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

arrived within half a mile of the village, which was situated upon high ground, about 600 yards from the river, when I noticed a number of people issuing from the gate way carrying large baskets upon their heads.

"The soldiers have found plenty of corn," remarked Monsoor; "they are carrying it from the googoos."

My eyes were better than Monsoor's. I at once perceived that the people thus employed were Baris!

We were only five guns, now separated from our vessels by about a mile, and the troops under Major Abdullah had evidently evacuated their position!

Where upon earth had they gone? and for what reason? Certainly we had the river on our right flank, but we might have been attacked and cut off from our vessels, had the Baris the pluck to assume the offensive.

It was time to retreat, but as I wished the Baris to believe that we felt quite at our ease, we accomplished the move very leisurely, and strolled quietly homewards, shooting ducks and snipe as we walked along.

The moment I arrived at the vessels, I despatched a party in the steamer's large boat, under Captain Mohammed Deii, of the "Forty Thieves," to row down the river, and to recall Abdullah's detachment, that must have retreated for some inconceivable reason. The current ran at nearly four miles per hour; thus the boat would be sure to overtake them.

I was exceedingly annoyed. A force of ninety men had evidently been cowed by their engagement with the natives on the previous evening, and had retreated upon Lieutenant-Colonel Achmet's position, instead of joining me according to orders. At the same time my vessels had been in sight only a mile and a half distant! I was thus left with a small party of thirty men, while ninety men had fallen back.

This was an example of the utter helplessness of the officers and men when left to themselves. If the natives had repeated the attack, they would most probably have got into dire confusion.

Having started the boat, I took ten men of "The Forty," and, accompanied by Lieutenant Baker, I marched along the bank in order to meet the detachment on their return, when recalled by Mohammed Deii. During the march I continued to shoot ducks, as this amusement would deceive the natives respecting the retreat of Major Abdullah, which might then be attributed to some other cause than fear.

In about an hour, I distinguished a sail coming round the point of Gebel (Mount) Regiaf. The wind was fair, and she quickly ran up the stream. I now discovered that she was towing the boat that I had sent down the river to recall Abdullah's detachment. (This was a vessel from Gondokoro on her way for a cargo of corn. She had met the retreating party of Abdullah, and had brought them on by the river.)

Upon her near approach, I hailed the vessel and ordered her to land the troops (with which she was crowded) upon the west shore.

In a short time, Major Abdullah and his gallant company had landed and formed in line.

His excuse for the precipitate retreat which he had commenced at daybreak was, that he feared a renewed attack, and he was short of ammunition. He had therefore determined to fall back on the station occupied by Lieutenant-Colonel Achmet.

He appeared to have forgotten that he could have communicated with me by bugle.

I inspected the men's pouches, and found that most of them had eighteen or twenty rounds of cartridge, while the minimum contained eleven rounds; this is what the major considered a short supply of ammunition for a march of a mile and a half along beautiful open country to my vessels.

He described the overwhelming number of the natives, and their extreme bravery in the attack, which his troops had repelled without any loss to themselves either killed or wounded. At the same time the troops under his command had killed twenty Baris, whose bodies he had himself counted.

I now ordered them to advance to the village, as I wished to examine the position. Upon arrival at the spot where the battle had taken place, there were a number of vultures settled in various spots where the ground was marked with blood, and the cleanly-picked skeleton of a man, lying close to the euphorbia hedge, showed that the Baris had really come to close quarters. (The officer declared that twenty of the enemy were slain, while the soldiers admitted that only five were killed. There was always a gross exaggeration in the reports.)

The natives had carried off their dead, with the exception of the body that had been cleaned by the vultures; this must have been a stranger who had no friends, as the Baris are very particular in the interment of their people.

I now marched my men along the high ground towards the south, and examined the numerous habitations, until I arrived at a little colony comprising six villages, all of which were full of corn. Here I left Major Abdullah and his detachment, with orders to collect all the dhurra from the neighbouring villages, and to form a central depot at his present station, after which, the corn could be thrashed out and carried to the vessels. I stationed a noggur by the bank exactly opposite his position, about half a mile distant.

The natives had abandoned the neighbourhood: and hundreds of villages remained without an inhabitant.

On 3rd November, I sent off vessels heavily laden with corn to Gondokoro, under the command of Lieutenant Baker, with instructions that the detachment under Lieutenant-Colonel Achmet should join me as soon as possible, and that empty vessels should at once be sent to my corn depot.

