It was eight weeks before he recovered, and even then the doctor said
that he was not fit for any exertion. He learned that on the 22nd of
October, Colonel Lewis, with two companies of the camel corps and three
squadrons of Lancers, had started from Omdurman to visit the various
villages between the White and Blue Niles; to restore order, and
proclaim that the authority of the Khedive was established there. On
the 7th of November, following the Blue Nile up, he reached Karkoj, but
a short distance below the point at which the navigation of the river
ceased. He had come in contact with a portion of Fadil's force, but
nothing could be done, in the thick undergrowth in which the latter was
lurking; and he therefore remained, waiting for the next move on the
part of the Dervish commander, while the gunboats patrolled the Blue
river up to Rosaires.
Six weeks passed. His force, and all the garrisons on the river,
suffered severely from heat, thirty percent of the troops being down
together. The cavalry had suffered particularly heavily. Of the four
hundred and sixty men, ten had died and four hundred and twenty were
reported unfit for duty, a month after their arrival at Karkoj; while
of the thirty white officers on the Blue Nile, only two escaped an
attack of fever.
At the end of the month, Colonel Lewis was joined by the Darfur Sheik
and three hundred and fifty of his men. He had had many skirmishes with
Dervish parties, scouring the country for food, and his arrival was
very welcome.
Gregory was recommended to take a river trip, to recover his health;
and left on a steamer going up with stores, and some small
reinforcements, to Colonel Lewis. They arrived at Karkoj on the 14th of
December, and learned that the little garrison at Rosaires had been
attacked by the Dervishes.
The fifty fever-stricken men who formed the garrison would have had no
chance of resisting the attack, but fortunately they had, that very
morning, been reinforced by two hundred men of the 10th Soudanese, and
two Maxims; and the Dervishes were repulsed, with considerable loss.
Two companies of the same battalion had reinforced Colonel Lewis, who
marched, on the day after receiving the news, to Rosaires. The gunboat
went up to that point, and remained there for some days.
Gregory went ashore, as soon as the boat arrived, and saw Colonel
Lewis, to whom he was well known.
"I am supposed to be on sick leave, sir; but I feel quite strong now,
and shall be glad to join you, if you will have me."
"I can have no possible objection, Mr. Hilliard. I know that you did
good service with Colonel Parsons, and it is quite possible that we
shall find ourselves in as tight a place as he was. So many of our
white officers have been sent down, with fever, that I am very
short-handed, and shall be glad if you will temporarily serve as my
assistant."
On the 20th, the news came that Fadil was crossing the river at
Dakhila, twenty miles farther to the south. He himself had crossed, and
the women and children had been taken over on a raft. On the 22nd, the
Darfur Sheik was sent off up the west bank, to harass the Dervishes who
had already crossed. On the 24th two gunboats arrived, with two hundred
more men of the 10th Soudanese, and a small detachment of the 9th.
On the following day the little force started, at five in the
afternoon; and, at eleven at night, halted at a little village. At
three in the morning they again advanced, and at eight o'clock came in
contact with the Dervish outposts. Colonel Lewis had already learned
that, instead of half the Dervish force having crossed, only one
division had done so, and that he had by far the greater part of
Fadil's army opposed to him.
It was a serious matter to attack some four or five thousand men, with
so small a force at his disposal; for he had but half the 10th
Soudanese, a handful of the 9th, and two Maxim guns. As to the Darfur
irregulars, no great reliance could be placed upon them.
As the force issued from the wood through which they had been marching,
they saw the river in front of them. In its midst rose a large island,
a mile and a quarter long, and more than three-quarters of a mile wide.
There were clumps of sand hills upon it. They had learned that the
intervening stream was rapid, but not deep; while that on the other
side of the island was very deep, with a precipitous bank.
It was upon this island that Fadil's force was established. The
position was a strong one--the sand hills rose from an almost flat
plain, a thousand yards away; and this would have to be crossed by the
assailants, without any shelter whatever. The Dervishes were bound to
fight their hardest, as there was no possibility of escape, if
defeated.
At nine o'clock the Soudanese and irregulars lined the bank and opened
fire, while the two Maxims came into action. The Dervishes replied
briskly, and it was soon evident that, at so long a range, they could
not be driven from their position. Several fords were found, and the
irregulars, supported by a company of the 10th, crossed the river, and
took up a position two hundred yards in advance, to cover the passage
of the rest. These crossed with some difficulty, for the water was
three and a half feet deep, and the current very strong; and they were,
moreover, exposed to the fire of Fadil's riflemen, from the high cliff
on the opposite bank.
