At the hour named, Gregory met Captain Ewart at the station. He was now
dressed in uniform, and carried a revolver in his waist belt, and a
sword in its case. His luggage was not extensive. He had one large
bundle; it contained a roll-up cork bed, in a waterproof casing. At one
end was a loose bag; which contained a spare suit of clothes, three
flannel shirts, and his underclothing. This formed the pillow. A
blanket and a waterproof sheet were rolled up with it. In a small sack
was the tente d'abri, made of waterproof sheeting, with its two little
poles. It only weighed some fifteen pounds. His only other luggage
consisted of a large case, with six bottles of brandy, and the
provisions he had been recommended to take.
"Is that all your kit?" Captain Ewart said, as he joined him.
"Yes, sir. I hope you don't think it is too much."
"No; I think it is very moderate, though if you move forward, you will
not be able to take the case with you, The others are light enough, and
you can always get a native boy to carry them. Of course, you have your
pass?"
"Yes, sir. I received it yesterday, when I went to headquarters for the
letter to General Hunter."
"Then we may as well take our places, at once. We have nearly an hour
before the train starts; but it is worth waiting, in order to get two
seats next the window, on the river side. We need not sit there till
the train starts, if we put our traps in to keep our places. I know
four or five other officers coming up, so we will spread our things
about, and keep the whole carriage to ourselves, if we can."
In an hour, the train started. Every place was occupied. Ewart had
spoken to his friends, as they arrived, and they had all taken places
in the same compartment. The journey lasted forty hours, and Gregory
admitted that the description Captain Ewart had given him, of the dust,
was by no means exaggerated. He had brought, as had been suggested, a
water skin and a porous earthenware bottle; together with a roll of
cotton-wool to serve as a stopper to the latter, to keep out the dust.
In a tightly fitting handbag he had an ample supply of food for three
days. Along the opening of this he had pasted a strip of paper.
"That will do very well for your first meal, Hilliard, but it will be
of no good afterwards."
"I have prepared for that," Gregory said. "I have bought a gum bottle,
and as I have a newspaper in my pocket, I can seal it up after each
meal."
"By Jove, that is a good idea, one I never thought of!"
"The gum will be quite sufficient for us all, up to Assouan. I have two
more bottles in my box. That should be sufficient to last me for a long
time, when I am in the desert; and as it won't take half a minute to
put a fresh paper on, after each meal, I shall have the satisfaction of
eating my food without its being mixed with the dust."
There was a general chorus of approval, and all declared that they
would search every shop in Assouan, and endeavour to find gum.
"Paste will do as well," Ewart said, "and as we can always get flour,
we shall be able to defy the dust fiend as far as our food goes.
"I certainly did not expect that old campaigners would learn a lesson
from you, Hilliard, as soon as you started."
"It was just an idea that occurred to me," Gregory said.
The gum bottle was handed round, and although nothing could be done for
those who had brought their provisions in hampers, three of them who
had, like Gregory, put their food in bags, were able to seal them up
tightly.
It was now May, and the heat was becoming intolerable, especially as
the windows were closed to keep out the dust. In spite of this,
however, it found its way in. It settled everywhere. Clothes and hair
became white with it. It worked its way down the neck, where the
perspiration changed it into mud. It covered the face, as if with a
cake of flour.
At first Gregory attempted to brush it off his clothes, as it settled
upon them, but he soon found that there was no advantage in this. So he
sat quietly in his corner and, like the rest, looked like a dirty white
statue. There were occasional stops, when they all got out, shook
themselves, and took a few mouthfuls of fresh air.
Gregory's plan, for keeping out the dust from the food, turned out a
great success; and the meals were eaten in the open air, during the
stoppages.
On arriving at Assouan, they all went to the transport department, to
get their passes for the journey up the Nile, as far as Wady Halfa. The
next step was to go down to the river for a swim and, by dint of
shaking and beating, to get rid of the accumulated dust.
