'I have enquired of many who were at El Obeid, my lord,' he said. ' All say that there was no white man in the camp when the black battalion surrendered, though one had been seen while the fighting was going on; nor was the body of one found where the fight had taken place on the previous day. It was a matter of talk among the Dervishes of the time, for they had lain in a circle round the enemy, and were convinced that no one passed through their lines. Those who surrendered said that he had taken the command, and had exposed himself to the hottest fire and encouraged them, telling them that the more bravely they defended themselves the more likely they were to obtain favourable terms. The night before, he had advised them to accept any offer the Dervishes might make, but on the following morning he was missing, and none could give any account of what had become of him. The same tale is told by all to whom I have spoken.'
The story made a profound impression upon Gregory. It seemed possible that the father of whom he had no remembrance might have been the sole white survivor of Hicks's army. True, there was nothing to prove that he was the white man who had joined the black battalion that escaped the first day's massacre. There were other non-combatants, Vizitelly, the artist of the Illustrated London News, and O'Donovan, the correspondent of the Daily News. Either of these might also have been at any other portion of the square when the attack commenced, and unable to join Hicks and his officers in their final charge into the midst of the enemy. Still, it was at least possible that his father was the man who had retired from the field with the black battalion, and who had afterwards so strangely disappeared. If so, what had become of him all these years ? Had he made off in disguise only to be murdered by wandering bands? Had he been concealed for months in the hut of a friendly tribesman? What had he been doing since? Had he been killed in trying to make his way down? Had he been enslaved, and was he still lingering on in a wretched existence? He could hardly hope that he had fallen into friendly hands, for had he been alive he would surely have managed, with his knowledge of the country, to make his way down, or to reach Khartoum when it was still held by the Egyptians.
At any rate Gregory concluded that he might find out whether any European had arrived there during the siege. He went down to the river and took a native boat across to Khartoum. At the ceremony on Sunday many natives watched the arrival of the flotilla, and some of these might have been there in Gordon's time. He had no great hopes of it, but there was just a chance. The flags were still flying over the governor's house when he landed, and a detachment of Egyptian troops was stationed there. A native officer came down when he landed.
'I have come across to question some of the natives,' he said. 'I believe some are still living here.'
' Oh, yes, bimbashi! there are a good many scattered about among the ruins; they come in bringing fruit and fish for sale. I think they mostly live down by the river-side.'
Gregory kept on till he came to the huts occupied by the fishermen and men who cultivated small plots of ground. He found several who had lived at Khartoum when it was captured, and who had escaped the general massacre by hiding till nightfall and then making their way up the river in boats. None of them could give him the information he sought, but one suggested that he was more likely to hear from the Greeks and Turks who worked in the Khalifa's arsenal and foundries, as they had been spared for the services they would be able to render to the Mahdi. Eeturning to Omdur-man he went to the machine-shop. Here work had already been resumed, as repairs were needed by several of the gunboats. He went up to the foreman, a man of some sixty years of age.
' You were engaged in the city during the siege, were you not?' he said in Arabic, with which he knew the foreman must be thoroughly acquainted.
' Yes, sir, I had been here ten years before that.'
' I am very anxious to learn whether any white man who had survived the battle of El Obeid ever reached this town before its capture.'
The man thought for some time. 'Yes,' he said, 'a white man certainly came here towards the end of the siege. I know, because I happened to meet him when I was going home from work, and he asked me the way to the governor's. I should not have known him to be a white man, for he had a native attire and was as black from exposure to the sun as any of the
Arabs. I gave him directions, and did not ask him any questions; but it was said afterwards that he was one of Hicks's officers. Later, I heard that he went down in the steamer with Colonel Stewart.'
'You did not hear his name?' Gregory asked anxiously. 'No, sir.'
'Did he talk Arabic well?'
'Extremely well; much better than I did at the time.' ' Do you remember how long he arrived before the steamer started?'
'Not very long, sir, though I really cannot tell you how long it was.'
'After you were cut off, I suppose?' ' Certainly it was, but I cannot say how long.' ' No one else here would know more about it than you do ?' 'No, sir; I should think not. But you can ask them.' He call i up some of the other workmen. All knew that a white officer of Hicks Pasha's army was said to have returned. One of them remembered that he had come down once with Gordon to see about some repairs required to the engines of a steamer, but he had never heard his name, nor could he recall his personal appearance, except that he seemed to be a man about thirty. But he remembered once seeing him again on board Stewart's steamer, as they had been working at her engines just before she started.
After thanking the foreman Gregory returned to the hut where he and two other officers of Hunter's staff had taken up their quarters. He was profoundly depressed. This white man might well have been his father; but if so, it was even more certain than before that he had fallen. He knew what had been the fate of Stewart's steamer, the remains of which he had seen at Hebbeh. The Colonel and all with him had accepted the invitation of the treacherous sheik of that village, and had been massacred. He would at least go there, and endeavour to learn from some of the natives the particulars of the fate of those on board, and whether it was possible that any of the whites could have escaped. After sitting for some time in thought he went to General Hunter's quarters and asked to see him.
The General listened sympathetically to his story. ' I never for a moment thought that your father could have escaped,' he said, 'but from what you tell me it is possible that he did so, only to perish afterwards. But I can well understand how, having learnt so much, you should be anxious to hear more. Certainly I will grant your request for leave to go down to Hebbeh. As you know, that place was taken and destroyed by the river column under Earle, or rather under Brackenbury, for Earle had been killed in the fight at Kirbekan. Numerous relics were found of the massacre, but the journal Stewart was known to have kept was not among them. Had it been there it would no doubt have mentioned the survivor of Hicks's army who was coming down the river with him. The place was deserted when Brackenbury arrived; it certainly was so when we came up. Since then some of the inhabitants have probably returned, and may know of places where plunder was hidden away on the approach of Bracken-bury's column. No doubt the offer of a reward would lead to their production.
'You may not have to be absent long; the British regiments are to go down at once, and several steamers will start to-morrow. I will give you an order to go with them. You will have no difficulty in getting back, for the Sirdar has already decided that the railway is to be carried on at once from Atbara to Khartoum, and has, I believe, telegraphed this morning that material and stores are to be sent up at once. Most of these will, no doubt, be brought on by rail, but grain, of which large quantities will be required for the use of our troops and of the population of the town, will come on by water. But no doubt your quickest way back will be to ride to Abu Hamed and take the train up to Atbara.'
'I will be back as soon as I can, General. I am much obliged to you for letting me go.'
' I will tell the Sirdar that I have given you leave, and why.
It is not absolutely necessary, but it is always well that one's name should be kept to the front.'
The next day Gregory saw the General again. ' I mentioned to the Sirdar that you wanted a fortnight's leave, and told him why. He simply nodded and said, 'Let him have a month if he wants it.' He had other things to think of, for this morning a small Dervish steamer came down the White Nile. They had the Khalifa's flag flying, and had not heard of what had taken place till one of the gun-boats ran alongside her. Of course she surrendered at once. It is a curious story they told. They left Omdurman a month ago with the Sapphire, which carried five hundred men. The object of the voyage was to collect grain. When they reached the old station of Fashoda they had been fired upon by black troops, with some white men among them, who had a strange flag flying. The firing was pretty accurate, for they had forty men killed and wounded, and the emir in command had disembarked and encamped his troops from the Sapphire on the opposite bank, and had sent the small steamer back to ask the Khalifa for orders.
' The story seemed so strange and improbable that I went down with the Sirdar to the boat, which had been brought alongside. There was no doubt that it had been peppered with balls. Some of the General's staff cut one of
