Ismailia Part 69

The enemy had suffered the loss of more than half their party killed.

The actual fighting had been done by the "Forty Thieves"; and the men of Abdullah's detachment had behaved disgracefully. Instead of following the enemy in the retreat, they had fraternized with a crowd of natives in pillaging the extensive station.

I now had to clear all these fellows out. The officers appeared to have quite lost their heads; and the natives had carried off all the guns and ammunition from the dead men, and had sacked and plundered the powder magazine.

My wife had placed sentries on the high rocks which commanded a view of the entire country; she also had the cattle driven within the fence; and had secured the prisoners, including Wat-el-Mek, in two large huts, over which she had placed a guard. The officers bad been so completely bewildered by the suddenness of the affair, that their wits had been exercised in an extraordinary direction. They had commenced firing Hale's rockets while we were in advance pursuing the enemy, and a couple of these screeching projectiles had actually pa.s.sed over my head.

We had neither eaten nor drunk since the preceding evening, with the exception of some water that we had procured from a stream at the extreme limit of the pursuit; where we had lost the enemy, who had scattered in the forest.

With her usual forethought, my wife had ordered the cook to have breakfast ready; and having washed hands and faces, we sat down to a good curry of mutton, and excellent cafe-au-lait, the milk having been obtained from the captured cows.

We had worked fairly that morning, having marched ten miles from Sharga, then fought the rebels and run four miles in pursuit, and four miles on our return, through an exceedingly rough country.

My old friends, Gimoro and Shooli, were delighted to see us again. The native sheiks thronged round the entrance of our hut to congratulate us on the defeat of the rebels; and messengers had been already sent off to Rot Jarma and all the princ.i.p.al headmen of the country.

Wat-el-Mek was safe. I knew that most of the princ.i.p.al officers were either killed or wounded; but I was anxious to be a.s.sured of the fate of the arch-ruffian, Ali Hussein.

"Where is Ali Hussein?" I asked the natives.

"DEAD!" cried a number of voices.

"Are you certain?" I asked.

"We will bring you his head, for he is not far off," they replied; and several men started immediately.

We were very hungry; and as curry is quickly eaten, we were not long at breakfast; this was hardly concluded when some natives rushed to the open door, and throwing something heavy on the floor of the hut, I saw at my feet the b.l.o.o.d.y head of Ali Hussein!

There was no mistake in the person. The villainous expression was as strongly marked upon the features in death as it had been in life.

The natives had appropriated his clothes, which they described as "a long white robe and black trousers." Ali Hussein had been struck by two bullets; one had broken his arm, and the other had pa.s.sed through his thigh. He was alive when the natives discovered him; but as he had been the scourge of the country, he, of course, received no mercy from them.

CHAPTER XXIV.

NO MEDICAL MEN.

The death of the unfortunate Dr. Gedge, my chief medical officer at Tewfikeeyah, added to the retirement of one of the Egyptian surgeons from Gondokoro, had left me with so weak a medical staff that I had been unable to take a doctor from head-quarters. I therefore was compelled to perform all necessary operations myself, and to attend personally upon the wounded men. In the late encounter, although I had not actually lost a soldier, seven were badly wounded. One had a broken thigh, and the bullet remained in the leg. Two had smashed ankle-joints, in one of which the ball remained fixed among the bones. Some of the prisoners were also wounded and one shortly died.

Wat-el-Mek's hand was much lacerated, in addition to the loss of the middle finger.

I dressed all the wounds with a weak solution of carbolic acid. After some trouble, I extracted the bullet from the broken thigh, and set the bone. (This man was one of "The Forty"; and about two months after the wound he was again on duty, and only slightly lame.)

Wat-el-Mek had two excellent English double-barrelled guns. That destroyed by the "Dutchman" was a gun by Blissett of London, which had been given to him by Captain Speke when he parted at Gondokoro: the other was my own old gun, that I had given to Ibrahim when I travelled with him during my first journey in Africa.

On the 3rd August I took evidence against Abou Saood. Mohammed Wat-el-Mek, and a prisoner named Besheer, who was an officer in the same company, both swore upon the Koran, that in firing at me "they had only obeyed the orders of Abou Saood, who had instructed them to attack me and the government troops should I attempt to interfere with their proceedings."

Wat-el-Mek declared upon oath that he had always wished to serve me, but he had been prevented by Abou Saood and others; and he had now been rightly punished. This, he said, was "G.o.d's hand." He had been in countless fights with natives during many years, and he was possessed of powerful charms and spells, including numerous verses from the Koran suspended from his arms: these had always protected him until the day when he had raised his hand against the government. His charms had at once failed him, and he had lost both his finger and the gun with which he had fired at me.

My officers and soldiers really believed that I had purposely cut his finger off, and smashed his gun by a rifle shot, to prove to him what I could accomplish with a rifle; and thus to warn a man who would be useful to me, instead of killing him.

Wat-el-Mek now offered to swear upon the Koran fidelity and allegiance if I would pardon him; and he would at once prove his sincerity by raising an irregular corps.

