Ismailia by Sir Samuel White Baker (affordable ebook reader .txt) 📕

of kindness, which they attribute to a wish to deceive them. This is a dreadful state of moral degradation, which nothing but time and patience will overcome."

On the 23rd November the wind began steadily from the north. I was nearly ready. Every vessel had been thoroughly repaired, but many were so rotten that the caulking was considered by the English shipwrights as quite unreliable for a long voyage. I had dragged the iron diahbeeah out of the water, and had substituted new plates in many places where the metal was honeycombed with rust. The plate that had been pierced by the tusks of the hippopotamus was removed, as it proved to be very defective, and could be broken through with the blow of a heavy hammer, therefore it was not astonishing that it had been easily penetrated by the sharp ivory of so powerful an animal.

When the diahbeeah was re-launched, I had her thoroughly painted inside and out. In the mean time, I had formed a Robinson-Crusoe-like house, comprising two small rooms, open on the river-side, but secured at night and morning by simple Venetian blinds. The three sides were closed with planks. I had paved the floor with the cast-iron plates of the steamer's engine room, thus it was both level and proof against the white ants. The two rooms were separated by a partition with a doorway, but no door.

I had not resided in a house since I first occupied the diahbeeah, ten months ago, as the vessel was more convenient.

On the 29th November, at about four A.M., I was awakened by a noise in the adjoining room. My bedstead was exactly opposite the partition doorway; that of my wife was on the other side of the room. At first I thought the sound proceeded from rats scampering over the tin boxes; but upon listening attentively, I distinctly heard the lid of a metal box opened by some person, and again carefully closed.

After a few moments, I heard another box open, and a sound as though some one was searching among the contents.

Unfortunately my bedstead was the most horrible creaker, in which it was impossible to turn without producing a noise that would create an alarm, should a thief be on the alert.

I always slept with a pistol under my pillow, therefore, I gently grasped the revolver in my hand, and endeavoured quietly to get out of my noisy bed.

The wretched piece of furniture gave the most alarming creak; this was immediately succeeded by a sound in the next room of the sudden closing of a box, and the movement of some person. I could not be sure that it was not Lady Baker, who had perhaps required something from a box, and did not wish to disturb me. This was not likely, and I felt that no time must be lost, as my bedstead had given the alarm. I therefore sprang out of bed and rushed through the open doorway, just in time to see some person jump through the Venetian blinds on the river side of the house.

To cry out "Who's there?" and to fire a shot was the work of an instant, and jumping after him in pursuit I found myself in darkness, and no one visible outside my house. Where was the sentry? Nowhere!

At the cry of "Guard!" not a soul appeared; the sentry was not to be found. At length, after a search, he turned up in the wrong place, looking confused, and confessed that he had been asleep, but awakened by the sound of a shot. By this time a number of non-commissioned officers had arrived, who had been alarmed by the pistol-shot and the cry of "Guard!" The sentry was put under arrest. A search was made everywhere, but no trace of the thief could be found. On making an examination of the premises, we found a dirty shirt that the thief had in his hurry left behind him; this was evidently intended to receive the spoil in lieu of a bag. I could not find the trace of a bullet-mark either upon the planks or upon the Venetian blinds, therefore, I considered that the thief must have been hit, or if missed, the ball must have passed out as he pushed the blinds aside when in the act of springing through.

I suspected the sentry, who was an Egyptian belonging to the "Forty Thieves." He was stripped and examined, but there was no wound. All the shirts were alike, therefore the shirt in my possession was no clue. My wife had been startled, but she quickly recovered herself; the sentry was flogged, and there the matter ended; we had no London detectives.


CHAPTER VI.

THE START.

December 11.--The first division of the fleet, composed of eight vessels, had started, according to my previous arrangement, on 1st inst. Every third or fourth day another division followed the advance, until on the 11th I brought up the rear, and completed the departure with twenty-six vessels, including the No. 10 steamer and my diahbeeah. The wind was fair from the north.

The extensive and neat station of Tewfikeeyah was completely dismantled. The iron magazines and their contents were now safely stowed in the various ships, and were already on their voyage towards Gondokoro. The horses were shipped and the stables had been pulled down, and the wood cut up for fuel. The long rows of white tents had vanished, and little remained of the station except a few rows of deserted huts. It seemed extraordinary that so large a place could be packed up and stowed away among the fifty-nine vessels of the fleet.

The English shipwrights had constructed three very useful boats, each exactly the same size, about 16 ft. x 5 ft.; thus we had a total of seven small boats to assist in the explorations of the obstructed river.

