"Is there anything I can do for my lord?" he asked.
"Yes; I have come here to ascertain whether any of those who were present at the attack upon the party who landed from the steamer over there, are still living here. There is no question of punishment. On the contrary, I have come here to obtain information as to some private matters, and anyone who can give me that information will be well rewarded."
"There are but three men alive who were here at the time, my lord; there were more, but they fled when the boats with the white troops came up from Merawi. I believe they went to the Dervish camp at Metemmeh. The three here are quiet and respectable men. They were asked many questions, and guided the white officers to the place where Wad Etman stood—it was there that those who landed from the steamer first rested,—and to the place where the great house of Suleiman Wad Gamr, Emir of Salamat, stood. It was there that the much-to-be-regretted attack on the white men was made. When the white army came up six months afterwards, they blew up the house and cut down all the palm-trees in the village."
" I was with the force that came up from Merawi last year. Will you bring me the three men you speak of? I would question them one by one. Assure them that they need not be afraid of answering truthfully, even if they themselves were concerned in the attack upon the white officers and the crew of the steamer, for no steps will be taken against them. It is eighteen years since then, and no doubt their houses were destroyed and their groves cut down when the British column came here and found the place deserted. I am ready to reward them if I obtain the information I require from them."
The three men were presently brought to the spot where Gregory had seated himself in the shade of one of the huts. Zaki stood beside him, and the four armed men took post a short distance away. The first called up was a very old man. In reply to Gregory's questions he said: " I was already old when the steam-boat ran ashore. I took no hand in the business; the white men had done me no harm, while the followers pf the Mahdi had killed many of my family and friends. I
heard what was going to be done, and I stayed in my house. I call upon Allah to witness that what I say is true!"
"Do you know if any remains of that expedition are still in existence?"
"No, my lord. When the white troops came here some months afterwards I fled, as all here did; but I know that before they destroyed Wad Gamr's house they took away some boxes of papers that had been brought ashore from the ship, and were still in the house. I know of nothing else. The clothes of the men on board the steam-boat were divided among those who took part in the attack, but there was little booty."
Gregory knew that at Wad Gamr's house but few signs of the tragedy had been found when General Brackenbury's troops entered. Blood-stained visiting-cards of Stewart's, a few scraps of paper, and a field-glass had alone been discovered besides the boxes of papers.
The next man who came up said that he had been with the party who fell upon the engineers and crew of the boat by the river-side. " I was ordered to kill them," he said. " Had I not done so I should have been killed myself."
" Do you know whether any booty was hidden away before the English came ?"
"No, my lord, there was no booty taken; no money was found on board the steamer. We stripped her of the brass-work and took the wood ashore to burn. The sheik gave us a dollar and a half a man for what we had done. There may have been some money found on the ship, but as his own men were on board first and took all that they thought of value I have naught to say about it."
" And you never heard of anything being hidden before the British troops arrived?"
The Arab shook his head. "No, my lord, but there may have been, though I never heard of it. I went and fought at Kirbekan, and when we were beaten I fled at once to Berber, and remained there until the white troops had all gone down the country."
"I may want to question you again to-morrow," Gregory said. " Here are two dollars. I shall give you as much more if I want you again."
The third man was then called up. He was evidently in fear. "Do not be afraid to answer me truly," Gregory said. " If you do so, no harm will come to you whatever share you may have had in the affair; but if you answer falsely and the truth is afterwards discovered, you will be punished. Now, where were you when this business took place?"
"We were all ordered by Wad Gamr to gather near his house, and when the signal was given we were to run in and kill the white men. We saw them go up to the house. They had been told to leave their arms behind them; one of the sheik's servants came out and waved his arms, and we ran in and killed them."
"What happened then?"
"We carried the bodies outside the house. Then we took what money was found in their pockets, with watches and other things, in to the sheik, and he paid us a dollar and a half a head, and said that we could have their clothes. For my share I had a jacket belonging to one of them. When I got it home I found that there was a pocket inside, and in it was a book partly written on, and many other bits of paper."
"And what became of that?" Gregory asked eagerly.
" I threw it into a corner, it was of no use to me. But when the white troops came up in the boats and beat us at Kirbekan I came straight home and, seeing the pocket-book, took it and hid it under a rock, for I thought that when the white troops got here they would find it, and that they might then destroy the house and cut down my trees. Then I went away, and did not come back until the}' had all gone."
"And where is the pocket-book now]"
" It may be under the rock where I hid it, my lord. I have never thought of it since; it was rubbish."
"Can you take me to the place?"
"I think so; it was not far from my house. I pushed it
under the first great rock I came to, for I was in haste and wanted to be away before the white soldiers on camels could get here."
"Did you hear of any other things being hidden?"
"No; I think everything was given up. If this thing had been of value I should perhaps have told the sheik, but as it was only written papers and of no use to anyone, I did not trouble to do so."
" Well, let us go at once," Gregory said, rising to his feet. " Although of no use to you, these papers may be of importance."
Followed by Zaki and the four men, Gregory went to the peasant's house, which stood a quarter of a mile away.
"This is not the house I lived in then," the man said. " The white troops destroyed every house in the village, but when they had gone I built another on the same spot."
The hill rose steeply behind it. The peasant went on till he stopped at a large boulder. "This was the rock," he said, " where I thrust it under as far as my arm would reach. I pushed it in on the upper side." The man lay down. "It was just about here," he said. "It is here, my lord; I can just feel it, but I cannot get it out. I pushed it in as far as the tips of my fingers could reach it."
" Well, go down and cut a couple of sticks three or four feet long." In ten minutes the man returned with them. "Now take one of them, and when you feel the book push the stick along its side until it is well beyond it. Then you ought to be able to scrape it out. If you cannot do so, we shall have to roll the stone over. It is a big rock, but with two or three poles one ought to be able to turn it over."
After several attempts, however, the man produced the packet. Gregory opened it with trembling hands. It contained, as the man had said, a large number of loose sheets, evidently torn from a pocket-book and all covered with close writing. He opened the book that accompanied them. It was written in ink, and the first few words sufficed to tell him