Assouan was not a pleasant place to linger in and, as soon as they had
completed their purchases, Captain Ewart and Gregory climbed on to the
loaded railway train, and were carried by the short line to the spot
where, above the cataract, the steamer that was to carry them was
lying. She was to tow up a large barge, and two native craft. They took
their places in the steamer, with a number of other officers--some
newcomers from England, others men who had been down to Cairo, to
recruit. They belonged to all branches of the service, and included
half a dozen of the medical staff, three of the transport corps,
gunners, engineers, cavalry, and infantry. The barges were deep in the
water, with their cargoes of stores of all kinds, and rails and
sleepers for the railway, and the steamer was also deeply loaded.
The passage was a delightful one, to Gregory. Everything was new to
him. The cheery talk and jokes of the officers, the graver discussion
of the work before them, the calculations as to time and distance, the
stories told of what had taken place during the previous campaign, by
those who shared in it, were all so different from anything he had ever
before experienced, that the hours passed almost unnoticed. It was
glorious to think that, in whatever humble capacity, he was yet one of
the band who were on their way up to meet the hordes of the Khalifa, to
rescue the Soudan from the tyranny under which it had groaned, to
avenge Gordon and Hicks and the gallant men who had died with them!
Occasionally, Captain Ewart came up and talked to him, but he was well
content to sit on one of the bales, and listen to the conversation
without joining in it. In another couple of years he, too, would have
had his experiences, and would be able to take his part. At present, he
preferred to be a listener.
The distance to Wady Halfa was some three hundred miles; but the
current was strong, and the steamer could not tow the boats more than
five miles an hour, against it. It was sixty hours, from the start,
before they arrived.
Gregory was astonished at the stir and life in the place. Great numbers
of native labourers were at work, unloading barges and native craft;
and a line of railway ran down to the wharves, where the work of
loading the trucks went on briskly. Smoke pouring out from many
chimneys, and the clang of hammers, told that the railway engineering
work was in full swing. Vast piles of boxes, cases, and bales were
accumulated on the wharf, and showed that there would be no loss of
time in pushing forward supplies to Abu Hamed, as soon as the railway
was completed to that point.
Wady Halfa had been the starting point of a railway, commenced years
before. A few miles have been constructed, and several buildings
erected for the functionaries, military and civil; but Gordon, when
Governor of the Soudan, had refused to allow the province to be saddled
with the expenses of the construction, or to undertake the
responsibility of carrying it out.
In 1884 there was some renewal of work and, had Gordon been rescued,
and Khartoum permanently occupied, the line would no doubt have been
carried on; but with the retirement of the British troops, work ceased,
and the great stores of material that had been gathered there remained,
for years, half covered with the sand. In any other climate this would
have been destructive, but in the dry air of Upper Egypt they remained
almost uninjured, and proved very useful, when the work was again taken
up.
It was a wonderful undertaking, for along the two hundred and
thirty-four miles of desert, food, water, and every necessary had to be
carried, together with all materials for its construction. Not only had
an army of workmen to be fed, but a body of troops to guard them; for
Abu Hamed, at the other end of the line, for which they were making,
was occupied by a large body of Dervishes; who might, at any moment,
swoop down across the plain.
Had the Sirdar had the resources of England at his back, the work would
have been easier, for he could have ordered from home new engines, and
plant of every description; but it was an Egyptian work, and had to be
done in the cheapest possible way. Old engines had to be patched up,
and makeshifts of all kinds employed. Fortunately he had, in the chief
engineer of the line, a man whose energy, determination, and resource
were equal to his own. Major Girouard was a young officer of the Royal
Engineers and, like all white officers in the Egyptian service, held
the rank of major. He was a Canadian by birth, and proved, in every
respect, equal to the onerous and responsible work to which he was
appointed.
However, labour was cheap, and railway battalions were raised among the
Egyptian peasants, their pay being the same as that of the soldiers.
Strong, hearty, and accustomed to labour and a scanty diet, no men
could have been more fitted for the work. They preferred it to
soldiering; for although, as they had already shown, and were still
further to prove, the Egyptian can fight, and fight bravely; he is, by
nature, peaceable, and prefers work, however hard. In addition to these
battalions, natives of the country and of the Soudan, fugitives from
ruined villages and desolated plains, were largely employed.