Colonel Lewis, determined to turn the left flank of the Dervishes, kept
along the river's edge until he reached the required position; then
wheeled the battalion into line, and advanced across the bare shingle
against the sand hills. Major Ferguson, with one company, was detached
to attack a knoll on the right, held by two hundred Dervishes. The
remaining four companies, under Colonel Mason, kept straight on towards
the main position.
A very heavy fire was concentrated upon them, not only from the sand
hills, but from Fadil's riflemen. The Soudanese fell fast, but held on,
increasing their pace to a run; until they reached the foot of the
first sandhill, where they lay down in shelter to take breath. A
quarter of the force had already fallen, and their doctor, Captain
Jennings, remained out in the open, binding up their wounds, although
exposed to a continuous fire.
This halt was mistaken by the Dervishes, who thought that the courage
of the Soudanese was exhausted; and Fadil, from the opposite bank,
sounded the charge on drum and bugle; and the whole Dervish force, with
banners waving and exultant shouts, poured down to annihilate their
assailants.
But the Soudanese, led by Colonels Lewis and Mason, who were
accompanied by Gregory, leapt to their feet, ran up the low bank behind
which they were sheltering, and opened a terrible fire. The Dervishes
were already close at hand, and every shot told among them. Astonished
at so unlooked-for a reception, and doubtless remembering the heavy
loss they had suffered at Gedareh, they speedily broke. Like dogs
slipped from their leash, the black troops dashed on with triumphant
shouts, driving the Dervishes from sandhill to sandhill, until the
latter reached the southern end of the island.
Here the Soudanese were joined by the irregulars who had first crossed,
and a terrible fire was maintained, from the sand hills, upon the
crowded mass on the bare sand, cut off from all retreat by the deep
river. Some tried to swim across, to join their friends on the west
bank. A few succeeded in doing so, among them the Emir who had given
battle to Colonel Parsons' force, near Gedareh.
Many took refuge from the fire by standing in the river, up to their
necks. Some four hundred succeeded in escaping, by a ford, to a small
island lower down; but they found no cover there, and after suffering
heavily from the musketry fire, the survivors, three hundred strong,
surrendered.
Major Ferguson's company, however, was still exposed to a heavy fire,
turned upon them by the force on the other side of the river. He
himself was severely wounded, and a third of his men hit. The Maxims
were accordingly carried over the river to the island, and placed so as
to command the west bank, which they soon cleared of the riflemen.
Over five hundred Arabs lay dead on the two islands. Two thousand one
hundred and seventy-five fighting men surrendered, and several hundred
women and children. Fadil, with the force that had escaped, crossed the
desert to Rung, on the White Nile, where on the 22nd of January they
surrendered to the English gunboats; their leader, with ten or twelve
of his followers only, escaping to join the Khalifa.
Our casualties were heavy. Twenty-five non-commissioned officers and
men were killed; one British officer, six native officers, and one
hundred and seventeen non-commissioned officers and men wounded of the
10th Soudanese, out of a total strength of five hundred and eleven. The
remaining casualties were among the irregulars.
Never was there a better proof of the gallantry of the black regiments
of Egypt; for, including the commander and medical officer, there were
but five British officers, and two British sergeants, to direct and
lead them.
After the battle of Rosaires, there was a lull in the fighting on the
east of the White Nile. The whole country had been cleared of the
Dervishes, and it was now time for the Sirdar, who had just returned
from England, to turn his attention to the Khalifa. The latter was
known to be near El Obeid, where he had now collected a force, of whose
strength very different reports were received.
Gregory, whose exertions in the fight, and the march through the scrub
from Karkoj, had brought on a slight return of fever, went down in the
gunboat, with the wounded, to Omdurman. Zaki was with him, but as a
patient. He had been hit through the leg, while charging forward with
the Soudanese. At Omdurman, Gregory fell into regular work again. So
many of the officers of the Egyptian battalions had fallen in battle,
or were down with fever, that Colonel Wingate took him as his
assistant, and his time was now spent in listening to the stories of
tribesmen; who, as soon as the Khalifa's force had passed, had brought
in very varying accounts of his strength. Then there were villagers who
had complaints to make of robbery, of ill usage--for this the Arab
irregulars, who had been disbanded after the capture of Omdurman, were
largely responsible. Besides these, there were many petitions by
fugitives, who had returned to find their houses occupied, and their
land seized by others.