I left the Shillook country at peace. Djiaffer Pacha had paid much attention to the sons of Quat Kare at Khartoum, and the Khedive, in reply to my representations, had appointed him chief of the country in place of the pretender Jangy. The governor of Fashoda had been condemned to disgrace. I left a handsome present for the old king Quat Kare, and we departed excellent friends. The English party had been reduced by the departure of Mr. Wood, Dr. Gedge, and two servants.

We had been deeply grieved by the sad news of the death of Dr. Gedge, at Khartoum, a few days before we broke up the station of Tewfikeeyah. This unfortunate gentleman was a great loss to the expedition, as he was not only my chief medical officer, but combined the scientific attainments of a botanist and naturalist.

I had made every preparation for cutting through the sudd, and we were well prepared with many hundred sharp bill-hooks, switching-hooks, bean-hooks, sabres, &c. I had also some hundred miners' spades, shovels, &c., in case it might be necessary to deepen the shallows. While the whole English party were full of spirit and determined to succeed, I regret to say there was a general feeling of disappointment among the Egyptian troops (including officers) that the expedition was once again in full sail towards the south. Their hearts were either at Khartoum, or sighing for the flesh-pots of Egypt. I had lost many men from sickness during our sojourn at Tewfikeeyah, and the men were disheartened and depressed. This feeling was increased by the unfortunate recurrence of the fast of Ramadan, during which month the Mohammedans will neither eat, drink, nor smoke from sunrise till sunset. The Koran exempts them from the observance of this pernicious fast when on a long journey, but my people preferred to keep it religiously, as it would be a plausible excuse for neglecting work.

The Nile was full and unusually high; this was in favour of the voyage, as success depended upon our crossing the shallows during the flood; it was, therefore, necessary to push on with all speed so as to reach the shallows which had been impassable last April, before the river should fall.

It will now be necessary to refer to my original journal, as it would be difficult to convey an idea of the voyage by a general description. A few hours after starting, on 11th December 1870, I find this entry:--"Thank goodness, we are off, and in good time, as the river is exceedingly high, although it has already fallen about five inches from its maximum. Mr. Higginbotham has been ill for a long time. Lieutenant-Colonel Abd-el-Kader, my first aide-de-camp, although an excellent officer, is almost useless from ill-health; thus the whole work falls on myself and Julian (Lieutenant Baker) personally, and had I not driven the officers forward from sunrise to sunset, we should not have been off for another two months. These miserable people do not understand energy, and the Ramadan increases their incapacity.

"December 12.--At 2.30 A.M., we were hailed when ten minutes within the Bahr Giraffe, by two noggurs (vessels) in distress. Stopped the steamer immediately, and then heard that the No. 15 noggur, their consort, had sunk in deep water, close to this spot.

"At day-break I searched the river, and discovered the wreck in eighteen feet depth of water. Two good divers worked for about two hours, and recovered three muskets and several copper cooking pots belonging to the soldiers. The story of the reis (captain) is, that she sprang a plank at about 4 A.M., six days ago, while under sail with a light wind, and she filled and sank immediately, the men having barely time to save themselves. Unfortunately, she had on board, in addition to one hundred urdeps of corn (450 bushels), a section of one of Samuda's steel lifeboats; this was placed upon the corn, before the mast, but having an air-tight compartment, it must have floated away in the dark without being noticed.

"The story of the reis is false; there can be no doubt that the crew and soldiers were fast asleep, and the vessel was run into by one of her consorts. Had the people been awake, the least movement of the helm would have run the vessel high and dry in this narrow river, as the banks are flooded, and she was close to the side. As the collision occurred, the people, suddenly awakened from sleep, were seized with panic, and only thought of saving themselves; thus the noggur lies in three-fathom water, and the invaluable section of a lifeboat is lost. The worry and disappointment, together with the loss of property, occasioned by these people, is beyond all description. Every man detests the expedition. The boats are nearly all old and rotten, and with such wretched material I have to conduct this fleet with 30,000l. worth of property. I dread the probable loss of some vessel laden with sections of the lake steamers, in which case the expedition would be ruined in spite of all my care. I trust that the floating portion of the life boat may be picked up by some of Agad's vessels in the rear.

"Leaving the hopeless wreck, we continued the voyage at 10.50 A.M., in company with the two noggurs, with a brisk north wind. At 5.20 P.M., we stopped at a forest to collect firewood.

"December 14.--Started at 7.30 A.M. Thermometer, Fahrenheit, at 6 A.M., 67 degrees; noon, 85 degrees. This is the lowest temperature we have had.

"Passed a number of our vessels, one having broken her yard. At 12.5 stopped at a forest to fill up with wood. While looking for wood, a soldier found a dead elephant with tusks that weighed about 120 lbs. I gave him a present of five dollars, also one dollar to Saat