TAMANIEB.
"Are you sure you feel fit for active work again, Smith?" Major Horsley
said as he met Edgar in camp.
"Yes, sir," the lad said saluting. "I am a little stiff, and it hurts me
if I move suddenly, but I am sure I should not feel it if we were
engaged again."
"Well, do not do anything rash, lad; these fellows are not to be trifled
with." That, indeed, was the general opinion in camp. The men were ready
and eager for another fight with the enemy, but there was little of the
light-hearted gaiety with which the contest had been anticipated before
they had met the Arabs at El-Teb. The idea that savages, however brave,
could cope with British troops with breech-loaders had then seemed
absurd; but the extraordinary bravery with which the Arabs had fought,
the recklessness with which they threw away their lives, and the
determination with which they had charged through a fire in which it
seemed impossible that any human being could live, had created a feeling
of respect. There was nothing contemptible about these foes, and it was
expected that not only would the force be very much larger than that met
at El-Teb, but as it would be composed of Osman Digma's best men, and
would be fighting under his eye, the battle would be much more hardly
contested than before. The cavalry were particularly impressed with the
formidable nature of these strange foemen. While they would have hurled
themselves fearlessly against far superior forces of the best cavalry of
Europe, they felt that here their discipline and mastery of their
horses went for little. They could charge through any number of the
enemy, but the danger lay not in the charge but after it. The Arab
tactics of throwing themselves down only to stab the horses as they rode
over them, and then rising up cutting and thrusting in their midst, were
strange and bewildering to them.
"I am game to charge a dozen squadrons of cavalry one after the other,"
a trooper said as they sat round the fire on the night of the 9th of
March, "and if we had orders to go at a square of infantry I should be
ready to go, although I might not like the job; but as for these
slippery black beggars, the less we have to do with them the better I
shall be pleased. You go at them, and you think you have got it all your
own way, and then before you can say knife there they are yelling and
shouting and sticking those ugly spears into you and your horses, and
dancing round until you don't fairly know what you are up to. There
ain't nothing natural or decent about it."
There was a general murmur of assent.
"We shall know more about their ways next time," another said. "But
lancers would be the best for this sort of work. There is no getting at
these beggars on the ground with our swords, for the horses will always
leap over a body, and so you cannot reach them with your swords; but a
lance would do the business well. I don't care much for lances for
regular work, but for this sort of fighting there is no doubt they are
the real thing. Well, there is one thing, if we get among the niggers
this time we know what we have got to deal with, and up or down there
will be no mercy shown."
On the 10th the Royal Highlanders marched out six miles towards Tamai
and formed an encampment there, defending it with bushes interlaced with
wire, this kind of defence being known among the natives as a zareba.
The next afternoon the rest of the infantry marched out and joined them.
Next morning the cavalry moved out, and in the afternoon the whole force
started, the cavalry thrown out ahead. A few shots were exchanged with
parties of the enemy, but there was no serious fighting. The march was
slow, for the ground was thickly covered with bushes, through which the
troops with the ambulance and commissariat camels moved but slowly. The
sailors had very hard work dragging their guns through the deep sand,
and it took four hours before they reached a spot suitable for
encampment, within two miles of the enemy's position.
The spot selected for the halt was a space free from bushes, and large
enough to afford room for the encampment and to leave a clear margin of
some fifty yards wide between it and the bushes. As soon as the column
halted the cavalry and part of the infantry took up their position as
outposts to prevent a surprise on the part of the enemy, and the rest
set to work to cut down bushes and drag them across the sand to form a
fresh zareba. When this was completed the cavalry trotted back to the
post held on the previous night, as they would be useless in case of a
night attack, and their horses might suffer from a distant fire of the
enemy.
Inside the zareba the greatest vigilance was observed. Fully ten
thousand determined enemies lay but a short distance away, and might
creep up through the bushes and make a sudden onslaught at any time. The
moon was full, and its light would show any object advancing across the
open space. Had it not been for this the general would not have been
justified in encamping at so short a distance from the enemy. The march
had been a short one, but the heat had been great and the dust terrible,
and the troops threw themselves down on the ground exhausted when the
work of constructing the zareba was completed; but after a short rest
they took up their posts in readiness to repel an attack.