Gregory was constantly sent off to investigate and decide in these
disputes, and was sometimes away for a week at a time. Zaki had
recovered rapidly and, as soon as he was able to rise, accompanied his
master; who obtained valuable assistance from him as, while Gregory was
hearing the stories of witnesses, Zaki went quietly about the villages,
talking to the old men and women, and frequently obtained evidence that
showed that many of the witnesses were perjured; and so enabled his
master to give decisions which astonished the people by their justness.
Indeed, the reports of the extraordinary manner in which he seemed able
to pick out truth from falsehood, and to decide in favour of the
rightful claimant, spread so rapidly from village to village, that
claimants who came in to Colonel Wingate often requested, urgently,
that the young Bimbashi should be sent out to investigate the matter.
"You seem to be attaining the position of a modern Solomon, Hilliard,"
the Colonel said one day, with a smile. "How do you do it?"
Gregory laughed, and told him the manner in which he got at the truth.
"An excellent plan," he said, "and one which it would be well to adopt,
generally, by sending men beforehand to a village. The only objection
is, that you could not rely much more upon the reports of your spies
than on those of the villagers. The chances are that the claimant who
could bid highest would receive their support."
Matters were quiet until the Sirdar returned from England, and
determined to make an attempt to capture the Khalifa, whose force was
reported not to exceed one thousand men. Two squadrons of Egyptian
cavalry and a Soudanese brigade, two Maxims, two mule guns, and a
company of camel corps were placed under the command of Colonel
Kitchener. The great difficulty was the lack of water along the route
to be traversed. Camels were brought from the Atbara and the Blue Nile;
and the whole were collected at Kawa, on the White Nile. They started
from that point, but the wells were found to be dry; and the force had
to retrace its steps, and to start afresh from Koli, some forty miles
farther up the river.
They endured great hardships, for everything was left behind save the
clothes the men and officers stood in, and one hundred rounds of
ammunition each; only one pint of water being allowed per head. The
country was a desert, covered with interlacing thorn bushes. An eight
days' march brought the force to a village which was considered sacred,
as it contained the grave of the Khalifa's father, and the house where
the Khalifa himself had been born.
Three days later they reached the abandoned camp of the Khalifa, a wide
tract that had been cleared of bush. A great multitude of dwellings,
constructed of spear grass, stretched away for miles; and at the very
lowest compilation it had contained twenty thousand people, of which it
was calculated that from eight thousand to ten thousand must have been
fighting men, ten times as many as had before been reported to be with
the Khalifa. A reconnaissance showed that a large army was waiting to
give battle, on a hill which was of great strength, surrounded by deep
ravines and pools of water.
The position was an anxious one. The total force was about fourteen
hundred strong, and a defeat would mean annihilation; while even a
victory would scarcely secure the capture of the Khalifa; who, with his
principal emirs, Osman Digna, El Khatim the Sheik of El Obeid, the
Sheik Ed Din, and Fadil, would be able to gallop off if they saw the
battle going against them. Colonel Kitchener had the wisdom to decide
against risking the destruction of his followers by an assault against
so great a force, posted in so strong a position. It was a deep
mortification to him to have to retreat, and the soldiers were bitterly
disappointed; but their commander felt that, brave as the Egyptians and
Soudanese had shown themselves, the odds against victory were too
great. After a terrible march, and great sufferings from thirst and
scanty food, the force reached Koli on the 5th of February, and were
conveyed in steamers down to Omdurman.
After this somewhat unfortunate affair, which naturally added to the
prestige of the Khalifa, the months passed uneventfully; but, late in
October, preparations were made for an attack upon a large scale
against the Khalifa's camp, and eight thousand men were concentrated at
Karla, on the White Nile. It was known that the Khalifa was at Gedir,
eighty miles away; but after proceeding half the distance, it was found
that he had marched away, and the column returned, as pursuit through a
densely-wooded country would have been impracticable.
