Gregory had walked away when the Major rose, and he did not return to the party. It was the first time that he had run across a bad specimen of the British officer, and his words had stung him. But, as he said to himself, he need not mind them, as the fellow's own comrades regarded him, as one of them said, as " an insufferable ass ". Still, he could not help wishing to himself that the missing heir might turn up in time to disappoint him.
General Hunter started next day at noon with two of his brigades and the mounted troops, the other two brigades following at nightfall. The previous night had been one of the most unpleasant Gregory had ever spent. The long-expected rain had come at last. It began suddenly; there was a flash of lightning, and then came a violent burst of wind which tore down the tents and the flimsy shelters of the Egyptians and Soudanese. Before this had ceased, the rain poured down in a torrent; lightning, wind, and rain kept on till morning, and when the start was made everyone was soaked to the skin. The Egyptian baggage left at the same time in native craft.
That evening they arrived at the mouth of the Shabluka Cataract. Here it had been expected that the advance would be opposed, as strong forts had been erected by the enemy, the river narrowed greatly, and precipitous rocks rose on either side. Through these the course was winding and the current ran with great strength, the eddies and sharp bends making it extremely difficult for the gun-boats to keep their course; indeed it would have been impossible for them to get up had the forts been manned, as they would have had to pass within two hundred yards of the guns. But although the forts could hardly have been attacked by the gun-boats, they were commanded by a lofty hill behind them, and the scouts had discovered some weeks before that the Dervishes had retired from the position and that the passage would be unopposed. Maxwell's and Collinson's brigades started at four that afternoon, and the next day the whole division was established at El Hejir above the cataracts.
Lyttleton's brigade started at five o'clock A.M. on the 25th, the gun-boats and other steamers moving parallel with them along the river. At five in the afternoon the first brigade followed, and two days afterwards the camp was entirely evacuated and the whole of the stores well on their way towards El Hejir. On the previous day two regiments of Wortley's column of friendly natives also marched south.
The Sirdar and head-quarters, after having seen everything off, went up in a gun-boat, starting at nine in the morning.
As usual the Soudanese troops had been accompanied by a considerable number of their wives, who were heavily laden with their little household goods, and in many cases babies. They trudged patiently along in the rear of the columns and formed an encampment of their own half a mile away from the men's, generally selecting a piece of ground surrounded by thick bush, into which they could escape should Dervish raiders come down upon them.
The stores arrived in due course. One of the gun-boats, however, was missing—the Zccfir, with three gyasses in tow, having suddenly sunk ten miles north of Shendy owing to being so deeply loaded that the water got into the hold. Those on board had just time to scramble into the boats or swim to shore. No lives were lost, though there were many narrow escapes. Among these were Commander Keppel and Prince Christian Victor, who were on board. Fortunately, another steamer soon came along and took the gyasses, with the shipwrecked officers and crew on board, and towed them up to El Hejir.
It had been intended to stay here some little time, but the Nile continued to rise to an altogether exceptional height, and part of the camp was flooded. At five o'clock, therefore, the Egyptian brigades started, with the guns on their right and the steamers covering their left, while the cavalry and camel corps were spread widely out in advance to give notice of any approaching Dervish force. As usual the soldiers' wives turned out, and as the battalions marched past, shouted encouragement to their husbands, calling upon them to behave like men and not to turn back in battle. The presence of the women had an excellent effect on the soldiers, and in addition to their assistance in carrying their effects, they cooked their rations, and looked after them generally. The Sirdar, therefore, did not discourage their presence in the field, and even supplied them with rations when it was impossible for them to obtain them elsewhere. In the afternoon the two white brigades also moved forward. At nine o'clock they arrived at their camping-ground, and the whole army was again collected together.
Next morning the four squadrons of Egyptian horse, with a portion of the cavalry, went forward to reconnoitre, and one of the gun-boats proceeded a few miles up the river. Neither saw anything of the enemy. There had been heavy rain during the night; this had ceased at daybreak, and a strong wind speedily dried the sands, raising such clouds of dust that it was difficult to see above a few yards. The storm had also the effect of hindering the flotilla. On the other side of the river Stuart - Wortley's friendlies had a sharp brush with some Dervishes, whom they had come upon raiding a village whose inhabitants had not obeyed the Khalifa's orders to move into Omdurman. As the rain-storms continued, it was decided by a council of war that the health of the troops would suffer by a longer stay.
On the 29th, therefore, the army set out in order of battle, ready to encounter the Khalifa's attack, but arrived without molestation at Urn Teref, a short distance from Kerreri, where it was expected the enemy would give battle. The camp was smaller than those hitherto made, and was protected by a strong zareba. The sentries were doubled and patrols thrown out. Heavy rain set in after sunset, and almost a deluge poured down. The tents had been left behind, and as the little blanket-shelters were soon soaked through, their occupants were speedily wet to the skin. It was still raining when at half-past five the force again started. As before, the army was marching in fighting order. The day was cool and cloudy, and at one o'clock they halted at a village called Merreh or Seg. The cavalry had come into touch with the Dervish patrols, but the latter, although numerous, avoided combat. In one of the deserted villages was found one of Wingate's spies in Dervish attire. He had left Omdurman thirty hours before, and brought the news that the Khalifa intended to attack at Kerreri.
This place had been chosen because there was current an old prophecy by a Persian sheik to the effect that English soldiers would one day fight at Kerreri and be destroyed there. It had therefore become an almost holy place to the Mahdists, and was called the death-place of all the infidels, and once the Khalifa and his followers made a pilgrimage to it. A few shots were fired during the night, and fires blazed on the hills to notify to Omdurman our precise position.
The troops started again soon after daylight, facing now to the right and marching westward, to leave the bush and broken ground and get out in the open desert stretching away to Omdurman. The cavalry were widely spread out, and the Lancers ascended to the top of the hill of El Teb, from which a view of the Dervish camp was obtained.
It lay some ten miles due south. The Dervishes were disposed in three long lines stretching from within two thousand yards of the Nile out into the desert, being careful to get, as they believed, beyond the range of the four gun-boats that steamed quietly up. After a short march the force halted near the river, two miles north of Kerreri. The place was convenient for camping, but the banks of the river were steep, and there was much difficulty in watering the horses and transport animals.
" We are in for another bad night," one of the General's staff said to Gregory as the evening approached.
"It looks like it; clouds are banking up fast. If the rain would but come in the daytime instead of at night one would not object to it much. It would lay the dust and cool the air; besides, on the march we have other things to think of, and though of course we should be drenched to the skin, we should not mind it. But it is very unpleasant lying in a pool of water with streams running in at one's neck."