On 4th November, I sent fifteen of the "Forty Thieves" to the south, where I had discovered large quantities of corn in the villages that had been until now undisturbed. To arrive at these villages, it was necessary to pass over very high ground, which obscured them from our view when on the diahbeeah.

My men had built themselves huts, and had formed a nice little camp, on the hard, stony bank, close to the spot where my diahbeeah and other vessels lay alongside. My horses were picketed in the centre, and we had transported and erected a great number of granaries, which I had filled with cleanly-thrashed corn, to await the arrival of the return vessels from Gondokoro.

I was superintending the arrangements of the camp, when my attention was attracted by exceedingly steady firing in single shots at a distance, in the direction taken by my small party of "The Forty." Nothing could be seen, owing to the high ground on the south.

I immediately ordered my horse, and accompanied by Monsoor and three soldiers of "The Forty" I rode at a trot towards the direction of the firing. I had left a small guard with the boats, as nearly all the men were absent in the interior collecting the ` dhurra.

After riding for about a mile and a half over high ground covered with fine turf, from the summit of which I had a beautiful view of the undulating country before me, with the White Nile flowing through the valley, and high mountains in the distance, I came suddenly upon a village, where I observed two of my "Forty" mounted as sentries upon the summits of the tallest huts. A little in advance of this position, I found the remainder of my party. It appeared that they had been suddenly, attacked, but the sentries on the house-tops had given timely warning.

There could not have been a more suitable country for rifle-practice, as it was completely open and almost devoid of trees. The fine, swelling undulations were intersected with deep rocky ravines at right angles to the river, which after heavy rains brought down the torrents from the mountains.

My arrival on the summit, on a white horse, attended only by Monsoor and three soldiers, was a signal for a great blowing of horns and beating of drums. Immense numbers of natives were to be seen in all parts of the view before us. They ran eagerly from their villages, and collected from every quarter, evidently bent upon a fight with my little party.

I ordered my men to cease firing, as they were wasting their ammunition uselessly, and destroying the prestige of the rifles by missing at long ranges.

I ordered a general advance in open order, about four yards apart; thus twenty men covered a line of about seventy-six paces. This front, with the men in scarlet uniform, made a tolerable show. I rode at the lead on a very beautiful Arab, "Greedy Grey," which was the most perfect of all the horses I had brought from Egypt: excelling in breed, speed, beauty, and temper.

My little company marched forward in quick time. This was a signal for a chorus of yells upon all sides; the big drums sounded louder than before, and the horns of the Baris bellowed in every direction.

Great numbers of natives now advanced with their bows and arrows, gesticulating and leaping from side to side in their usual manner, so as to prevent the possibility of a steady aim.

As yet, they were about 600 yards distant, and I continued the march forward as though no enemy were present. As we descended a ravine and marched up the opposite incline, I found that the natives retired over the next undulation. Their line of front extended about a mile and a quarter, while we occupied at the most eighty paces.

Having marched about a mile without firing a shot, and finding that the natives invariably fell back as we advanced, at the same time that they kept the same interval between us, I at once understood their tactics. It was now five o'clock; the sun would set within an hour, and their intention was to draw us forward until darkness would reduce the power of the rifles. They would then be able to surround us, and very possibly over power our little force during our retreat to the vessels in the dark.

I halted my men, and explained to them the Baris' dodge. I now ordered the retreat after this manner: we should hurry down-hill and march quickly up the next undulation, so as to deceive the enemy with the idea of a precipitate retreat. This would induce an advance on their side. The Baris would be certain to follow us at full speed if they supposed we were afraid of them.

It was my intention to cross rapidly the first undulation where my men would for a few minutes be out of view of the enemy, and there to conceal them in a deserted village which I had noticed during our advance. This would be an ambush that would take the Baris by surprise, as they would imagine that we had passed ahead: they would therefore come near the village.

The order to the "right about" was given, and my men, who took a keen interest in the plan, commenced so precipitate a march down the hill that my horse was forced into a jog-trot. I heard the savage yells of the enemy, who, as I had expected, now followed us with the hope of cutting off our retreat to the vessels.

We crossed the dry rocky bed of the torrent in the bottom, and ascended the hill-face rapidly. Looking back, I saw the natives running at full speed in pursuit. They began to descend the hill just as we had crossed the summit of the high ground; thus they lost sight of us, as we quickly