The gunboats had gone up the river with a flying column, under Colonel
Lewis, to check any of the Khalifa's forces that attempted to establish
themselves on the banks. Mounted troops and transport were at once
concentrated, and Colonel Wingate was sent up to take command. The
force consisted of a brigade of infantry, under Colonel Lewis, with the
9th and 13th Soudanese, an irregular Soudanese battalion, a company of
the 2nd Egyptians, six companies of camel corps, a squadron of cavalry,
a field battery, six Maxims, and detachments of medical and supply
departments, with a camel transport train to carry rations and three
days' water--in all, three thousand seven hundred men.
On the afternoon of the 21st of November, the column moved forward and,
favoured by a bright moonlight, made a march of fifteen miles; the
cavalry scouting two miles in front, the flanks and rear being covered
by the camel corps. Native reports had brought in information that
Fadil, who had been raiding the country, was now in the neighbourhood,
on his way to rejoin the main Dervish army, which was lying near Gadi.
The cavalry pushed forward at dawn, and found that Fadil had retreated,
leaving a quantity of grain behind. A sick Dervish who had remained
there said that the Dervishes had moved to a point seven miles away.
The cavalry, camel corps, and some of the guns advanced, and seized a
position within three hundred yards of the Dervish encampment, on which
they immediately opened fire.
The rest of the guns were at once pushed forward, to reinforce them,
and arrived in time to assist them in repulsing a fierce attack of the
Dervishes. Owing to the nature of the ground, these were able to
approach to within sixty yards of the guns, before coming under their
fire. They were then mowed down by the guns and Maxims, and the
musketry fire of the camel corps; to which was added that of the
infantry brigade, when they arrived. This was too much even for Dervish
valour to withstand, and they fled back to their camp.
The British force then advanced. They met with but little opposition
and, as they entered the camp, they saw the enemy in full flight. The
infantry followed them for a mile and a half, while the cavalry and
camel corps kept up the pursuit for five miles.
Fadil's camp, containing a large amount of grain and other stores, fell
into the hands of the captors; with a number of prisoners, including
women and children, and animals. Four hundred Dervishes had fallen,
great numbers had been wounded, while the British casualties amounted
to a native officer of the camel corps dangerously wounded, one man
killed, and three wounded.
Gregory had accompanied Colonel Wingate, and acted as one of his staff
officers. He had, of course, brought his horse with him. It was an
excellent animal, and had been used by him in all his excursions from
Omdurman.
"That is rather a different affair from the fight on the Atbara, Zaki,"
he said, when the force gathered in Fadil's camp, after the pursuit was
relinquished; "the Dervishes fought just as bravely, but in one case
they had a strong position to defend, while today they took the
offensive. It makes all the difference."
"I am glad to have seen some fighting again, Master, for it has been
dull work stopping ten months in Omdurman, with nothing to do but ride
about the country, and decide upon the villagers' quarrels."
"It has been useful work, Zaki, and I consider myself very fortunate in
being so constantly employed. I was desperately afraid that Colonel
Wingate would leave me there, and I was greatly relieved when he told
me that I was to come with him. It is a fortunate thing that we have
beaten our old enemy, Fadil, here. In the first place because, if the
three or four thousand men he had with him had joined the Khalifa, it
would have given us harder work in tomorrow's fight; and in the next
place his arrival, with his followers who have escaped, at the
Khalifa's camp, is not likely to inspirit the Dervishes there."
Gregory was occupied, all the afternoon, in examining the prisoners.
They affirmed that they had left the former camp, three days before,
with the intention of proceeding to Gedid; where Fadil was to join the
Khalifa with captured grain, when the whole Dervish force was to march
north.
The troops slept during the afternoon, and in the evening set out for
Gedid, which they reached at ten o'clock the next morning. A Dervish
deserter reported that the Khalifa was encamped seven miles to the
southeast. Fortunately, a pool with sufficient water for the whole
force was found at Gedid; which was a matter of great importance, for
otherwise the expedition must have fallen back.
It was hoped that the Khalifa would now stand at bay, as our occupation
of Gedid barred his advance north. Behind him was a waterless, and
densely wooded district. The capture of the grain on which he had
relied would render it impossible for him to remain long in his present
position, and his only chance of extricating himself was to stand and
fight.
After twelve hours' rest the troops were roused, and started a few
minutes after midnight. The transport was left, under a strong guard,
near the water; with orders to follow, four hours later. The cavalry,
with two Maxims, moved in advance; and the camel corps on the flanks.
The ground was thickly wooded. In many places, a way had to be cut for
the guns.
