Ismailia Part 19

The object of the expedition had always been distasteful to both officers and men. The traders had already seen by the, examples made at Tewfikeeyah that I should actually destroy their cherished slave-trade.

It was therefore natural that Abou Saood should exert himself to ruin the expedition. Having friend in Raouf Bey, he was in a position to create division of opinion. He constantly a.s.sociated with this officer, in order that it should be generally known that he was supported by an influential person in the government service. The scandal of the camp quickly a.s.sumed that the opinions concerning the slave-traders between myself and Raouf Bey were at variance.

The officers of the expedition had, contrary to my express orders, purchased 126 slaves from the stations of the traders during the White Nile voyage! I had only learnt this on arrival at Gondokoro; thus when corn was so scarce that the rations were reduced, while those of meat were increased, we had an addition of 126 mouths!

The policy of the slave-traders was identical with the feelings of the officers and men, all of whom wished to abandon the expedition and return to Khartoum. Abou Saood worked molelike in his intrigues. He fraternized secretly with Allorron and his Baris. Many of his men purchased tobacco from the natives in exchange for ammunition. The natives from Belinian were in daily communication with Abou Saood's camp, and their spies obtained information of our proceedings, and carried the news throughout the country that "they would be supported by Abou Saood against my authority."

I learnt everything that occurred through trustworthy agents. It quickly became known that Raouf Bey was desirous to terminate the expedition.

The contagion spread rapidly, and the men worked languidly and without the slightest interest: they had made up their minds that the expedition was a failure, and that a scarcity of corn would be their excuse for a return to Khartoum. Abou Saood fanned the flame among the officers, and discontent became general.

In the mean time the Baris were very active in annoying the camp at night. Although these natives could not stand against the troops in the open, they hara.s.sed them by necessitating a perpetual vigilance both by night and day. It was necessary to have strong patrols in two parties at all hours; and I regret to say the Egyptian officers and men did not appear to enjoy a state of war where activity and good discipline were absolutely necessary. The Soudani officers and men, although ignorant, were far superior to the Egyptians in activity and courage.

Unfortunately the camp was sickly. The men now suffered from the fatigue of the long voyage through slush and marsh. Many had fever and dysentery. Ulcerated legs were prevalent; and this disease appeared to be contagious. Many men died from these malignant ulcers, which in some cases entirely destroyed the foot. The women did not suffer from this complaint. It originated from a poisonous gra.s.s that festered the wound it gave, and rapidly produced an incurable sore. As the women had not been exposed to the work in the marshes, they had escaped the scourge inflicted by the sharp edges of the gra.s.s.

There was no rest for the people; they had to build their camp and fight the Baris at the same time. A scarcity of corn stared them in the face.

The officers and men were well aware that we could not hope for regular supplies of corn and reinforcements of troops from Khartoum in the dreadful state of the river: thus they felt their position keenly, as sick, dispirited, in the midst of enemies, with approaching famine of corn, and no communication with the Soudan. All these difficulties were to be endured for the sake of an object which they detested--"the suppression of the slave trade."

CHAPTER IX.

NEW ENEMIES

Our enemies were not confined to the land only: the crocodiles in the neighbourhood of Gondokoro were exceedingly ferocious. As the natives were so much in the habit of swimming to and fro with their cattle, these wily creatures had been always accustomed to claim a toll in the shape of a cow, calf, or n.i.g.g.e.r. Two of Abou Saood's sailors were carried off on two consecutive days. One of my soldiers, while engaged with many others in water, only hip deep, was seized by a crocodile. The man, being held by the leg below the knee, made a good fight, and thrust his fingers into the creature's eyes; his comrades at the same time a.s.sisted and rescued him from absolute destruction; but the leg-bone was so mashed and splintered in many places that he was obliged to submit to amputation.

One of my sailors had a narrow escape. He and many others were engaged in collecting the leaves of a species of water-convolvulus that make an excellent spinach; this plant is rooted on the muddy bank, but it runs upon the surface of the water, upon which its pink blossoms are very ornamental.

The sailor was stooping from the bank to gather the floating leaves, when he was suddenly seized by the arm at the elbow-joint; his friends immediately caught him round the waist, and their united efforts prevented him from being dragged into the water. The crocodile, having tasted blood, would not quit its hold, but tugged and wrenched the arm completely off at the elbow-joint, and went off with its prize. The unfortunate man, in excruciating agony, was brought to the camp, where it was necessary to amputate another piece slightly above the lacerated joint.