During the early part of the night all remained under arms. But
Commander Rolfe of the Royal Navy crept out at the rear of the camp,
gained the bushes, and crawled among them until he came within sight of
the enemy. He saw them in great numbers sitting round their fires or
stretched upon the ground, and returned to camp with the news that
whatever might be the case later on, certainly no attack was meditated
at present. The greater part of the troops were thereupon allowed to lie
down and get what sleep they could.
The cavalry felt much anxiety respecting those they had left behind
them; but the moon was sufficiently bright to permit signals to be
flashed to them from the camp, and they learnt to their satisfaction
that all was quiet.
Soon after one o'clock in the morning the stillness round the zareba was
suddenly broken. A roar of musketry burst from the bushes all round, and
it was evident that the enemy were assembled there in great force. The
troops were ordered to lie down; and fortunately here, as at El-Teb, the
Arab fire was far too high, and the storm of bullets swept for the most
part overhead. Many of the camels, mules, and horses were, however, hit,
but only one man was killed and an officer and two men wounded. Grasping
their rifles the troops lay ready to spring to their feet and repel the
attack should it be made; but the hours passed on slowly without the
expected movement taking place, and there was a general feeling of
relief when morning at last broke. As the Arabs continued their fire, a
nine-pounder and Gatling gun were brought into play upon the bushes, and
the fire of the enemy soon died out and they fell back to their camp.
The troops now had breakfast, and soon after they had finished the
cavalry arrived from the other zareba. At eight o'clock the Mounted
Infantry moved out, accompanied by a party of Abyssinian scouts. They
had gone but a short distance when a very heavy fire was opened upon
them, and the officer in command sent back to the general to say that
there was a broad ravine stretching across the country a few hundred
yards ahead, although hidden by the bushes from observation until
closely approached, and that this ravine was held by the enemy in great
force. The infantry now moved out from the zareba, formed in two
squares. The second brigade, composed of the Royal Highlanders, the
65th, and the Marines, led the way. It was commanded by General Davis,
and in its centre rode General Graham with his staff.
As soon as this had marched out the first brigade followed, taking its
place in echelon a hundred yards on its right rear, so that its fire
commanded its right flank and protected it from an attack in the rear.
It consisted of the 89th, 75th, and 60th Rifles, under General Buller.
The camels and baggage animals remained under a guard at the zareba.
The Mounted Infantry and Abyssinians fell back as the first brigade
advanced, and as soon as they had moved clear of the face of the square
the machine-guns at its angles opened fire. The enemy's fire soon
ceased, and the brigade again advanced. But the Arabs had simply thrown
themselves down and had not retreated, and their fire broke out again as
soon as that of the machine-guns ceased.
General Graham now gave the order for the Highlanders, who formed the
front face of the square, to charge. With a cheer they went forward at
the double, and sweeping the enemy before them soon reached the head of
the ravine. The result of the order was, however, that the square was
broken up. Its front face had moved on at a run, while the flanks and
rear had continued their march at the same pace as before, and there was
consequently a wide gap between the 65th on the right flank and the
Highlanders in front. Orders were given to the 65th to hurry up; but as
they did so, masses of the enemy were seen coming on at a run and making
for the gap in the square.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF ABU KLEA
JANUARY 17TH 1885]
[Illustration: BATTLE OF TAMAI.
13TH MARCH 1885.]
The right companies of the 65th tried to form up to meet them, while
Lieutenant Graham, R.N., with the men of the Naval Brigade working the
three machine-guns under his command, threw himself into the gap. But
the yells of the enemy and the roar of musketry rendered it impossible
for the men to hear the orders given, and before the 65th had formed
up the enemy were close at hand. Their fire and that of the Gatlings
mowed down the Arabs in hundreds, but the wild mob charged on. Some
hurled themselves on to the 65th, others poured like a wave over the
little group of sailors, while the rest, dashing through the gap, flung
themselves on the rear of the 42d.
The sergeants, whose place is in rear of the men, were cut down almost
to a man; and the rear rank, facing round, were at once engaged in a
desperate hand-to-hand fight with the natives. All was now confusion.
