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 AH 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 sheep-skin, 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 greatty 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.'