The line had now been carried three-quarters of the distance to Abu
Hamed, which was still in the hands of the Dervishes. It had been
constructed with extraordinary rapidity, for the ground was so level
that only occasional cuttings were needed. The organization of labour
was perfect. The men were divided into gangs, each under a head man,
and each having its own special work to do. There were the men who
unloaded the trucks, the labourers who did the earth work, and the more
skilled hands who levelled it. As fast as the trucks were emptied,
gangs of men carried the sleepers forward, and laid them down roughly
in position; others followed, and corrected the distance between each.
The rails were then brought along and laid down, with the fish plates,
in the proper places; men put these on, and boys screwed up the nuts.
Then plate layers followed and lined the rails accurately; and, when
this was done, sand was thrown in and packed down between the sleepers.
By this division of labour, the line was pushed on from one to two
miles a day, the camp moving forward with the line. Six tank trucks
brought up the water for the use of the labourers, daily, and
everything worked with as much regularity as in a great factory at
home. Troops of friendly tribesmen, in our pay, scoured the country and
watched the wells along the road, farther to the east, so as to prevent
any bands of Dervishes from dashing suddenly down upon the workers.
At Wady Halfa, Captain Ewart and two or three other officers left the
steamer, to proceed up the line. Gregory was very sorry to lose him.
"I cannot tell you, Captain Ewart," he said, "how deeply grateful I
feel to you, for the immense kindness you have shown me. I don't know
what I should have done, had I been left without your advice and
assistance in getting my outfit, and making my arrangements to come up
here."
"My dear lad," the latter said, "don't say anything more. In any case,
I should naturally be glad to do what I could, for the son of a man who
died fighting in the same cause as we are now engaged in. But in your
case it has been a pleasure, for I am sure you will do credit to
yourself, and to the mother who has taken such pains in preparing you
for the work you are going to do, and in fitting you for the position
that you now occupy."
As the officers who had come up with them in the train from Cairo were
all going on, and had been told by Ewart something of Gregory's story,
they had aided that officer in making Gregory feel at home in his new
circumstances; and in the two days they had been on board the boat, he
had made the acquaintance of several others.
The river railway had now been carried from Wady Halfa to Kerma, above
the third cataract. The heavy stores were towed up by steamers and
native craft. Most of the engines and trucks had been transferred to
the desert line; but a few were still retained, to carry up troops if
necessary, and aid the craft in accumulating stores.
One of these trains started a few hours after the arrival of the
steamer at Wady Halfa. Gregory, with the officers going up, occupied
two horse boxes. Several of them had been engaged in the last campaign,
and pointed out the places of interest.
At Sarras, some thirty miles up the road, there had been a fight on the
29th of April, 1887; when the Dervish host, advancing strong in the
belief that they could carry all before them down to the sea, were
defeated by the Egyptian force under the Sirdar and General Chermside.
The next stop of the train was at Akasheh. This had been a very
important station, before the last advance, as all the stores had been
accumulated here when the army advanced. Here had been a strongly
entrenched camp, for the Dervishes were in force, fifteen miles away,
at Ferket.
"It was a busy time we had here," said one of the officers, who had
taken a part in the expedition. "A fortnight before, we had no idea
that an early move was contemplated; and indeed, it was only on the
14th of March that the excitement began. That day, Kitchener received a
telegram ordering an immediate advance on Dongola. We had expected it
would take place soon; but there is no doubt that the sudden order was
the result of an arrangement, on the part of our government with Italy,
that we should relieve her from the pressure of the Dervishes round
Kassala by effecting a diversion, and obliging the enemy to send a
large force down to Dongola to resist our advance.
"It was a busy time. The Sirdar came up to Wady Halfa, and the Egyptian
troops were divided between that place, Sarras, and Akasheh. The 9th
Soudanese were marched up from Suakim, and they did the distance to the
Nile (one hundred and twenty miles) in four days. That was something
like marching.
"Well, you saw Wady Halfa. For a month, this place was quite as busy.
Now, its glories are gone. Two or three huts for the railway men, and
the shelters for a company of Egyptians, represent the whole camp."
As they neared Ferket the officer said:
"There was a sharp fight out there on the desert. A large body of
Dervishes advanced, from Ferket. They were seen to leave by a cavalry
patrol. As soon as the patrol reached camp, all the available horse,
two hundred and forty in number, started under Major Murdoch. Four
miles out, they came in sight of three hundred mounted Dervishes, with
a thousand spearmen on foot.
