In the Mahdi's Grasp Part 71

"Bullets," said Harry, who began to pant with excitement, as he made for the door. "Hark at that, and that! Oh, it has come at last, and I am a prisoner here!"

At that moment a camel was seen pa.s.sing the window. One of the Sheikh's men was leading it, and directly after Frank uttered a cry of joy, and, followed by the professor, ran to the door, just in time to encounter Ibrahim, who hurried in, looking haggard and bent.

The next minute he was shaking hands with all, and eagerly took the coffee Sam offered to him. He drank it with avidity, after adding to it some cold water from a jug close by.

"Hah!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, and then quickly--

"I went out, Excellencies, to make a long round so as to find out all that was to be known. It has been hard work to avoid being cut off.

But I have seen much."

"Yes, yes; pray speak out," cried Frank.

"The Khalifa has gathered his forces together, and yesterday evening they made their advance away from the town--an enormous army, seeming to drive their enemies back."

"Their enemies!" cried Harry excitedly. "The English and Egyptian armies?"

"Yes, Excellency; they are many miles away, by the river side, and there are gunboats coming on nearly opposite here."

"At last!" cried Harry. "Oh, but it has been long, long! This time they will not be too late."

"It seemed last night that the great battle was to take place; but at dusk the Khalifa halted his army, thousands upon thousands; their white garments seemed to spread for three or four miles, and I felt that at last the great time had come."

"Yes, yes?" cried Frank, and the old Sheikh's voice sounded dull and strange now, overborne by the distant muttering thunder of the firing, which seemed to be on the increase.

"But I would not come back till I could be sure of the tidings I had to bring, and I lay out with my camel among the hills over yonder, till just at daybreak I could see that the dervish army was in motion, and I mounted my camel, keeping to the highest parts I could find. I made a circuit, after seeing the British and Egyptian forces far back by the river, and the dervishes in one long, white wave sweeping steadily along as if to lap round and drive their foes into the stream."

"And that they will never do!" said Harry proudly.

"I don't know, Excellency. The dervishes looked so many. Your friends seemed so few. But I had learned all I wanted, for I could see that the great fight was about to begin, and I came with the tidings. What will your Excellencies do?"

He looked at the doctor as he spoke, and the latter replied, "We can do nothing while we are here, Ibrahim. Our orders are to wait till our guard gives the word for us to start."

"And then we hope to make for the desert if we can shake our guardians off," said the professor.

The old Sheikh was silent, as if deep in thought.

"I know not how to advise," he said. "If the English are beaten--"

"They will not be!" cried Harry excitedly.

"I pray not, Excellency, but if the day goes against them it would be madness to take to the desert, for the dervishes will be swarming everywhere, athirst for blood. We could not escape, and we should be safer here. Even if the Khalifa's army is routed it will be as bad, for we should have to mingle with the flying Baggara, while the pursuing Egyptians would be as dangerous as the dervishes themselves. I feel that we ought to stay."

"But our orders are, to be ready to start at any time," said the doctor gravely.

"Then, Excellency, we must accept our fate. We shall be taken to Khartoum, where the beaten force will rally and defend it to the last."

"Not rally here, Ibrahim?" said Frank eagerly.

"No, Excellency. This is no place to defend. The well-drilled troops would sweep through it after their heavy guns and scatter the mud-houses into heaps. No, the dervishes will hoist their standards at Khartoum.

But we must make a brave effort to avoid being shut in there."

He said no more, for there seemed to be no more to say, and the desire of all was to listen to the distant thunder, which had been increasing as he spoke, telling plainly enough of the terrible battle going on, while suddenly, and as if close at hand, there came the heavy reports of guns away to the east.

"The gunboats," said Ibrahim quietly, "and the forts answering back.

This is the day that the fate of the Soudan must be known."

How the time went no one could tell in that wildly exciting, agonising time of doubt. The firing from miles away to the north continued, and the cannonading from the river was maintained, but there was no news of how the fight progressed, and a feeling of despair was attacking the prisoners when all at once the firing ceased.

