across the desert from Omdurman?'
'No, sir; I was landed from one of the gun-boats in which General Hunter, with fifteen hundred Soudanese troops, is ascending the Blue Nile to prevent Fadil from crossing and joining the Khalifa.'
'Have you a written dispatch?'
' It was thought better that I should carry nothing, so that even the strictest search would not show that I was a messenger.'
'Is your message of a private character?'
'No, sir, I think not.'
'Then will you come in?'
Gregory followed Colonel Parsons into the hut, which con tained but one room. ' Gentlemen,' the former said with a smile, 'allow me to introduce Bimbashi Hilliard, who is the bearer of a message to me from General Rundle, now in command at Omdurman. Major Hilliard, these are Captain Mac-Kerrel, commanding four hundred and fifty men of the 16th Egyptians; Captain Wilkinson, an equal number of the Arab battalion; Major Lawson, who has under his command three hundred and seventy Arab irregulars; Captain the Hon. H. Ruthven, who has under him eighty camel-men; also Captain Fleming of the Royal Army Medical Corps, who is at once our medical officer and in command of the baggage column; and Captain Dwyer. They are all, like yourself, officers in the Egyptian army, and rank, like yourself, as Bimbashis. Now, sir, will you deliver your message to me?'
' It is of a somewhat grave character, sir, but General Rundle thought it very important that you should be acquainted with the last news. The Sirdar has gone up the White Nile with some of the gun-boats and the 11th Soudanese. He deemed it necessary to go himself, because a body of foreign troops—believed to be French—have established themselves at Fashoda.'
An exclamation of surprise broke from all the officers.
' In the next place, sir, Fadil, who had arrived with his force within forty miles of Khartoum, has retired up the banks of the Blue Nile on hearing of the defeat of the Khalifa. Major-general Hunter has therefore gone up that river with three gun-boats and another Soudanese battalion to prevent him, if possible, from crossing it and joining the Khalifa, who is reported to be collecting the remains of his defeated army. It is possible—indeed the General thinks it is probable—that Fadil, if unable to cross, may return with his army to Gedareh. It is to warn you of this possibility that he sent me here. Gedareh is reported to be a defensible position, and therefore he thinks that if you capture it, it would be advisable to maintain yourself there until reinforcements can be sent to you, either from the Blue Nile or the Atbara. The place, it seems, is well supplied with provisions and stores, and in the event of Fadil opposing you, it would be far safer for you to defend it than to be attacked in the open or during a retreat.'
' It is certainly important news, Mr. Hilliard. Hitherto we have supposed that Fadil had joined the Khalifa before the fight at Omdurman, and there was therefore no fear of his reappearing here. We know very little of the force at Gedareh. We took some prisoners yesterday, but their accounts are very conflicting; still, there is every reason to believe that the garrison is not strong. Certainly, as General Rundle says, we should be in a much better position there than if we were attacked in the open. No doubt the Arabs who got off in the skirmish yesterday carried the news there, and probably some of them would go direct to Fadil, and if he came down upon us here with his eight thousand men our position would be a desperate one. It cost us four days to cross the river at El Fasher, and would take us as much to build boats and recross here, and before that time he might be upon us. It is evident, gentlemen, that we have only the choice of these alternatives —either to march at once against Gedareh or to retreat immediately, crossing the river here or at El Fasher. As to remaining here, of course it is out of the question.'
The consultation was a short one. All the officers were in favour of pushing forward, pointing out that, as only the 16th Egyptians could be considered as fairly disciplined, the troops would lose heart if they retired, and could not be relied upon to keep steady if attacked by a largely superior force, while at present they would probably fight bravely. The Arab battalion had been raised by the Italians, and were at present full of confidence, as they had defeated the Mahdists who had been besieging Kassala. The Arab irregulars had of course the fighting instincts of their race, and would assault an enemy bravely; but in a defensive battle against greatly superior numbers, could scarcely be expected to stand well. As for the eighty camel-men, they were all Soudanese soldiers discharged from the army for old age and physical unfitness; they could be relied upon to fight, but small in number as they were, could but have little effect on the issue of a battle. All therefore agreed that, having come thus far, the safest as well as the most honourable course would be to endeavour to fight the enemy in a strong position.