"The ground was rough, and unfavourable for a cavalry charge; so the
cavalry retired to a valley, between two hills, in order to get better
ground. While they were doing so, however, the Dervishes charged down
upon them. Murdoch rode at them at once, and there was a hand-to-hand
fight that lasted for twenty minutes. Then the enemy turned, and
galloped off to the shelter of the spearmen. The troopers dismounted
and opened fire; and, on a regiment of Soudanese coming up, the enemy
drew off.
"Eighteen of the Dervishes were killed, and eighty wounded. Our loss
was very slight; but the fight was a most satisfactory one, for it
showed that the Egyptian cavalry had, now, sufficient confidence in
themselves to face the Baggara.
"Headquarters came up to Akasheh on the 1st of June. The spies had kept
the Intelligence Department well informed as to the state of things at
Ferket. It was known that three thousand troops were there, led by
fifty-seven Emirs. The ground was carefully reconnoitred, and all
preparation made for an attack. It was certain that the Dervishes also
had spies, among the camel drivers and camp followers, but the Sirdar
kept his intentions secret, and on the evening of June 5th it was not
known to any, save three or four of the principal officers, that he
intended to attack on the following morning. It was because he was
anxious to effect a complete surprise that he did not even bring up the
North Staffordshires.
"There were two roads to Ferket--one by the river, the other through
the desert. The river column was the strongest, and consisted of an
infantry division, with two field batteries and two Maxims. The total
strength of the desert column, consisting of the cavalry brigade, camel
corps, a regiment of infantry, a battery of horse artillery, and two
Maxims--in all, two thousand one hundred men--were to make a detour,
and come down upon the Nile to the south of Ferket, thereby cutting off
the retreat of the enemy.
"Carrying two days' rations, the troops started late in the afternoon
of the 6th, and halted at nine in the evening, three miles from Ferket.
At half-past two they moved forward again, marching quietly and
silently; and, at half-past four, deployed into line close to the
enemy's position. A few minutes later the alarm was given; and the
Dervishes, leaping to arms, discovered this formidable force in front
of them; and at the same time found that their retreat was cut off, by
another large body of troops in their rear; while, on the opposite bank
of the river, was a force of our Arab allies.
"Though they must have seen that their position was hopeless, the
Dervishes showed no signs of fear. They fought with the desperation of
rats in a trap. The Egyptians advanced with steady volleys. The Baggara
horsemen attacked them furiously, but were repulsed with heavy loss.
There was hand-to-hand fighting among their huts; and the second
brigade carried, with the bayonet, that rough hill that you see over
there.
"It was all over, by seven o'clock. Our loss was only twenty killed,
and eighty wounded. About one thousand of the Dervishes were killed,
including their chief Emir and some forty of the others, while five
hundred were taken prisoners. It was a great victory, and a very
important one; but it can hardly be said that it was glorious, as we
outnumbered them by three to one. Still, it was a heavy blow to the
Dervishes, and the fact that the Khalifa was obliged to send troops
down to the Nile, to check an advance that had proved so formidable,
must have greatly relieved the pressure on the Italians at Kassala.
"There was a pause, here. It was certain that we should have to meet a
much stronger force before we got to Dongola. Well as the Egyptian
troops had fought, it was thought advisable to give them a stronger
backing.
"The heat was now tremendous, and cholera had broken out. We moved to
Koshyeh, and there encamped. The only change we had was a terrific
storm, which almost washed us away. In the middle of August, we managed
to get the gunboats up through the cataract, and were in hopes of
advancing, when another storm carried away twenty miles of the railway,
which by this time had come up as far as the cataract."
At Ginnis, twenty miles from Ferket, they passed the ground where, on
the 31st of December, 1885, on the retirement of General Wolseley's
expedition, Generals Grenfel and Stevenson, with a force of Egyptian
troops and three British regiments, encountered the Dervish army which
the Khalifa had despatched under the Emir Nejumi, and defeated it. It
was notable as being the first battle in which the newly raised
Egyptian army met the Mahdists, and showed that, trained and
disciplined by British officers, the Egyptian fellah was capable of
standing against the Dervish of the desert.
From this point the railway left the Nile and, for thirty miles,
crossed the desert. Another twenty miles, and they reached Fareeg.
