With Kitchener in the Soudan Part 14

"On horseback, sir. My boy is perfectly willing to go with me. He knows the way, and the position of the wells on the road. My plan is that, when we get near Metemmeh, he shall remain with the horses somewhere near the river; and I shall enter the camp on foot. I am less likely to be noticed that way. If questioned, my story will be that my father was at El Obeid, and that the Governor there is, by the Khalifa's orders, holding his force in hand to put down any outbreaks there may be in the province; and that, wis.h.i.+ng to fight against the infidel, I have come on my own account. If I am asked why I had not come on horseback, I shall say that I had ridden to within the last two or three miles, and that the horse had then died.

"But I do not expect to be questioned at all, as one man on foot is as nothing, in an army of twenty or thirty thousand, gathered from all over the Soudan."

"You quite understand, Mr. Hilliard, that you are taking your life in your hands? And that there is no possibility, whatever, of our doing anything for you, if you get into trouble?"

"Quite, sir. If I am detected, I shall probably be killed at once. I do not think that there is more risk in it than in going into battle. As I have told you, I have, so far as I know, no relatives in the world; and there will be no one to grieve, if I never come back again.

"As to the clothes, I can easily buy them from one of the natives here.

Many of them are dressed in the garments of the Dervishes who were killed when we came up here; except, of course, that the patches were taken off. I will get my man to buy a suit for himself, and one for me.

It would be better than having new clothes made; for, even if these were dirtied, they would not look old. When he has bought the clothes, he can give them a good was.h.i.+ng, and then get a piece of stuff to sew on as patches.

"I am afraid, sir, that there will be little chance of my being able to obtain any absolute news of Mahmud's intentions; but only to glean general opinion, in the camp. It is not likely that the news of any intended departure would be kept a secret up till the last moment, among the Dervishes, as it would be here."

"Quite so," the General agreed. "We may take it as certain that the matter would be one of common talk. Of course, Mahmud and his princ.i.p.al advisers might change their minds, at any moment. Still I think that, were it intended to make a move against us, or to Berber, it would be generally known.

"I may tell you that we do not intend to cross the Bayuda desert. We shall go up the river, but this is a secret that will be kept till the last moment. And before we start, we shall do all in our power to spread a belief that we are going to advance to Metemmeh. We know that they are well informed, by their spies here, of our movements. We shall send a strong force to make a reconnaissance, as far as Gakdul. This will appear to be a preliminary step to our advance, and should keep Mahmud inactive, till too late. He will not dare advance to Berber, because he will be afraid of our cutting him off from Omdurman.

"You are satisfied with your horse? It is advisable that you should have a good one, and yet not so good as to attract attention."

"Yes; I could not want a better horse, General. He is not handsome, but I have ridden him a great deal, and he is certainly fast; and, being desert bred, I have no doubt has plenty of endurance. I shall, of course, get one for my boy."

"There are plenty in the transport yard. They have been bought up from fugitives who have come in here. I will write you an order to select any one you choose; and if you see one you think better than your own, you can take it also; and hand yours over to the transport, to keep until you return.

"You should take a Martini-Henri with you. I will give you an order for one, on one of the native regiments. They are, as you know, armed with them; and have, of course, a few cases of spare rifles. A good many have fallen into the hands of the Dervishes, at one time or another, so that your carrying such a weapon will not excite any remark. It would not do to take a revolver, but no doubt you will be able to buy pistols that have been brought down by the fugitives. You will certainly be able to get them at some of those Greek shops. They buy up all that kind of thing. Of course, you will carry one of the Dervish long knives.

"Is there anything else that you can think of?"

"Nothing, sir."

"When will you be ready, do you suppose?"

"By the day after tomorrow, sir. I shall start after dark, so that no one will notice my going. With your permission, I will come round before I set off, so that you can see whether the disguise is good enough to pa.s.s."

Chapter 7: To Metemmeh.

Zaki at once set to work to collect the articles needed for the journey; and Gregory obtained, from the transport, another horse and two native saddles. He was well satisfied with his own animal; and, even had he found in the transport yard a better horse, he would still have preferred his own, as they were accustomed to each other. He bought pistols for himself and Zaki, and a matchlock for the latter.

Everything was ready by the time Gregory went to the mess to lunch, on the day fixed for his departure. Nothing whatever had been said as to his leaving, as it was possible that some of the native servants, who waited upon them, might have picked up sufficient English to gather that something important was about to take place. When, however, the meal was over and he said carelessly, "I shall not be at mess this evening;" he saw, by the expression of the officers' faces, that they all were aware of the reason for his absence. One after another they either shook hands with him, or gave him a quiet pat on the shoulder, with the words "Take care of yourself, lad," or "A safe journey and a speedy return," or some other kind wish.