I made a point of carrying a rifle at all times, simply to destroy these terrible reptiles. There never was a better rifle than "the Dutchman,"

made by Holland, of Bond Street. This little weapon was a double-barrelled breechloader, and carried the Boxer bullet of government calibre, with a charge of three drachms of powder. The accuracy of both barrels was extraordinary; it was only sighted up to 250 yards, but by taking the head very full, it carried with great precision up to 300. I could generally make certain of crocodiles if basking on a sandbank within a hundred yards, as I could put the bullet exactly in the right place, either behind the eye, or right through the centre of the shoulder. This handy rifle weighed 9-3/4 lbs., and throughout the expedition it was almost as much one of my component parts as a bone of my body. I had a large supply of ammunition; thus I never lost an opportunity of shooting at a crocodile's head if I saw one above the surface. On many occasions they never moved from the shot when basking on sand-banks, but were simply extinguished.

One of our women went to the river to wash, but never returned. This was close to our diahbeeah; and the water being shallow, there is no doubt that she was seized by a crocodile.

I was one day returning from head-quarters to my station, a distance of a mile and a half along the river's bank, when I noticed the large head of a crocodile about thirty yards from the sh.o.r.e. I knew every inch of the river, and I was satisfied that the water was shallow. A solitary piece of waving rush that grew upon the bank, exactly opposite the crocodile, would mark the position; thus, stooping down, I quietly retreated inland from the bank, and then running forward, I crept gently towards the rush. Stooping as low as possible, I advanced till very near the bank (upon which grew tufts of gra.s.s), until, by slowly raising my head, I could observe the head of the crocodile in the same position, not more than twenty-six or twenty-eight yards from me. At that distance, the Dutchman could hit a half-crown; I therefore made sure of bagging. The bank was about four feet above the water; thus the angle was favourable, and I aimed just behind the eye. Almost as I touched the trigger, the crocodile gave a convulsive start, and turning slowly on its back, it stretched its four legs above the surface, straining every muscle; it then remained motionless in this position in water about two feet deep.

My horse was always furnished with a long halter or tethering-rope: thus I ordered the syce and another man to jump into the river and secure the crocodile by a rope fastened round the body behind the fore-legs. This was quickly accomplished, and the men remained knee-deep hauling upon the rope to prevent the stream from carrying away the body.

In the mean time Monsoor had mounted my horse and galloped off for a.s.sistance to the camp of the "Forty Thieves."

Crocodiles are very tenacious of life, and although they may be shot through the brain and be actually dead for all practical purposes, they will remain motionless at first, but they will begin instinctively to move the limbs and tail a few minutes after receiving the shot. If lying upon a sand-bank, or in deep water, they would generally disappear unless secured by a rope, as the spasmodic movements of the limbs and tail would set upon the water, and the body would be carried away.

The crocodile, that had appeared stone dead, now began to move its tail, and my two men who were holding on to the rope cried out that it was still alive. It was in vain that I a.s.sured the frightened fellows that it was dead. I was on the bank, and they were in the water within a few feet of the crocodile, which made some difference in our ideas of its vivacity. Presently the creature really began to struggle, and the united efforts of the men could hardly restrain it from getting into deeper water. The monster now began to yawn, which so terrified the men that they would have dropped the rope and fled had they not been afraid of the consequences, as I was addressing them rather forcibly from the bank. I put another shot through the shoulder of the struggling monster, which appeared to act as a narcotic until the arrival of the soldiers with ropes. No sooner was the crocodile well secured than it began to struggle violently; but a great number of men hauled upon the rope, and when it was safely landed, I gave it a blow with a sharp axe on the back of the neck, which killed it by dividing the spine.

It was now dragged along the turf until we reached the camp, where it was carefully measured with a tape, and showed an exact length of 12 feet 3 inches from snout to end of tail.

The stomach contained about five pounds' weight of pebbles, as though it had fed upon flesh resting upon a gravel bank, and had swallowed the pebbles that had adhered. Mixed with the pebbles was a greenish, slimy matter that appeared woolly. In the midst of this were three undeniable witnesses that convicted the crocodile of wilful murder. A necklace and two armlets, such as are worn by the negro girls, were taken from the stomach! The girl had been digested. This was an old malefactor that was a good riddance.

I have frequently seen crocodiles upwards of eighteen feet in length, and there can be little doubt that they sometimes exceed twenty; but a very small creature of this species may carry away a man while swimming.

