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.'