Fresh masses of the enemy poured down with exulting shouts, and in a
confused crowd the brigade retreated. Had not help been at hand they
would probably have met with the same fate that befell Baker's force,
and none would have reached Suakim to tell the news of the massacre. The
sailors, in vain trying to drag off their guns, were almost all killed,
and the guns fell into the hands of the enemy.
But a check was given to the advance of the Arabs by the cavalry, who
had moved forward to the left of the square. The officer in command saw
that were he to charge across the broken ground his little force would
be lost among the throng of Arabs. He therefore dismounted them, and
they poured volley after volley with their carbines into the thick of
the enemy. In the meantime General Buller's square was advancing. It had
been attacked as desperately as had that of General Davis; but it was
well handled, and its formation had not been broken up by any order such
as that which had destroyed the formation of the other brigade. So
steady and terrible a fire was opened upon the advancing enemy that not
one of the assailants reached the face of the square; and having
repulsed the attacks, it advanced rapidly to the relief of the shattered
brigade ahead, pouring incessant volleys into the ranks of the Arabs as
they swept down to its assault.
Thus, as they advanced, the first brigade cleared the right face of the
second from its foes, and as soon as they came up with the retreating
force these halted and reformed their ranks Both brigades were now
formed in line, and advanced steadily towards the ravine. Upon their way
they came upon the abandoned guns, which the enemy had in vain tried to
carry off. Sweeping the Arabs before them, the British force reached the
edge of the ravine. It was filled by the flying Arabs, and into these a
terrible fire was poured by the musketry and guns until the Arabs had
gained the opposite side and were concealed among the bushes. The
fighting was now over, although the enemy still maintained a distant
fire. It was necessary, however, to keep the troops together, for
numbers of the Arabs still lay hidden among the bushes, leaping up and
flinging themselves desperately upon any who approached them.
The scene of the conflict was terrible. A hundred and twenty of the
British lay dead, of whom more than half belonged to the 42d. Three
naval officers and ten sailors were killed, while a large number of
officers and men of the 42d and 65th were seriously wounded. The
slaughter among the natives had been very great--no less than four
thousand of them strewing the ground in all directions. The British
wounded were sent back to the zareba, and the force again advanced.
Crossing the ravine they made towards three villages in its rear. Here
was Osman Digma's camp, and the Arabs mustering in strength again opened
a heavy fire. They were, however, unable to withstand the British guns
and the heavy volleys of the infantry, and the troops advanced into the
camp.
It was found filled with property of all kinds; for the Arabs had
removed nothing, making perfectly sure that they should be able to repel
the English advance. Bags of money, bundles of clothing, Korans, great
quantities of grain, and plunder of all kinds were found in the huts.
Osman Digma himself had taken no part whatever in the fight. He had
looked on from a distant eminence, and when he saw the repulse of the
Arab attack and the flight of his men he at once made off.
The next day the cavalry went on to a village two or three miles
distant. Here they found a great quantity of ammunition for Krupp
cannon and other loot, which had been captured from the forces of Baker
and Moncrieff. The village was burnt and the ammunition blown up.
The next day the force started on its return march, after burning and
destroying Osman's camp and the three adjoining villages. No attempt was
made to pursue Osman Digma or his Arabs. The country beyond was steep
and mountainous, and there would have been no chance whatever of
overtaking and capturing him, while the troops might have been attacked
in difficult positions and have suffered heavily.
It was supposed that after the two crushing defeats that had been
inflicted on the enemy, and the proof so afforded of the falsehood of
Osman Digma's pretensions, the tribesmen would no longer believe in him,
and that his authority would have been altogether destroyed. The
expectation was not, however, justified by events, for two years later
the Arabs again mustered under him in such formidable numbers, that
another expedition was necessary to protect Suakim against the gathering
of fanatics reassembled under Osman's banner.
The cavalry had suffered no loss during the operations, and as they had
had some share in the fighting, and had materially aided the shattered
brigade by their fire upon the Arabs, they were not ill satisfied that
they had not been called upon to take a more prominent part in the
operations.