At three o'clock news was received, from the cavalry, that the enemy's
camp was but three miles distant from the point which the infantry had
reached; and that they and the Maxims had halted two miles ahead, at
the foot of some slightly rising ground; beyond which the scouts had,
on the previous day, discovered the main force of the enemy to be
stationed. The infantry continued to advance, slowly and cautiously,
making as little noise as possible.
It was soon evident, however, that in spite of their caution, the enemy
were aware of their approach, as there was an outburst of the beating
of drums, and the blowing of war horns. This did not last long, but it
was enough to show that the Dervishes were not to be taken by surprise.
When the infantry reached the spot where the cavalry were halted, the
latter's scouts were withdrawn and the infantry pickets thrown out, and
the troops then lay down to await daybreak.
The officers chatted together in low tones. There were but two hours
till dawn, and with the prospect of heavy fighting before them, none
were inclined to sleep. The question was whether the Dervishes would
defend their camp, or attack. The result of the battle of Omdurman
should have taught them that it was impossible to come to close
quarters, in the face of the terrible fire of our rifles. Fadil could
give his experience at Gedareh, which would teach the same lesson. On
the other hand, the storming of the Dervish camp on the Atbara, and the
fight at Rosaires, would both seem to show them that the assault of the
Egyptian force was irresistible.
As Gregory had been present at all four of these battles, he was asked
to give his opinion.
"I think that they will attack," he said. "The Dervish leaders rely
upon the enthusiasm of their followers; and, in almost all the battles
we have fought here, they have rushed forward to the assault. It was so
in all the fights down by the Red Sea. It was so in the attacks on Lord
Wolseley's desert column. It succeeded against Hicks's and Baker's
forces; and even now they do not seem to have recognized that the
Egyptians, whom they once despised, have quite got over their dread of
them, and are able to face them steadily."
There was only the faintest light in the sky, when firing broke out in
front. Everyone leapt to his feet, and stood listening intently. Was it
merely some Dervish scouts, who had come in contact with our pickets,
or was it an attacking force?
The firing increased in volume, and was evidently approaching. The
pickets, then, were being driven in, and the Dervishes were going to
attack. The men were ordered to lie down, in the position in which they
were to fight. In five minutes after the first shot all were ready for
action, the pickets had run in; and, in the dim light, numbers of dark
figures could be made out.
The guns and Maxims at once spoke out, while the infantry fired
volleys. It was still too dark to make out the movements of the enemy,
but their reply to our fire came louder and louder on our left, and it
was apparent that the intention of the Dervishes was to turn that flank
of our position.
Colonel Wingate sent Gregory, to order the guns to turn their fire more
in that direction; and other officers ordered our right to advance
somewhat, while the left were slightly thrown back, and pushed farther
out. The light was now getting brighter, and heavy bodies of Dervishes,
shouting and firing, rushed forward; but they were mown down by grape
from our guns, a storm of Maxim bullets, and the steady volleys of the
infantry. They wavered for a moment, and then gradually fell back.
The bugles sounded the advance and, with a cheer, our whole line moved
forward down the gentle slope; quickening their pace as the enemy
retired before them, and still keeping up a heavy fire towards the
clump of trees that concealed the Dervish camp from sight. The enemy's
fire had now died out. At twenty-five minutes past six the "cease fire"
was sounded and, as the troops advanced, it was evident that resistance
was at an end.
As they issued through the trees, many Dervishes ran forward and
surrendered, and thousands of women and children were found in the
camp. Happily, none of these had been injured, as a slight swell in the
ground had prevented our bullets from falling among them. Numbers of
Dervishes who had passed through now turned and surrendered, and the
cavalry and camel corps started in pursuit.
Gregory had learned, from the women, that the Emir El Khatim, with a
number of his trained men from El Obeid, had passed through the camp in
good order, but that none of the other emirs had been seen; and the 9th
Soudanese stated that, as they advanced, they had come upon a number of
chiefs lying together, a few hundred yards in advance of our first
position. One of the Arab sheiks of the irregulars was sent to examine
the spot, and reported that the Khalifa himself, and almost all his
great emirs, lay there dead.