"It was here," the officer said, "that the North Staffordshires came up
and joined the Egyptians. The Dervishes had fallen back before we
advanced, after a halt at Sadeah, which we sha'n't see, as the railway
cuts across, to Abu Fetmeh. We bivouacked five miles from their camp,
and turned out at three next morning. The orders were passed by mouth,
and we got off as silently as an army of ghosts.
"I shall never forget our disgust when a small cavalry force, sent on
ahead to reconnoitre, reported that the Dervishes had abandoned the
place during the night, and had crossed the river in native boats. It
was a very clever move, at any rate, on the part of fellows who did not
want to fight. There were we facing them, with our whole infantry and
cavalry useless, and we had nothing available to damage the enemy
except our artillery and the gunboats.
"These opened fire, and the Dervishes replied heavily. They had
earthworks, but the boats kept on, pluckily, till they got to a narrow
point in the stream; when a couple of guns, which had hitherto been
hidden, opened upon them at close range; while a strong force of
Dervish infantry poured in such a hot fire that the boats had to fall
back.
"After our field guns had peppered the enemy for a bit, the gunboats
tried again, but the fire was too hot for them, and the leading boat
had to retire.
"Things did not look very bright, till nine o'clock; when we found
that, at one point, the river was fordable to a small island, opposite
the enemy's lines. Four batteries, and the Maxims, at once moved over,
with two companies of Soudanese, and opened fire. The distance across
was but six hundred yards, and the fire was tremendous--shell,
shrapnel, and rockets--while the Soudanese fired volleys, and the
Maxims maintained a shower of bullets.
"It seemed that nothing could stand against it, but the Dervishes stuck
to their guns with great pluck. However, their fire was so far kept
down, that the three gunboats succeeded in forcing their way up; and,
passing the Dervish works, sank a steamer and a number of native boats.
"The Dervishes now began to give way, and the gunboats steamed up the
river, making for Dongola. The Dervishes, as soon as they had gone,
reopened fire, and the duel continued all day; but the great mass of
the enemy soon left, and also made their way towards Dongola.
"It was awfully annoying being obliged to remain inactive, on our side,
and it was especially hard for the cavalry; who, if they could have got
over, would have been able to cut up and disperse the enemy.
"The next morning the Dervishes were all gone, and that was practically
the end of the fighting. The gunboats went up and shelled Dongola; and
when we got there, two days later, the Dervishes had had enough of it.
Of course, there was a little fighting, but it was the effort of a
party of fanatics, rather than of an enemy who considered resistance
possible.
"We were greeted with enthusiasm by the unfortunate inhabitants, who
had been subject to the Dervish tyranny. As a whole, however, they had
not been badly treated here, and had been allowed to continue to
cultivate their land, subject only to about the same taxation as they
had paid to Egypt. Of course, from what they have done elsewhere, the
comparative mildness of the conduct of the Dervishes was not due to any
feeling of mercy, but to policy. As the most advanced position, with
the exception of scattered and temporary posts lower down the river, it
was necessary that there should be food for the considerable body of
tribesmen encamped at Dongola; especially as an army invading Egypt
would provide itself, there, with stores for the journey. It was
therefore good policy to encourage the cultivators of land to stay
there."
"Thank you very much!" Gregory said, when the officer had concluded his
sketch of the previous campaign. "Of course, I heard that we had beaten
the Khalifa's men, and had taken Dongola, but the papers at Cairo gave
no details. The Staffordshire regiment went down, directly the place
was taken, did they not?"
"Yes. They had suffered heavily from cholera; and as there was now no
fear that the Egyptians and Soudanese would prove unequal to
withstanding a Dervish rush, there was no necessity for keeping them
here."
At Abu Fetmeh they left the train, and embarked in a steamer. Of the
party that had left Assouan, only four or five remained. The rest had
been dropped at other stations on the road.
The boat stopped but a few hours at Dongola, which had for a time been
the headquarters of the advanced force. Great changes had been made,
since the place was captured from the Dervishes. At that time the
population had been reduced to a handful, and the natives who remained
tilled but enough ground for their own necessities; for they knew that,
at any time, a Dervish force might come along and sweep everything
clear. But with the advent of the British, the fugitives who had
scattered among the villages along the river soon poured in.
