neighbouring palm grove, where the surgeons did all that could then be done for them; and the trophies of the fight—banners and spears, guns of all sorts, swords and knives—had been gathered, principally by the exultant Soudanese and Egyptians, the force prepared for a start.

" May I ask, General, what is to be done with the women?" Gregory said.

" I have been speaking to the Sirdar about them, and I was just going to ask you to go with me to them. They are, of course, not to be considered as prisoners. They cannot stay here, or they would die of hunger; therefore they had best follow the troops, at any rate as far as the Atbara camp. They will have food given them, and must then decide for themselves what they are to do. It is a difficult question altogether. The only thing that can at present be settled is that they mustn't be allowed to die of hunger, and they must be protected against molestation. The troops will march at four o'clock. The Egyptian brigade have volunteered to carry the wounded; they will start later. The women had better follow them.

No doubt some of them will find their husbands among the prisoners, so that there will be no trouble about them."

"What will be done with the men, sir?"

The General smiled. "To-morrow they will probably enlist in our service to a man, and will fight just as sturdily as the other Soudanese battalions against their brethren in Khartoum. All the prisoners we have hitherto taken who are fit for the work have done so, and, as has been shown to-day, are just as ready to fight on our side as they were against us. They are a fighting people, and it is curious how they become attached to their white officers, whom formerly they hated as infidels."

When the matter was explained to them, the women accepted the situation with the resignation that is natural to the Mahomedan woman. Gregory was able to assure Fatma that in a short time she would undoubtedly be allowed to join Mahmud, and accompany him wherever he was sent.

" But will they not kill him?" she said.

"We never kill prisoners. Even the bitterest enemy that may fall into our hands is well treated. Mahmud will doubtless be sent down to Cairo, and it will then be settled where he is to be taken to; but you may be sure that wherever it may be, he will be well treated and cared for."

" In that case I shall be happy," she said. " When you saved me I saw that the ways of you Christians were better than our ways; now I see it still more. To be always raiding, and plundering, and killing cannot be good. It used to seem to me natural and right, but I have come to think differently."

At four o'clock the troops marched. At Gregory's request he was allowed to remain behind and accompany the Egyptians. He had bought for a few shillings from the soldiers a dozen donkeys that had been found alive in some of the pits. These he handed over to Fatma for her conveyance and that of the wives of some of the emirs, who were of the party. The Egyptians started at half-past eight, carrying their own wounded and those of the British. By the route by which the army had marched the night before, the distance was but nine miles; but there had been some rough places to pass, and to avoid these, where the wounded might have suffered from jolting, they made a circuit, thereby adding three miles to the length of the march, and did not reach Umdabieh camp until two o'clock in the morning. General Hunter, who never spared himself, rode with them and acted as guide. During the fight he, Colonel Macdonald, and Colonel Maxwell had ridden at the head of their brigades, the white regimental officers being on foot with the men, as was their custom, and it was surprising that the three conspicuous figures had all come through the storm of fire unscathed.

The next morning was a quiet one, and in the afternoon all marched off to the old camp at Abadar.' On Sunday they rested, and on Monday the British brigade marched to Hudi, and then across the desert to Hermali, where they were to spend the summer. The Sirdar rode with the Egyptian brigades to Fort Atbara, Macdonald's brigade was to go on to garrison Berber, Maxwell's to Assillem, and that of Lewis to remain at Atbara.

The question of the prisoners was already half solved. Almost all of them willingly embraced the offer to enlist in the Egyptian army. Many of the women found their husbands among the prisoners; others agreed at once to marry men of the Soudanese battalion; the rest, pending such offers as they might receive in the future, decided to remain at Atbara. At Berber their lot would have been a hard one, for they would have been exposed to the hatred and spite of the Jaalin women there, whose husbands had been massacred at Metemmeh. Fatma, with two attendants only, accompanied Macdonald's brigade to Berber.

On arriving outside the town the force encamped. Next day the Sirdar, with his staff and General Hunter, came up, and on the following morning made a triumphant entry into the town, followed by the Soudanese brigade. Berber was prepared to do honour to the occasion. Flags waved, coloured cloths and women's garments hung from the windows, and the whole population lined the streets and received the conquerors with cries of welcome and triumph. They had anticipated a very different result, and had fully expected that the army would have been well-nigh annihilated, and that .again the triumphant Dervishes would become their masters. But the sight of Mahmud walking a prisoner, with two guards on each side of him, convinced them that the reports that had reached them were true, that the Dervishes had been signally defeated, and that there was no fear of their ever again becoming loixls of Berber.

The Sirdar, by whose side General Hunter rode, headed the procession, followed by his staff; then, leading his brigade, came Macdonald—stern and hard of face, burnt almost black with years of campaigning in the desert—and his staff, followed by the black battalions, erect and proud, maintaining their soldierly bearing amid the loud quavering cries of welcome from the women.

Gregory had, on his arrival with the brigade the day before, gone into the town and engaged a small house in its outskirts as the abode of Fatma and her two attendants, purchased suitable provisions, and made what arrangements he could for her comfort. Late in the evening he had escorted her there, and left Zaki to sleep in an outhouse attached to it, to secure them from all intrusion. Then he went down to the river, and, finding the Zafir lying there, went on beard. He was received as one returned from the dead by Captain Keppel, Lieutenant Beatty, and Lieutenant Hood — the commanders of the other gun-boats — who had been dining on board. He had become a general favourite during the time he had spent with them, and their congratulations on his safe return were warm and hearty.

" You may imagine our surprise when, after the fight was over," said Captain Keppel, " it was discovered that you were missing. No one could imagine what had become of you. One of the blacks who had been working your Maxim said they had not noticed your leaving them, and that when they found you were not there, they supposed you had come to confer with me. Then I sent for your man, but he too was missing. We searched everywhere, but no signs of you, dead or alive, and no marks of blood were to be found ; so it seemed that the matter must remain a mystery. Early the next morning, however, we saw a white rag Avaving on the bank, and then a black entered the water and swam out towards us. I sent the boat to meet him, and when he came on board I found that he was your man, and the mystery was explained. I fancy I used some strong language, for I never before heard of a man being so hare-brained as to spring overboard in the middle of a battle and pick up a woman without saying a word to anyone of what he was doing, and that with the boat still steaming ahead. Of course your man told us that it was Mahmud's wife you had saved, and that she had taken you under her protection, but I did not expect that among those fanatics your life would be spared. Now tell us all about your adventures, and how you got down here just in time to see our fellows enter in triumph. I suppose you managed to give them the slip somehow?"

Gregory then told his story. When he had concluded, Captain Keppel said: "Well, you have the luck of the old one! First you have got hold of as faithful a fellow as is to be found in all Egypt or anywhere else, and in the second place you have been in the battle of Atbara, while we have been kicking our heels here and fuming at being out of it altogether, except for our bloodless capture of Shendy. So you say the Sirdar blew you up? I am not surprised at that. You know the story of the man who fell overboard in the old flogging days, and the captain sentenced him to two dozen lashes for leaving the ship without orders."