Ismailia - Sir Samuel White Baker (best mystery novels of all time .txt) 📗

that she should dip her ensign in case she met with an obstruction. Thank God, all is clear. I therefore ordered the steamers to remount their paddles.

"We started at 10 p.m.

"April 12.--At 11.30 p.m. we met five of Ghatta's [*] boats bound for the White Nile. These people declared their intention of returning, when they heard the deplorable account of the river.

[*Footnote: one of the principal Khartoum ivory and slave-traders]

"At 2 a.m. we arrived at our old position, close to our former wood station in the forest.

"April 13.--Started at 11.30 a.m. The river has fallen three feet since we were here, and the country is now dry. Mr. Baker and I therefore walked a portion of the way upon the banks as the diahbeeah slowly descended the stream. There were great numbers of wild fowl; also hippopotami, and being provided with both shot guns and heavy rifles we made a very curious bag during the afternoon, that in England or Scotland would have been difficult to carry home; we shot and secured two hippopotami, one crocodile, twenty-two geese, and twenty ducks.

"At 7 p.m. we arrived at the station of Kutchuk Ali. I sent for the vakeel, or agent, commanding the company, to whom I thoroughly explained the system and suppression of the slave trade. He seemed very incredulous that it would actually be enforced; but I recommended him not to make the experiment of sending cargoes of slaves down to Khartoum, as he had done in previous years. He appeared to be very confident that because his employer, Kutchuk Ali, had been promoted to the rank of sandjak, with the command of a government expedition, no inquiry would be made concerning the acts of his people. No greater proof could be given of the insincerity of the Soudan authorities in professing to suppress the slave trade, than the fact that Djiaffer Pacha, the governor-general of the Soudan, had given the command of an expedition to this same Kutchuk Ali, who was known as one of the principal slave-traders of the White Nile.

"April 14.--One of my black soldiers deserted, but was captured. We also caught a sailor who had deserted to the slave-hunters during our passage up the river, but as we returned unexpectedly he was discovered. The colonel, Raouf Bey, reported this morning that several officers and soldiers had actually purchased slaves to-day from Kutchuk Ali's station; thus, the Khedive's troops, who are employed under my command to suppress the slave trade, would quickly convert the expedition into a slave market. I at once ordered the slaves to be returned, and issued stringent instructions to the officers.

"I saw this afternoon a number of newly-captured slave women and girls fetching water under the guard of a scoundrel with a loaded musket. I know that the station is full of slaves; but there is much diplomacy necessary, and at present I do not intend to visit their camp.

"April 15.--To prevent further desertions, it was necessary to offer an example to the troops. I therefore condemned the deserter who was captured yesterday to be shot at noon.

"At the bugle call, the troops mustered on parade in full uniform. The prisoner in irons was brought forward and marched round the hollow square, accompanied by muffled drums.

"The sentence having been declared, after a short address to the men, the prisoner was led out, and the firing party advanced. He was a fine young man of about twenty years of age, a native of Pongo, who had been taken as a slave, and had become a soldier against his will.

"There was much allowance for desertion under the circumstances, and I was moved by the manly way in which he prepared for death. He cast his eye around, but he found neither sympathy nor friends in the hard features of the officers and men. The slave-trader's people had turned out in great numbers, dressed in their best clothes, to enjoy the fun of a military execution. The firing party was ready; the prisoner knelt down with his back towards them, at about five paces distant. At that moment he turned his face with a beseeching expression towards me; but he was ordered immediately to look straight before him.

"The order, 'Present,' was given, and the sharp clicking of the locks, as the muskets were brought on full cock and presented, left but another moment . . . . .


"At that instant I ordered the firing party to retire, and I summoned the prisoner, who was brought up in charge of the guard. In the presence of all the troops I then explained to him the necessity of strict discipline, and that the punishment of death must certainly follow desertion, at the same time I made such allowance for his youth and ignorance that I determined to reduce the punishment to that of flogging, which I trusted would be a warning to him and all others. I assured him, and the troops generally, that although I should never flinch from administering severe punishment when necessary, I should be much happier in rewarding those who should do their duty. The prisoner was flogged and kept in irons. The troops formed into sections of companies and marched past with band playing; each company cheering as they passed before me; but the crowd of slave-hunters slunk back to their station, disappointed that no blood had been spilt for their amusement.[*]


[Footnote: It was satisfactory to me that this young man, who was pardoned and punished as described, became one of the best and most thoroughly trustworthy soldiers of my body-guard; and having at length been raised to the rank of corporal, he was at the close of the expedition promoted to that of sergeant. His name was Ferritch Ajoke.]