But little time was lost at Suakim. The greater part of the troops were
at once embarked on the transports and taken up to Suez, a small body
only being left to protect the town should the Arabs again gather in
force. The policy was a short-sighted one. Had a protectorate been
established over the country to the foot of the hills, and a force
sufficient to maintain it left there, the great bulk of the tribesmen
would have willingly given in their allegiance, and no further hostile
movement upon the part of Osman Digma would have been possible; but the
fact that we hastened away after fighting, and afforded no protection
whatever to the friendly natives, effectually deterred others from
throwing in their lot with us, and enabled Osman Digma gradually to
restore his power and influence among them.
Short though the campaign had been it had the effect of causing some
inflammation in Edgar's wounds, and as soon as the expedition returned
to the coast the surgeon ordered him into hospital, and it was six weeks
before he again took his place in the ranks. By this time the regiment
was re-united at Cairo, and there was for some months nothing to break
the even tenor of their way.
Long ere this Edgar had learnt that his recommendation for the Victoria
Cross had not been acceded to. This, however, was no surprise, for after
what he had heard from Major Horsley he had entertained but little hope
that he would be among the favoured recipients of the cross.
"Never mind, Ned," a comrade said to him when the list was published and
his name was found to be absent. "It is not always those that most
deserve the cross who get it. We know that you ought to have had it, if
any fellow ever did, and we shall think just as much of you as if you
had got it on your breast."
In spite of the heat cricket matches were got up at Cairo, and the
Hussars distinguished themselves here as they had done at Aldershot. The
chief topic of interest, however, was the question of the safety of
Khartoum, and especially that of General Gordon. He had been sent out by
the British government in hopes that the great influence he possessed
among the natives might enable him to put a stop to the disorder that
prevailed in the Soudan. At the time that he had been in the service of
the Egyptian government he had ruled so wisely and well in the Soudan
that his prestige among the natives was enormous. He had suppressed
slave-trading and restored order throughout the wide province, and by
mingling mercy with justice he was at once admired and feared even by
those whose profits had been annihilated by the abolition of the
slave-trade.
But although Gordon had been rapturously received by the inhabitants of
Khartoum, the tribes of the Soudan had not rallied, as it was hoped they
would do, in opposition to the Mahdi, whose armies had gradually
advanced and had besieged the city. General Gordon with the troops there
had made expeditions up the river in the steamers, and brought in
provisions for the besieged town; he had fought several battles with the
Mahdists, in which he had not always been successful, and it was known
that unless help arrived the city must finally surrender. Many letters
had been received from him asking urgently for aid, but weeks and months
passed, and the government who had sent him out were unable to make up
their minds to incur the cost necessary for the despatch of so distant
an expedition.
In Cairo public feeling ran very high, and among the troops there the
indignation at this base desertion of one of England's noblest soldiers
was intense and general. At last the news came that public feeling in
England had become so strong that government could no longer resist it,
and that orders had been issued to prepare an expedition with all haste.
A number of flat-boats were to be built for conveying the troops up the
Nile. Canadian boatmen had been sent for to aid in the navigation of the
river. Camels were to be purchased in Egypt, a mounted infantry corps
organized, and stores of all kinds hastily collected.
People who knew the river shook their heads, and said that the decision
had been delayed too long. The Nile would have fallen to a point so low
that it would be difficult if not impossible to pass up the cataracts,
and long before help could reach Khartoum the city and its noble
governor would have fallen into the hands of the Mahdi.
There was much disgust among the troops when it was known that many of
them would remain in Lower Egypt, and that of the cavalry especially but
a very small force would be taken, while three regiments mounted on
camels, two of them consisting of cavalry men from England, would take
part in the expedition.
Some of the soldiers, however, looked at the matter more
philosophically. "We have had our share," they argued, "and if the
Mahdi's men fight as well as Osman Digma's we are quite willing that
others should have their whack. There will be no end of hard work, and
what fighting they get won't be all one way. Sand and heat, and
preserved meat and dirty water out of wells, are not very pleasant when
you have to stick to them for months together. Like enough, too, there
will be another rumpus down at Suakim while the expedition is away, and
then those who are left here now will get some more of it."
But although these arguments were loudly uttered, there was no doubt
that there was considerable soreness, and that the men felt the hardship
of favoured troops from England being employed in their stead in a
service that, if dangerous, was likely to offer abundant opportunities
for the display of courage and for gaining credit and honour.