What did it mean? That the collected army of the Khalifa was immense they were well aware. Had it swept on and on in the great white wave the Sheikh had described, vastly overlapping the Anglo-Egyptian force, and, curling round its flanks, achieved the Baggara Emir's threat of sweeping the infidels into the river, now c.u.mbered with the slain?

For the silence was ominous; even the gunboats had ceased firing, and their guard had made no sign.

In the hurried discussion which ensued, the professor drew attention to this; but it was repelled with contempt by Harry.

"What of that?" he said. "The forts were so much mud, with a few poorly served guns. They have been silenced, and there is nothing more to fire at. Even now the boats may have landed men who are marching into the town."

"But the firing on the field!" said Frank excitedly. "Oh, if we only knew!"

Almost as he spoke the Emir's officer came in, and there was a look of triumph in his eyes as he said to the Sheikh--

"There will be no journey to-day, O Sheikh, for the enemies of Allah are being swept away. The Emir my master will be back before night, and all my prisoners are safe."

He left them, and they saw that he went in the direction of the women's part of the palace, evidently to give his good news there and set the poor creatures at rest; but he could hardly have reached their quarters before the firing broke out again, certainly nearer and fiercer than before.

"He spoke too soon!" cried Harry excitedly. "We shall beat the savage wretches yet!"

The firing rose and fell, and rose again, and to the hearers the suspense grew unbearable, Frank and his brother feeling that at all risks they must try by some means to get tidings of how the battle fared.

Again there was a cessation and a long interval of silence.

Once more the dull thudding of the artillery was heard above the roar of rifle volleys and the snarling rattle of the machine guns; and when this ceased there was a hurried sound, mingled with wailing, within the walls of the Emir's house; two of the guards pa.s.sed quickly by the windows of the Hakim's quarters, and the Sheikh's men were seen hurrying towards the door, where they were met by the chief of the guard, who rushed by them, to shout in a stern voice to Ibrahim--

"Quick! to your camels! We leave here now."

That was enough. No trumpet-blast could have announced in clearer tones that the fight was won, and as he pa.s.sed out a strange murmurous roar arose from the streets of the great mud city, a mingling of excited voices, those of the fugitives and those of the more resolute who elected to stay.

There was a stern look in the officer's eyes as he stood, drawn sword in hand, looking on while the final preparations were made, and within ten minutes the prisoners were mounted on horse and camel and a.s.sembled in the well-guarded court, where the women and slaves of the Emir's household were already waiting.

Directly after the long train moved out through the gateway with their watchful guards; and it was none too soon, for before they had pa.s.sed down a couple of streets, a yelling mob of savage-looking armed men made for the Emir's palace, spreading through to loot and carry off everything that took their eye.

It was the same throughout, for the first deed of about three thousand of the dervish army which had fled, routed from the field, was to make for the palaces of the Khalifa, and those of his chief Emirs, on plunder bent, while, where they dared, the ordinary dwellers of the city joined in to bear off the garnered stores of corn.

Frank and his companions knew nothing of this as they were hurried along through the tortuous ways of the vast stretch of hovels, tents, and mud huts, till they reached the outskirts, and then the wide-stretching plain, where they had ample opportunity of learning the truth. For on every side, streaming towards Khartoum, where it lay whitened in the distance, were the routed dervishes, some in troops, displaying military order, but the greater part scattered and flying for their lives on horses, camels, and on foot.

They had need--for the Emir's officer had stayed too long in his blind belief in the success of the Khalifa's troops--the avenging forces were close behind, and the dervishes were falling fast, dotting the plain with their white garments, while riderless horses and camels careered wildly here and there.

The race was for Khartoum--the efforts of the Sirdar's troops, horse, foot, and artillery, to cut them off, and it was not long before the English party grasped the fact that it would be a marvel if they reached the distant city alive in the midst of the hurrying crowd.

But the Emir's bodyguard worked well, keeping their charge together, hurrying on the camels, encouraging the women, and twice over forming up and attacking bands of their fellow fighting men who approached menacingly, seeing in the flying party of the Emir's household ample opportunities for securing plunder, but only to be beaten off.