"No person except Lieutenant Baker and the colonel, Raouf Bey, had been in the secret that I HAD NEVER INTENDED TO SHOOT THE MAN. I had merely arranged an impressive scene as a coup de theatre, that I trusted might benefit the MORALE of the men.

"We were now in the fine clear stream of the Bahr Giraffe, which, having received numerous affluents from the marsh regions, was united in one volume. We got up steam and started at 4.30 p.m., and the diahbeeah, towed by the steamer down stream, travelled at about nine miles an hour until 8 a.m., making a run of 125 miles.

"We then stopped at a large forest on the west bank to cut wood for the steamer.

"April 16.--Went out shooting with Mr. Baker, and shot two Ellipsyprymna antelopes. The country is beautiful, but game is scarce. The forest is much broken by elephants, which appear to frequent it during the wet season. These animals are very useful in preparing wood for the steamers' fires. They break down the green trees, which dry and become good fuel. Were it not for the elephants, we should only find dead wood, which is nearly all either hollow or rotten, and of little use as firewood. Today we met four vessels from Khartoum that had followed me with a reinforcement of one company of troops, with letters from Djiaffer Pacha and Mr. Higginbotham.

"April 17.--We steamed about thirty-seven miles and then halted at a good forest to fill up our supply of wood. The forest on the left bank is about thirty-seven miles in length, but it is merely a few hundred yards in width, beyond which the country is prairie. On the east bank, where there is no forest, we saw giraffes, buffaloes, and antelopes in considerable numbers during the day.

"April 18.--Filling up wood in the morning. We then travelled three hours, and halted eleven miles from the White Nile junction. During the voyage we saw a lion and lioness with five cubs running off alarmed at the steamer.

"In the afternoon I went out and shot seven geese and two fine black bucks.

"Lieutenant Baker was unfortunately ill with fever. Here we met four more vessels with a company of soldiers from Khartoum. They of course remained with us.

"April 19:--In an hour and a half we arrived at the White Nile, and twenty minutes later we saw three vessels belonging to the mudir, or governor, of Fashoda. We heard from the people on these boats that the governor (Ali Bey, the Koordi) was making a razzia on the Shillook tribe. The banks of the river were crowded with natives running away in all directions; women were carrying off all their little household goods, and children were following their parents, each with a basket on their heads containing either food or something too valuable to be left behind. I immediately went off in a rowing boat, and, after much difficulty, I succeeded in inducing some of the natives who could speak Arabic to stop and converse with me. They declared that the Turks had attacked them without provocation, and that the Koordi (as the governor of Fashoda was called) had stolen many of their women and children, and had killed their people, as he was generally plundering the country. I begged the natives not to fly from their district, but to wait until I should make inquiries on the following day; and I promised to restore the women and children, should they have been kidnapped.

"I halted at a forest about nine miles from the junction of the Bahr Giraffe, where a bend of the river concealed the steamers and diahbeeah.

"Late at night, when most people were asleep, I sent orders to the chief engineer of the No. 10 steamer to have the steam up at five on the following morning.

"April 20.--We started punctually at the appointed hour; my diahbeeah, as usual, being towed by the steamer. As we rounded the point and quickly came in sight of the governor's vessels, I watched them with a powerful telescope. For some time we appeared to be unobserved. I knew that the troops were not celebrated for keeping a sharp lookout, and we arrived within three-quarters of a mile before the sound of our paddles attracted their attention. The telescope now disclosed some of the mysteries of the expedition. I perceived a considerable excitement among the troops on shore. I made out one tent, and I distinguished men hurrying to and fro apparently busy and excited. During this time we were rapidly approaching, and as the distance lessened, I could distinctly see a number of people being driven from the shore on board a vessel that was lying alongside the bank. I felt convinced that these were slaves, as I could distinguish the difference in size between the children and adults. In the mean time we were travelling at full speed (about eight miles an hour) in the broad but slack current of that portion of the White Nile.

"At 6.35 we ranged up alongside the bank opposite the tent which belonged to the Koordi governor of Fashoda. We had passed close to the three vessels, but no person was visible except their crews. My arrival was evidently quite unexpected, and not very agreeable.

"The governor shortly appeared, and was invited on the poop deck of my diahbeeah; this was always furnished with carpets and sofas so as to form a divan.

"After a pipe and coffee, I commenced the conversation by describing the impossibility of an advance at this season via the Bahr Giraffe, therefore I had found it necessary to return. He simply replied, `God is great! and, please God, you will succeed next year.'

"I now asked him how many troops he had with him, as I noticed two brass guns, and a number of irregular cavalry, in addition to some companies of infantry.