"Leslie," he shouted in English, "will you kindly call off your soldiers ? one of their muskets might go off accidentally. I suppose you don't remember me. I am Hilliard, who came up with you in the steamer."
The officer had stopped in astonishment at hearing this seeming Dervish address him by name in English. He then advanced, giving an order to his men to fall back.
"Is it really you, Hilliard?" he said as he approached the horsemen, who were coming forward at a walk. " Which of you is it? for I don't see any resemblance in either of you."
"It is I, Leslie; I am not surprised that you don't know me."
" But what are you masquerading for in this dress, and where have you come from?"
"Perhaps I had better not say, Leslie. I have been doing some scouting across the desert with my boy here. We have had a long ride. In the first place, my arm wants attending to, I have a bullet in the shoulder. The next thing we need is something to eat; for the last three days we have had nothing but dates, and not too many of them. Is there any chance of getting taken up to Merawi ? We came down from there to Korti in a native vessel."
"Yes; a gun-boat with some native craft will be going up this afternoon. I will give orders at once that your horses shall be put on board."
When the ball had been extracted from his shoulder, and the wound dressed and bandaged by the surgeon in charge, Gregory went up to the tents again, where he was warmly received by the three white officers of the negro regiment. Breakfast had already been prepared, Zaki being handed over to the native officers. After having made a hearty meal, Gregory related the adventure with the Arabs in the desert, merely saying that they had found there were no Dervishes at Gakdul.
"But why didn't you go straight back instead of coming-down here?"
" I wanted to see whether this line was open, and whether there were any wells on it. We only found one, and it took us four or five hours' hard work to get at the water. It is lucky indeed that we did so, for our horses were getting very done up, and I had begun to think that they would not reach our destination alive."
In the afternoon the adventurers started with the boats going up to Merawi, and the next morning arrived at the camp. The Dervish patches had been removed from their clothes as soon as they arrived at Ambukol. Gregory could have borrowed a white suit there, but as the stain on his skin, although somewhat lighter than when first put on, was too dark, he declined the offer.
"No one may notice me as I land now," he said, "but everyone would stare at a man with a brown face and white uniform."
Leaving Zaki to get the horses on shore, Gregory went straight to t>he General's quarters. He told the sentry that he wished to see the General on business. "You cannot go in," the man said, " the General is engaged."
"If you send in word to him that his messenger has returned, I am sure he will see me."
"You can sit down here then," the sentry said. "When the officer with him comes out, I will give your message to his orderly."
Gregory, however, was in no humour to be stopped, and in an authoritative voice called, " Orderly!" A soldier came down directly from the guard-room. " Tell the General at once that Mr. Hilliard has returned."
With a look of wonder the orderly went into the tent. Half a minute later he returned. " You are to come in," he said.
As the General had seen Gregory in his disguise before starting, he of course recognized him. "My dear Hilliard," he said, getting up and shaking him cordially by the hand, " I am heartily glad to see you back. You have been frequently in my thoughts, and though I had every confidence in your sharpness I have regretted more than once that I allowed you to go. I suppose you failed to get there. It is hardly possible that you should have done so in the time. I suppose when you got to Gakdul you learned that the Dervishes were at Abu Klea."
" They were at Abu Klea, General, but I made a detour and got into their camp at Metemmeh."
"You did, and have returned safely! I congratulate you most warmly. I told you, Macdonald," he said, turning to the officer with whom he had been engaged, " that I had the greatest hope that Mr. Hilliard would get through. He felt so confident in himself that I could scarce help feeling confidence in him too."
"He has done well indeed!" Colonel Macdonald said. "I should not have liked to send any of my officers on such an adventure, though they have been here for years."
"Well, will you sit down, Mr. Hilliard," the General said, " and give us a full account. In the first place, what you have learned, and in the second, how you have learned it."
Gregory related the conversations he had heard among the soldiers, and then that of Mahmud's brother and the commander of the Dervish cavalry. Then he described the events of his journey there, his narrow escape from capture, and the pursuit by the Dervishes at Abu Klea; how he gave them the slip, struck the Ambukol caravan road, had a fight with a band of robber Arabs, and finally reached the Egyptian camp.
"An excellently-managed business!" the General said warmly. "You have certainly had some narrow escapes, and seem to have adopted the only course by which you could have got off safely. The information you have brought is of the highest importance. I shall telegraph at once to the Sirdar that there will assuredly be no advance on the part of Mahmud from Metemmeh, which will leave him free to carry out the plans he has formed. I shall of course, in my written dispatch, give him full particulars of the manner in which I have obtained that information."
"It was a very fine action," Macdonald agreed. "The lad has shown that he has a good head as well as great courage. You will make your way, Mr. Hilliard,—that is, if you don't try this sort of thing again. A man may get through it once, but it would be just tempting providence to try it a second time."
" Now, Mr. Hilliard," the General said, "you had best go to your quarters. I will ask the surgeon to attend to you at once. You must keep quiet and do no more duty until you are discharged from the sick list."
Ten days later orders were issued that the brigade under Macdonald, consisting of the 3rd Egyptians, and the 9th, 10th, and 11th Soudanese, together with a mule battery, were to move forward the next day to Kassinger, the advanced post some ten miles higher up the river. This seemed only a preliminary step, and the general opinion was that another fortnight would elapse before there would be a general movement. A reconnaissance with friendly Arabs had, however, been made ahead towards Abu Hamed, and had obtained certain information that the garrison at that place was by no means a strong one. The information Gregory had gathered had shown that Mahmud had no intention of advancing against Merawi, and that no reinforcements had as yet started to join the force at Abu Hamed, the Dervish leader being convinced that the Nile was not yet high enough to admit of boats going up the cataract. Thus everything favoured the Sirdar's plan to capture Abu Hamed, and enable the railway to be constructed to that place before Mahmud could receive the news that the troops were in motion. He therefore directed General Hunter to push forward with only one brigade, leaving the rest to hold Merawi, and ordered the camel corps and the friendly Arabs to advance across the desert as far as the Gakdul wells, where their appearance would lead Mahmud to believe that they were the advance-guard of the coming army. Two days later Gregory, on going to the head-quarters tent, was told that General Hunter and his staff would start in an hour's time to inspect the camp at Kassinger.