The crocodile does not attempt to swallow an animal at once, but having carried it to a favourite feeding-place, generally in some deep hole, it tears it limb from limb with teeth and claws and devours it at leisure.

The camp of the "Forty Thieves" had been finished some time since: the gardens were flourishing, and I erected a "shadoof," or Egyptian double bucket and lever for irrigation. Two men could lift and throw out 3,600 gallons per hour. I made the calculation as nearly as possible: the iron buckets contained slightly more than four gallons each; thus, two men with the double shadoof lifted eight gallons every eight seconds (or one lift in eight seconds): a gallon per second gave 3,600 per hour.

I never allowed the "Forty Thieves" to work at the general head-quarters, but kept them as my personal escort. When at Tewfikeeyah I had been particular in their drill, and I had endeavoured to teach them to shoot accurately. The Egyptians became better shots than the Soudanis, but I much preferred the latter; by degrees I drafted out all the Egyptians excepting four, and filled their places with well-selected blacks, mostly taken from the grenadier company of the regiment.

At the commencement of the expedition this small body of men had well earned the t.i.tle of the "Forty THIEVES" by which they were always known among the English party, although publicly in the camp they were only designated as "The Forty."

I had taken great personal care of this little corps, and the result was most satisfactory. The thieves had been got rid of. I never forgave a fault until after punishment had been received; I never allowed the doctor to attend them when ill, but invariably attended to them myself.

I had endeavoured to instil a feeling of pride among them, and encouraged them with an idea of their superiority to the other regiments. I actually succeeded in establishing a code of honour throughout the corps, until it was considered a disgrace to "The Forty"

that a theft should be committed. "Is he not one of 'The Forty'?" was the usual exclamation if any doubt was thrown on the character of a soldier. The fact of his belonging to "The Forty" was a sufficient certificate.

The regimental arrangements at head-quarters had been sadly neglected, as the men were necessarily so much engaged in other work that they had no time for drill except on Fridays. The "Forty Thieves" were well officered, having the advantage of a lieutenant-colonel and a captain, together with two most active and courageous lieutenants, who had lately received their promotion for good conduct: these were my faithful Monsoor Agha, and Ferritch Agba. The young soldier, who had been condemned to be shot for desertion the previous year, had shown such devotion and activity that he was promised the next vacancy in the rank of corporal. The non-commissioned officers were soldiers who had seen much service, and the corps was in a highly efficient state with the exception of the rifle practice.

While at Tewfikeeyah, having paid much attention to this all-important point, I had instructed the officers and men personally, and I had established prize-shooting to give an additional interest to the work.

Both officers and men now took an immense pleasure in rifle practice, but it appeared almost impossible to make them good shots. Out of forty-eight officers and men, I had only fifteen who could be called real hitters; the others were only shooters.

The great difficulty was to instruct them in distances. I frequently took them away from camp and made them guess the distance in paces from some particular object, such as a tree, or white-ant hill. Very few of the men had the slightest idea of this important subject; but at the commencement, even the officers were perfectly ignorant. At length, by constant practice at the target, varying the range from 100 to 300 yards, about a third of the corps became fair shots, and these few were tolerably good judges of distance up to 400 yards. The colonel, Abd-el- Kader, became an excellent shot, as he was an officer who took great interest in his profession. The remainder of the corps shot as well as they could, and took great pains; but although they were considered crack marksmen by the line-regiments, their reputation would have suffered if their deficiencies had been exposed. At any rate, they were very dangerous with such a weapon as the snider, when firing into ma.s.ses of the enemy.

I distinguished "The Forty" from the line regiment by a scarlet uniform; this was a simple red flannel shirt, worn outside their Zouave trouser, and secured by a belt, with ammunition-pouches, round the waist. This uniform, with linen gaiters, and with a head-dress of the scarlet fez, bound by a turban of cobalt blue, looked remarkably well.

In active service, the officers carried sniders; thus, the corps complete consisted of forty-eight sniders; but together with Lieutenant Baker and myself, it comprised fifty rifles.