Although it may be said that success justified it, no wilder enterprise was ever undertaken than that of sending thirteen hundred only partly disciplined men into the heart of the enemy's country. Omdurman and Atbara, to say nothing of previous campaigns, had shown how desperately the Dervishes fought, and the order for the garrison of Kassala to undertake it can only have been given under an entire misconception of the circumstances, and of the strength of the army under Fadil that they would almost certainly be called upon to encounter. This was the more probable, as all the women and the property of his soldiers had been left at Gedareh when he marched away, and his men would therefore naturally wish to go there before they made any endeavour to join the Khalifa.
Such, indeed, was the fact. Fadil concealed from them the news of the disaster at Omdurman for some days, and when it became known he had difficulty in restraining his troops from marching straight for Gedareh.
'Do you go on with us, Mr. Hilliard?' Colonel Parsons asked, when they had decided to start for Gedareh.
' Yes, sir. My instructions are to go on with you, and if the town is besieged, to endeavour to get through their lines and carry the news to General Hunter if I can ascertain his whereabouts; if not, to make straight for Omdurman. I have two fast camels which I shall leave here, and return for them with my black boy when we start.'
'We shall be glad to have you with us,' the Colonel said; ' every white officer is worth a couple of hundred men.'
As they sat and chatted Gregory asked how the force had crossed the Atbara.
' It was a big job,' Colonel Parsons said. ' The river was wider than the Thames below London Bridge, and running something like seven miles an hour. We brought with us some barrels to construct a raft. When this was built it supported the ten men who started on it, but they were, in spite of their efforts, carried ten miles clown the stream, and it was not until five hours after they embarked that they managed to land. The raft did not get back from its journey till the next afternoon, being towed along the opposite bank by the men. It was evident that this would not do. The Egyptian soldiers then took the matter in hand. They made frameworks with the wood of the mimosa scrub, and covered these with tarpaulins which we had fortunately brought with us. They turned out one boat a day capable of carrying two tons, and six days after we reached the river we all got across.
' The delay was a terrible nuisance at the time, but it has enabled you to come up here and warn us about Fadil. Fortunately no Dervishes came along while we were crossing, and indeed we learned from the prisoners we took yesterday that the fact that a force from Kassala had crossed the river was entirely unknown, so no harm was done.'
The sheik of the little village took charge of Gregory's camels. Some stores were also left there under a small guard, as it was advisable to reduce the transport to the smallest possible amount. The next morning the start was made. The bush was so thick that it was necessary to march in single file. In the evening the force halted in a comparatively open country. The camel-men reconnoitred the ground for some little distance round, and saw no signs of the enemy; they camped, however, in the form of a square, and lay with their arms beside them in readiness to resist an attack.
The night passed quietly, and at early dawn they moved forward again. At six o'clock the camel-men exchanged a few shots with the Dervish scouts, who fell back at once. At eight a village was sighted, and the force advanced upon it in fighting order. It was found, however, to have been deserted, except by a few old people. These, on being questioned, said that the Emir Saadalla, who commanded, had but tAvo hundred rifles and six hundred spearmen, and had received orders from Fadil to surrender. Subsequent events showed that they had been carefully tutored as to the reply to be given. The force halted here, as Gedareh was still twelve miles away, and it was thought better that if there was fighting, they should be fresh. At midnight a deserter from the Dervishes came in with the grave news that the Emir had three thousand five hundred men, and was awaiting them two miles outside the town. There was another informal council of war, but all agreed that a retreat through this difficult country would bring about the total annihilation of the force, and that there was nothing to do but to fight.
Early in the morning they started again. For the first two hours the road led through grass so high that even