Numbers of Greek traders arrived, with camels and goods, and the town
assumed an aspect of life and business. The General established a court
of justice, and appointed authorities for the proper regulation of
affairs; and by the time Gregory came up, the town was showing signs of
renewed prosperity.
But the steamer stopped at Dongola only to land stores needed for the
regiment stationed there. The headquarters had, months before, been
moved to Merawi, some eighty miles higher up, situated at the foot of
the fourth cataract.
Although he had enjoyed the journey, Gregory was glad when the steamer
drew up against a newly constructed wharf at Merawi. Now he was to
begin his duties, whatever they might be.
At the wharf were a large number of Soudanese soldiers. A telegram,
from the last station they touched at, had given notice of the hour at
which the boat would arrive; and a battalion of native troops had
marched down, to assist in unloading the stores. A white officer had
come down with them, to superintend the operation, and the other
officers at once went on shore to speak to him.
Gregory had got all his traps together and, as the Soudanese poured on
board, he thought it better to remain with them; as, if his belongings
once got scattered, there would be little chance of his being able to
collect them again. After a short time, he went up to one of the native
officers.
"This is my first visit here," he said in Arabic, "and as I have not
brought up a servant with me, I do not like to leave my baggage here,
while I go and report myself to General Hunter. Will you kindly tell me
what I had better do?"
"Certainly. I will place one of my corporals in charge of your things.
It would be as well to get them ashore at once, as we shall want the
decks clear, in order that the men may work freely in getting the
stores up from below. The corporal will see that your baggage is
carried to the bank, to a spot where it will be out of the way, and
will remain with it until you know where it is to be taken."
Thanking him for his civility, Gregory went on shore. The officer who
had told him the story of the campaign was still talking, to the Major
who had come down with the blacks. As Gregory came up, he said:
"I wondered what had become of you, Hilliard. I have been telling Major
Sidney that a young lieutenant had come up, to report himself to the
General for service."
"I am glad to see you, sir," the Major said, holding out his hand.
"Every additional white officer is a material gain, and I have no doubt
that General Hunter will find plenty for you to do. I hear you can
speak the Negro language, as well as Arabic. That will be specially
useful here, for the natives are principally Negro, and speak very
little Arabic.
"How about your baggage?"
"One of the native officers has undertaken to get it ashore, and to put
a corporal in charge of it, until I know where it is to go."
"Well, Fladgate, as you are going to the General's, perhaps you will
take Mr. Hilliard with you, and introduce him."
"With pleasure.
"Now, Mr. Hilliard, let us be off, at once. The sun is getting hot, and
the sooner we are under shelter, the better."
Ten minutes' walk took them to the house formerly occupied by the
Egyptian Governor of the town, where General Hunter now had his
headquarters. The General, who was a brevet colonel in the British
Army, had joined the Egyptian Army in 1888. He had, as a captain in the
Lancashire regiment, taken part in the Nile Expedition, 1884-85; had
been severely wounded at the battle of Ginnis; and again at Toski,
where he commanded a brigade. He was still a comparatively young man.
He had a broad forehead, and an intellectual face, that might have
betokened a student rather than a soldier; but he was celebrated, in
the army, for his personal courage and disregard of danger, and was
adored by his black soldiers.
He rose from the table at which he was sitting, as Captain Fladgate
came in.
"I am glad to see you back again," he said. "I hope you have quite
shaken off the fever?"
"Quite, General. I feel thoroughly fit for work again. Allow me to
present to you Mr. Hilliard, who has just received a commission as
lieutenant in the Egyptian Army. He has a letter from the Sirdar, to
you."
"Well, I will not detain you now, Captain Fladgate. You will find your
former quarters in readiness for you. Dinner at the usual time; then
you shall tell me the news of Cairo.
"Now, Mr. Hilliard," and he turned to Gregory, "pray take a seat. This
is your first experience in soldiering, I suppose?"
"Yes, sir."
"I think you are the first white officer who has been appointed, who
has not had experience in our own army first. You have not been
appointed to any particular battalion, have you?"
"No, sir. I think I have come out to make myself generally useful.
These are the letters that I was to hand to you--one is from the Sirdar
himself, the other is from his chief of the staff, and this letter is
from Captain Ewart."