The high state of discipline and the fine morale of this little force was a good example of what may be effected, even with a material of so low a reputation as the negro. My men were natives of various tribes scattered over an immense extent of Central Africa. Each had a certain love of the country from which he had been originally stolen by the slave-traders when a boy, before he found his way into government service. I always endeavoured to keep up this feeling, and to create emulation among the men of different tribes; thus, a native of Pongo would a.s.sume a superiority over a d.i.n.ka, although the d.i.n.ka considered himself of a higher cla.s.s than a Pongo. A n.o.ba regarded himself as superior to all others. But by degrees I established a principle that was generally accepted by them all--that an old soldier with a good reputation should take precedence of all others, without reference to caste or tribe. Thus, the aim of all young privates would be to become old soldiers, and to rise in rank according to their merits. There were several excellent examples of good soldiers in "The Forty," among whom stood first Mohammed-el-Feel, sergeant of the body-guard. The latter comprised ten men, selected from "The Forty" as creme de la creme; these men were exempted from all labour, and they formed the guard of two sentries by night, and one by day.

The discipline of this picked corps--"Abd-el-Kader and the Forty Thieves"--was the commencement of a great moral reform, that resulted in an improved tone throughout the force, which ultimately did the great work of the expedition.

The efficiency of "The Forty" was an established fact of what could be accomplished where officers and men were governed by that peculiar confidence that bound them together as one man. Throughout the expedition, after this confidence had been once established, I never for an instant doubted the fidelity of my men; they would have followed me through fire or water, without the slightest hesitation. In action, "The Forty" were always in advance, and they were watched with eagerness and even pride by the other regiments: when thrown out as skirmishers they climbed rocks, pushed through jungles, and cleared the enemy from the country with irresistible activity. Promotion from the line to "The Forty" was considered as an honour, and so perfect was the esprit de corps, that in the event of a vacancy being caused by sickness, or other cause, the men reported to me the character of the new-comer before he was admitted, and respectfully declined to receive him if he bore a doubtful reputation; virtually he was "black-balled."

A corps of this character was a nucleus for an extension of military morality. The "Forty Thieves" would not admit a thief; and they became generally accepted as a model of what government soldiers should become.

I believe that if it were possible to convert the greater portion of African savages into disciplined soldiers, it would be the most rapid stride towards their future civilization. The fact of obedience being enforced, and the necessity of order, industry, and discipline, together with clothing and cleanliness, is all that is absolutely required to bring a savage within the bounds of good management. A savage who has led a wild and uncontrolled life must first learn to obey authority before any great improvement can be expected. A soldier must obey, and he learns to respect his officers as his superiors; thus, a savage who has learnt all that he knows from his officers, whom he admits as his superiors, will quickly adopt their religion, as he has been obliged to adopt their military rules. My soldiers were all Mohammedans, simply because they had been taught by their officers that good soldiers should be true believers.

As I have already described, my station was a mile and a half distant from head-quarters, and the arrangements under my personal inspection were very different from the lax discipline of the officers at Gondokoro.

The natives of Belinian had disregarded the warning they had received, and now, having leagued themselves with the Baris of Gondokoro, they were constantly on the watch for an opportunity of surprising the cattle guards. Concealing themselves behind thick foliage, they stalked the careless sentries with the adroitness of American Indians, and sometimes succeeded in making a dash and driving off a few head of cattle.

I was obliged to take extra precautions during the night, as my little station was dependent only upon "The Forty," while the camp at head-quarters was occupied by 1,100 men, in addition to about 400 sailors, and the six Englishmen.

The natives disturbed us every night, and were constantly fired at by the sentries. I served out cartridges containing eight-mould shot, each to be rammed down over the ball in the muskets for the night sentries: these would be more likely to hit a thief in the dark than a single bullet. The muskets were given to the sentries in addition to their rifles.

I placed my men every night, concealed by cover so as to command the various approaches. The station was conveniently situated, as a large and deep lake completely defended the north flank for a distance of about 400 yards. The river defended the east face: thus we were only open on two sides, one of which was commanded by the camp of "The Forty."

On 28th June it rained steadily during the night. The Baris considered that our sentries would be under cover, or would most likely not expect an attack; they therefore resolved to attempt a surprise. Their advanced scouts approached warily in the dark, but long before they had reached the sentries, they pa.s.sed within a few feet of a party of guards concealed behind a white-ant hill. A shot from a musket stretched one Bari dead. The guards pounced upon another and seized him by the throat.

This was a native of Belinian; he was accordingly hanged on the following morning to a tree in the pathway by which the Belinian Baris arrived through the forest to attack the camp. This it was hoped would be a warning that might deter others. (Throughout the expedition this was the only native who was hanged. Neither was any native shot or otherwise executed when taken prisoner, except a spy at Belinian.)

On 5th July the natives made an attempt on the cattle, and shot a sentry with an arrow.

On 7th July the Baris attacked the camp during the night.

On 8th July I sent a company to take possession and to hold the island.