With the Khalifa were Ali Wad, Helu, Fadil, two of his brothers, the
Mahdi's son, and many other leaders. Behind them lay their dead horses,
and one of the men still alive said that the Khalifa, having failed in
his attempt to advance over the crest, had endeavoured to turn our
position; but, seeing his followers crushed by our fire and retiring,
and after making an ineffectual attempt to rally them, he recognized
that the day was lost; and, calling on his emirs to dismount, seated
himself on his sheepskin, as is the custom of Arab chiefs who disdain
to surrender. The emirs seated themselves round him, and all met their
death unflinchingly, the greater part being mowed down by the volleys
fired by our troops, as they advanced.
Gregory went up to Colonel Wingate.
"I beg your pardon, sir, but I find that Khatim, and probably his son,
who were so kind to my father at El Obeid, have retired with a fighting
force. Have I your permission to ride forward, and call upon them to
surrender?"
"Certainly, Mr. Hilliard, there has been bloodshed enough."
Being well mounted, Gregory overtook the cavalry and camel corps,
before they had gone two miles; as they were delayed by disarming the
Dervishes, who were coming in in large numbers. Half a mile away, a
small body of men were to be seen keeping together, firing
occasionally. Their leader's flag was flying, and Gregory learned, from
a native, that it was Khatim's. The cavalry were on the point of
gathering for a charge, as he rode up to the officer in command.
"I have Colonel Wingate's orders, sir, to ride forward and try to
persuade the emir to surrender. He does not wish any further loss of
life."
"Very well, sir. I am sure we have killed enough of the poor beggars. I
hope he will give in."
As Gregory neared the party, which was some five hundred strong,
several shots were fired at him. He waved a white handkerchief, and the
firing ceased. Two emirs rode forward to meet him.
"I have come, sir, from the English General, to ask you to surrender.
Your cause is lost. The Khalifa is dead, and most of his principal
emirs. He is anxious that there should be no further loss of blood."
"We can die, sir, as the others have done," the elder emir, a man of
some sixty years old, said sternly.
"But that would not avail your cause, sir. I solicited this mission, as
I owe much to you."
"How can that be?" the chief asked.
"I am the son of that white man whom you so kindly treated, at El
Obeid, where he saved the life of your son Abu;" and he bowed to the
younger emir.
"Then he escaped?" the latter exclaimed.
"No, sir. He was killed at Hebbeh, when the steamer in which he was
going down from Khartoum was wrecked there; but I found his journal, in
which he told the story of your kindness to him. I can assure you that
you shall be well treated, if you surrender; and those of your men who
wish to do so will be allowed to return to El Obeid. I feel sure that
when I tell our General how kindly you acted, to the sole white officer
who escaped from the battle, you and your son will be treated with the
greatest consideration."
"I owe more to your father than he did to me," Abu exclaimed. "He saved
my life, and did many great services to us.
"What say you, Father? I am ready to die if you will it; but as the
Khalifa is dead, and the cause of Mahdism lost, I see no reason, and
assuredly no disgrace, in submitting to the will of Allah."
"So be it," Khatim said. "I have never thought of surrendering to the
Turks, but as it is the will of Allah, I will do so."
He turned to his men.
"It is useless to fight further," he said. "The Khalifa is dead. It
were better to return to your wives and families than to throw away
your lives. Lay down your arms. None will be injured."
It was with evident satisfaction that the Arabs laid musket and spear
on the ground. They would have fought to the death, had he ordered
them, for they greatly loved their old chief; but as it was his order,
they gladly complied with it, as they saw that they had no chance of
resisting the array of cavalry and camel corps, gathered less than half
a mile away.
"If you will ride back with me," Gregory said to the emir, "I will
present you to the General. The men had better follow. I will ride
forward, and tell the officer commanding the cavalry that you have
surrendered, and that the men approaching are unarmed."
He cantered back to the cavalry.
"They have all surrendered, sir," he said. "They have laid down their
arms at the place where they stood, and are going back to camp, to
surrender to Colonel Wingate."
"I am glad of it. My orders are to push on another three miles. On our
return the camel corps shall collect the arms, and bring them in."
Gregory rode back to the emirs, who were slowly crossing the plain, but
who halted as the cavalry dashed on.
"Now, Emirs," he said, "we can ride quietly back to camp."
"You have not taken our arms," Khatim said.
"No, Emir, it is not for me to ask for them. It is the General to whom
you surrender, not me."
"I mourn to hear of the death of your father," Abu said, as they rode
in. "He was a good man, and a skilful hakim."
"He speaks always in the highest terms of you, Emir, in his journal,
and tells how he performed that operation on your left arm, which was
necessary to save your life; but did so with great doubt, fearing that,
never having performed one before, he might fail to save your life."