This man was a curious character; his superst.i.tious nature had been seized with the conviction that his present position was a special visitation of divine wrath. He was a courageous fellow, and he knew the country and the natives better than any man living. I had always wished to engage his services, and I considered this an excellent opportunity.

The officers now begged me to forgive him. He was led away to a stream of clear water, where he went through the process of was.h.i.+ng with a cake of soap, which was sorely needed. He was then dressed in clean clothes that were lent to him for that purpose, and the Koran was brought and laid open at a particular pa.s.sage.

Placing his wounded hand upon the page, he repeated with great devotion the formal oath. (Wat-el-Mek always behaved well from that time.)

I now gave him a few words of good advice, encouraging his preconceived idea that G.o.d had chastised him specially, and that the future would depend upon his own conduct.

Having thus secured this valuable man, whom I had always wished to engage at the commencement of the expedition, there was much to be done, and it will be necessary to make a few extracts from my journal that will better explain the position:--

"August 5, 1872.--I ought to hang Abou Saood, but much diplomacy is necessary. The rebels in their three stations, Fabbo, Faloro, and Farragenia number about 600, exclusive of armed Baris.

"I have with me 146 men, including officers. Should I raise the whole country, the difficulty would be to prevent the natives from exterminating Abou Saood and the whole of his forces. Should such an event occur, how should I be able to occupy this extensive country with so small a force? I have lately had a painful lesson in the treachery of Kabba Rega, who, when I had relieved him of his enemies, the slave-traders, immediately turned against ME. These natives might probably do the same. Negroes respect nothing but force; and the force that now exists, if removed, will leave them free to act against the government. Already they have benefited by the fight with the slave-hunters, by running off with the arms and ammunition, together with a number of cattle, while our troops were engaged with the enemy."

I came to the conclusion that it would be unwise to get rid of the slave-hunters by physical force. Although I felt that they were entirely in my power, as I could bombard their stations with Hale's rockets, if they should refuse to turn out, the natives would, in the event of a flight, most a.s.suredly possess themselves of the guns and ammunition.

With 146 men, I could not take more than eighty men to act against 600, as the small force of sixty-six would be the minimum that I could leave to protect the Fatiko station. If with eighty men, together with a wild army of natives, I should attack Fabbo (in which I had heard that Abou Saood was concentrating his people from the other stations), every one of the slave-traders would be ma.s.sacred. It would be impossible for eighty men to fight, and to secure at the same time the 600 stand of arms that would be in the hands of the rebels. These, together with the muskets belonging to the Baris, would all fall into the possession of my native allies, who would immediately scatter and disappear with their prize.

Should I attack Fabbo, the result would simply arm the natives with 800 or 900 stand of muskets, together with a large amount of ammunition, which they might probably use against me at some future time.

I resolved to work diplomatically, and to keep the slave-hunters' party as a rod above the backs of the natives, until I should discover their real character.

It had been necessary to establish a corn tax [*] for the support of the troops. Possibly the natives, if entirely relieved from their oppressors, might refuse to acknowledge government taxation! At all events I determined to proceed cautiously.

[*Footnote: The corn tax was thus established. Each house was taxed to pay a small basket of corn every full moon. All old and infirm people and also strangers were exempted from taxation. The headman of each village was responsible for the tax, and he delivered a bundle of small pieces of reed, the size of drawing pencils which represented the number of houses belonging to able-bodied men. This tax was always paid cheerfully, in grat.i.tude for the protection afforded by the government.]

The first step was to summon Abou Saood and to hear his defence from his own mouth.

I had given the prisoners their choice, of either enlisting in the government service, or returning to Khartoum.

Of course they ought to have been shot in a batch; but I could not afford to shoot them. I had to catch and tame my wild beasts instead of destroying them.

A considerable number agreed to serve under Wat-el-Mek.

I wrote, on 5th August, a letter addressed to Abou Saood, summoning hum to appear instantly at Fatiko: at the same time I promised him a free exit; without which written a.s.surance I might as well have summoned the "man in the moon".

It was difficult to procure natives who would accompany the new irregulars with the letter, as news had arrived that Abou Saood's people were plundering and laying waste the neighbourhood of Fabbo.

At length I arranged that eight of the new levy, together with the native blacksmith and several others from Fatiko, who were well known in the Madi country, should go to Fabbo (22 miles) with my letter to Abou Saood. The blacksmith would protect the irregulars by explaining their new position to any natives who might desire to molest them.

I also sent a proclamation to be read publicly in the zareeba, summoning all subjects of the Khedive to declare their allegiance to the government.

On the following day (6th August) the blacksmith and his people returned to Fabbo thoroughly disgusted. Upon their arrival near the zareeba of Abou Saood they had cried out to the slave-hunters that they had brought "a letter from the Pacha to Abou Saood!" The slave-hunters had replied with a well-known form of abuse in that country, and had immediately fired a volley into the blacksmith and the eight men of their own people!

The blacksmith and his natives had lost no time in running back to Fatiko; and the eight irregulars having thrown themselves on the ground, had (the blacksmith supposed) at length explained who they were.