Going to his hut, he was shaved by Zaki at the back of the neck, up to his ears; so that the white, closely-fitting cap would completely cover the hair. Outside the tent a sauce pan was boiling with herbs and berries, which the lad had procured from an old woman who was considered to have a great knowledge of simples. At four in the afternoon, Gregory was stained from head to foot, two coats of the dye being applied. This used but a small quant.i.ty of the liquor, and the rest was poured into a gourd, for future use. The dresses were ready, with the exception of the Mahdi patches, which were to be sewn on at their first halting place.

Before it was dark, Gregory went across to the General's quarters. The black sentry stopped him.

"The General wants to speak to me," Gregory said, in Arabic.

The man called up the native sergeant from the guard tent, who asked what he wanted.

"I am here by the orders of the General."

The sergeant looked doubtful, but went in. He returned in a minute, and motioned to Gregory to follow him in. The General looked at him, from head to foot.

"I suppose it is you, Hilliard," he said, "but I certainly should not have recognized you. With that yellowish-brown skin, you could pa.s.s anywhere as a Soudan Arab. Will the colour last?"

"I am a.s.sured that it will last for some days, but I am taking enough with me to renew it, four or five times."

"Well, unless some unexpected obstacle occurs, I think you are safe from detection. Mind you avoid men from El Obeid; if you do not fall in with them, you should be safe. Of course, when you have sewn on those patches, your disguise will be complete.

"I suppose you have no idea how long you will be away?"

"It will take me five days to go there, and five days to come back. I should think that if I am three days in the camp, I ought to get all the information required. In a fortnight I should be here; though, of course, I may be longer. If I am not back within a few days of that time, you will know that it is because I have stayed there, in the hopes of getting more certain news. If I don't return in three weeks, it will be because something has gone wrong."

"I hope it will not be so, lad. As regards appearance and language, I have no fear of your being detected; but you must always bear in mind that there are other points. You have had the advantage of seeing the camps of the native regiments, when the men are out of uniform--how they walk, laugh uproariously, play tricks with each other, and generally behave. These are all natives of the Soudan, and no small proportion of them have been followers of the Mahdi, and have fought against us, so they may be taken as typical of the men you are going among. It is in all these little matters that you will have to be careful.

"Now, I will not detain you longer. I suppose your horses are on board?"

It had been arranged that Gregory should be taken down to Korti, in a native craft that was carrying some stores required at that camp.

"Yes, sir. My boy put them on board, two hours ago."

"Here is the pa.s.s by which you can enter or leave the British lines, at any time. The boat will be there before daylight, but the landing of the stores will not, of course, take place until later. Show this pa.s.s to the first officer who comes down. It contains an order for you to be allowed to start on your journey, at once.

"This other pa.s.s is for your return. You had better, at your first halt, sew it under one of your patches. It is, as you see, written on a piece of linen, so that however closely you may be examined, there will be no stiffness or crackling, as would be the case with paper.

"Now goodbye, Hilliard! It is a satisfaction to me that you have undertaken this journey on your own initiative, and on your own request. I believe that you have a fair chance of carrying it through--more so than men with wider shoulders and bigger limbs would have. If you come to grief, I shall blame myself for having accepted your offer; but I shall at least know that I thought it over seriously, and that, seeing the importance of the object in view, I did not feel myself justified in refusing."

With a cordial shake of the hand, he said goodbye to Gregory. The latter went off to his hut. He did not leave it until dusk, and then went down to the boat, where Zaki had remained with the horses.

As soon as it started they lay down alongside some bales, on the deck of the native craft, and were soon asleep. They did not wake until a slight b.u.mp told them they were alongside the wharf, at Korti.

Day was just breaking, so no move was made until an hour later. An officer came down, with the fatigue party, to unload the stores that she had brought down. When the horses were ash.o.r.e, Gregory handed the pa.s.s to the officer, who was standing on the bank. He looked at it, with some surprise.

"Going to do some scouting," he muttered, and then called to a native officer, "Pa.s.s these two men beyond the outposts. They have an order from General Hunter."

"Will you be away long?" he asked Gregory, in Arabic.

"A week or more, my lord," the latter replied.

"Ah! I suppose you are going to Gakdul. As far as we have heard, there are no Dervishes there. Well, you must keep a sharp lookout. They may be in hiding anywhere about there, and your heads won't be worth much, if they lay hands on you."

"We intend to do so, sir;" and then, mounting, they rode on, the native officer walking beside them.

"You know the country, I suppose?" he said. "The Dervishes are bad, but I would rather fall into their hands than lose my way in the desert.

The one is a musket ball or a quick chop with a knife, the other an agony for two or three days."

"I have been along the road before," Zaki said. "There is no fear of my losing my way; and, even if I did so, I could travel by the stars."