"I have often wondered what became of him," Abu said. "I believed that
he had got safely into Khartoum, and I enquired about him when we
entered. When I found that he was not among the killed, I trusted that
he might have escaped. I grieve much to hear that he was killed while
on his way down."
"Such was the will of Allah," Khatim said. "He preserved him at the
battle, He preserved him in the town, He enabled him to reach Khartoum;
but it was not His will that he should return to his countrymen. I say,
with Abu, that he was a good man; and while he remained with us, was
ever ready to use his skill for our benefit. It was Allah's will that
his son should, after all these years, come to us; for assuredly, if
any other white officer had asked us to surrender, I would have
refused."
"Many strange things happen by the will of God," Gregory said. "It was
wonderful that, sixteen years after his death, I should find my
father's journal at Hebbeh, and learn the story of his escape after the
battle, and of his stay with you at El Obeid."
Gregory rode into camp between the two emirs. He paused for a minute,
and handed over their followers to the officer in charge of the
prisoners; and then went to the hut formerly occupied by the Khalifa,
where Colonel Wingate had now established himself. Colonel Wingate came
to the entrance.
"These are El Khatim and his son Abu, sir. They surrendered on learning
that I was the son of the British officer whom they had protected, and
sheltered, for a year after the battle of El Obeid."
The two emirs had withdrawn their swords and pistols from their sashes;
and, advancing, offered them to the Colonel. The latter did not offer
to receive them.
"Keep them," he said. "We can honour brave foes; and you and your
followers were ready to fight and die, when all seemed lost. Still more
do I refuse to receive the weapons of the men who defended an English
officer, when he was helpless and a fugitive; such an act would, alone,
ensure good treatment at our hands. Your followers have surrendered?"
"They have all laid down their arms," Khatim said.
"Do you give me your promise that you will no more fight against us?"
"We do," Khatim replied. "We have received our weapons back from you,
and would assuredly not use them against our conquerors."
"In that case, Emir, you and your son are at liberty to depart, and
your men can return with you. There will, I trust, be no more fighting
in the land. The Mahdi is dead. His successor proved a false prophet
and is dead also. Mahdism is at an end, and now our object will be to
restore peace and prosperity to the land.
"In a short time, all the prisoners will be released. Those who choose
will be allowed to enter our service. The rest can return to their
homes. We bear no enmity against them. They fought under the orders of
their chiefs, and fought bravely and well. When they return, I hope
they will settle down and cultivate the land; and undo, as far as may
be, the injuries they have inflicted upon it.
"I will write an order, Mr. Hilliard, to release at once the men you
have brought in. Then I will ask you to ride, with these emirs, to a
point where there will be no fear of their falling in with our
cavalry."
"You are a generous enemy," Khatim said, "and we thank you. We give in
our allegiance to the Egyptian government, and henceforth regard
ourselves as its servants."
"See, Mr. Hilliard, that the party takes sufficient food with it for
their journey to El Obeid."
Colonel Wingate stepped forward, and shook hands with the two emirs.
"You are no longer enemies," he said, "and I know that, henceforth, I
shall be able to rely upon your loyalty."
"We are beaten," Khatim said, as they walked away, each leading his
horse. "You can fight like men, and we who thought ourselves brave have
been driven before you, like dust before the wind. And now, when you
are masters, you can forgive as we should never have done. You can
treat us as friends. You do not even take our arms, and we can ride
into El Obeid with our heads high."
"It will be good for the Soudan," Abu said. "Your father told me,
often, how peace and prosperity would return, were you ever to become
our masters; and I felt that his words were true. Two hours ago I
regretted that Allah had not let me die, so that I should not have
lived to see our people conquered. Now, I am glad. I believe all that
he said, and that the Soudan will some day become, again, a happy
country."
Khatim's men were separated from the rest of the prisoners. Six days'
supply of grain, from the stores found in the camp, were handed over to
them; together with ten camels with water skins, and they started at
once on their long march. Gregory rode out for a couple of miles with
them, and then took leave of the two emirs.
"Come to El Obeid," Khatim said, "and you shall be treated as a king.
Farewell! And may Allah preserve you!"
So they parted; and Gregory rode back to the camp, with a feeling of
much happiness that he had been enabled, in some way, to repay the
kindness shown to his dead father.