The General read the Sirdar's letter first. He then opened that from
the chief of the staff. This was the more bulky of the two, and
contained several enclosures.
"Ah! this relates to you," the General said as, after glancing over the
two official despatches, he read through the letter of Captain Ewart,
who was a personal friend of his.
The latter had given a full account of Gregory's history, and said that
the Sirdar had especially asked him to put him in the way of things;
that he had seen a great deal of him on the journey up, and was very
greatly pleased with him.
"The lad is a perfect gentleman," he said, "which is certainly
astonishing, he being a product of Cairo. I consider him in all
respects--except, of course, a classical education--fully equal to the
average young officer, on first joining. He is very modest and
unassuming; and will, I feel sure, perform with credit any work that
you may give him to do."
"I see," he said, laying it down, "you have only joined the army
temporarily, and with a special purpose, and I am told to utilize your
services as I think best. You have a perfect knowledge of Arabic, and
of the Negro dialect. That will be very useful, for though we all speak
Arabic, few speak the Negro language, which is more commonly used here.
"Your father fell with Hicks Pasha, I am told, and you have joined us
with the object of obtaining news as to the manner in which he met his
death?"
"That is so, sir. It was always my mother's wish that I should, when I
was old enough, come up to the Soudan to make enquiries. As my father
was a good Arabic scholar, my mother always entertained a faint hope
that he might have escaped; especially as we know that a good many of
the Egyptian soldiers were not killed, but were taken prisoners, and
made to serve in the Mahdi's army."
"Yes, there are several of them among the Khalifa's artillerymen, but I
am very much afraid that none of the officers were spared. You see,
they kept together in a body, and died fighting to the last."
"I have hardly any hopes myself, sir. Still, as my father was
interpreter, he might not have been with the others, but in some other
part of the square that was attacked."
"That is possible; but he was a white man, and in the heat of the
battle I don't think that the Dervishes would have made any exception.
You see, there were two correspondents with Hicks, and neither of them
has ever been heard of; and they must, I should think, have joined in
that last desperate charge of his.
"Well, for the present I must make you a sort of extra aide-de-camp,
and what with one thing and another, I have no doubt that I shall find
plenty for you to do. As such, you will of course be a member of
headquarters mess, and therefore escape the trouble of providing for
yourself. You have not brought a servant up with you, I suppose?"
"No, sir. Captain Ewart, who most kindly advised me as to my outfit,
said that, if I could find an intelligent native here, it would be
better than taking a man from Cairo."
"Quite right; and the fellows one picks up at Cairo are generally lazy,
and almost always dishonest. The men you get here may not know much,
but are ready enough to learn; and, if well treated, will go through
fire and water for their master.
"Go down to the stores, and tell the officer in charge there that I
shall be glad if he will pick out two or three fellows, from whom you
may choose a servant."
When Gregory had given his message, the officer said:
"You had better pick out one for yourself, Mr. Hilliard. Strength and
willingness to work are the points I keep my eye upon; and, except for
the foremen of the gangs, their intelligence does not interest me. You
had better take a turn among the parties at work, and pick out a man
for yourself."
Gregory was not long in making his choice. He selected a young fellow
who, although evidently exerting himself to the utmost, was clearly
incapable of doing his share in carrying the heavy bales and boxes,
that were easily handled by older men. He had a pleasant face, and
looked more intelligent than most of the others.
"To what tribe do you belong?" Gregory asked him.
"The Jaalin. I come from near Metemmeh."
"I want a servant. You do not seem to be strong enough for this work,
but if you will be faithful, and do what I tell you, I will try you."
The young fellow's face lit up.
"I will be faithful, bey. It would be kind of you to take me. I am not
at my full strength yet and, although I try my hardest, I cannot do as
much as strong men, and then I am abused. I will be very faithful, and
if you do not find me willing to do all that you tell me, you can send
me back to work here."
"Well, come along with me, then."
He took him to the officer.
"I have chosen this man, sir. Can I take him away at once?"
"Certainly. He has been paid up to last night."
"Thank you very much! I will settle with him for today."
And, followed by the young tribesman, he went to the headquarters camp,
near which an empty hut was assigned to him.