Sometime in August, 1897, Onoor returned to Omdurman, and sent messages to me through Umm es Shole. The import of them will be seen from the following letter, which I was able to write and smuggle over to him; the letter was to be delivered to the first officer he came across:—
“In accordance with my arrangement with the bearer Onoor, I succeeded in getting liberated from the Saier, and moved over to Khartoum, where I have spent two years in the arsenal under surveillance. Onoor has been unable to meet me personally to consult over plans for escape, which offers little difficulty provided I had funds. In May, 1896, Onoor sent me, through his agent, your letter, and gave me to understand that the money mentioned in this letter was in his possession, and that he was awaiting an opportunity to bring it to Khartoum. Now (July-August, 1897) he has come to Omdurman only to find me in a difficult position, owing to the progress of the war. He tells me he was ordered to Suakin, where he was put in prison, and the money he had for me taken from him, |240| as he had no reply from me to the letter sent, or any evidence to show that the letter had been sent. He has borrowed some money here, for which I have gone bail for fifty pounds, and Onoor promises to be back in three months’ time with news from you and the money required for my support and escape. The course of the war will soon deliver us alive or dead from the hands of this savage rabble.
“The greater part of the arsenal has been moved over to the Beit-el-Mal at Omdurman owing to the war, and the remaining material will follow very shortly, and I will go over with it, when I may have an opportunity of meeting Onoor if nothing occurs to disturb the extremely good relations existing between myself and my present masters. Please give Onoor (here follows a list of medicines); practising medicine facilitates my communication with the outer world. I hope Onoor will find with you a letter from my family; I am in good health, as is also my daughter Bakhita, and her mother Umm es Shole. We send you greetings.”
News was coming each day of the most alarming description for the Khaleefa; tales of big gunboats coming to reconnoitre Khartoum, and the “iron devil” (the railway) creeping forward, decided him on collecting everything under his eyes. All stores were hurried over to Omdurman; a hundred and fifty to two hundred men were sent over to destroy the mission house, mosque, and other buildings in Khartoum, as the Khaleefa was determined to leave no place of shelter for any troops who succeeded in landing there. I was looked upon with the greatest suspicion, as there was no concealing, try as I might, my anxiety to glean every bit of news possible about the expedition, and I was also in a fever of excitement expecting the return of Onoor. Each day was bristling with opportunities for escape, provided there was a man with a camel ready for me on the opposite |241| shore. With the dozens of boats and hundreds of men employed in transferring the arsenal to the other side of the river, a successful escape was assured; but Onoor never came. Towards the end of November, 1897, I was taken over with the last of the arsenal material to Omdurman, and put into the Saier prison, only until, as I was told, a house could be got ready for me in the Beit-el-Mal, where we were to complete the powder-and cartridge-machines.
CHAPTER XX PREPARING TO RECEIVE THE GUNBOATS
When I returned to the Saier in November, 1897, it was as a visitor—a distinguished one at that. I was told that I was only to remain there until my quarters in the Beit-el-Mal were ready for occupation, when I was to leave the prison and continue the construction of the powder-and cartridge-machines, to the completion of which the Khaleefa and Yacoub were looking forward with no little interest and anxiety. But once inside the gates of the Saier, Osta Abdallah and Khaleel Hassanein determined to keep me there, and succeeded in doing so. When Awwad-el-Mardi again interested himself on my behalf, these worthies succeeded in persuading Yacoub that Awwad’s interest in me was sure evidence of his sympathies with the Government, and their schemes ended by Awwad also being sent into the prison with threats of what would happen to him if he attempted to hold any intercourse with me.
A GROUP—FROM PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT THE FEAST OF BEIRAM, 1899.
1. Mohammed Sirri, formerly telegraph clerk at Berber. He, with Hassan Bey Hassanein, cut the Khaleefa’s communications.
2. Morgan Torjin. Imprisoned for two years for telling the Khaleefa that he insisted on being allowed to smoke tobacco and drink Marissa.