In the grip of the Mullah: A tale of adventure in Somaliland

by F. S. Brereton

"Look out for us now," was shouted from the gunboat. "If you have a rope fender, or two, you might sling them overboard. Our plates are too thin to stand bumping, even against the wooden sides of your dhow."

Jim saw the commander of the gunboat grasp the handle of the telegraph, and, so short was the distance intervening between the two vessels, that he could actually hear the tinkle of the bell sounding down in the engine-room. Then the screws whirled around, the blades churning the waters of the gulf into white foam, which went hissing and frothing along the sides of the vessel as she ran astern. Five minutes later, she was securely fastened to the dhow, great care being taken to place several thick rope fenders between the vessels, together with some fibre matting which happened to be aboard the dhow. No sooner was all to his liking than the captain of the gunboat stepped on to the bulwark of his own vessel, and leapt lightly upon the deck of the one which Jim and his companion had contrived to capture. A particularly smart officer he looked, too, in his spruce and neatly cut white drill-clothing. Coming forward, with outstretched hand, he advanced towards Tom with a smile of welcome.

"Glad to see you—heartily glad to see you!" he said. "'Pon my word, when the Governor told me for what I was wanted, and packed me off post-haste last night, I quite thought I was on a wild-goose chase. It seemed to me that you and your young friend must have run your heads into a perfect hornets'-nest, and I tell you, had I come across your bodies floating in the sea, I should not have been by any means astonished. But I'm bound to say that the Governor, though fully realizing the extent of the danger, thought far better of your chances than I did. You see, I've often met you before and known you in the Club at Aden as a clerk in the Civil Service, and as a particularly good billiard-player. And to hear suddenly that you were an Intelligence officer, who was notorious for success in worming out the secrets of the natives, was quite astonishing, for you must understand that I always looked upon you as a peaceful sort of fellow."

"And so I am," laughed Tom. "You see, I've lived the best part of my life in Aden, so that to appear as a native is nothing out of the way for me. I am so thoroughly used to it that I run very little danger. But it's different with my friend here, for he is only just from school, and doesn't understand a word of the language, and yet he boldly came with me; and if it had not been for his help, I can honestly say that this would have proved my last adventure. But he turned out trumps, and proved to be as cool and steady as an old hand, and thoroughly plucky into the bargain. But, I say, let me introduce him. Jim Hubbard—Captain Humphreys."

"Glad to meet you, and I congratulate you on coming so well out of your first engagement," said the officer, gripping Jim by the hand. "Never been under fire before, I suppose, and never seen men fighting in real earnest?"

"Never!" answered Jim, returning the handshake with equal fervour; for the captain of the gunboat was an open-hearted, cheery individual, to whom one was bound to take on the instant. "I must admit, too, that the experience for the first time was far from pleasant; and if it hadn't been that the fighting came suddenly, and before I was really prepared for it, I am sure I should have been in a regular funk. You see, waiting always did upset me. I was the same at school when I was in for a licking, and had orders to attend in a few hours at the Doctor's study. I'm too impatient, I suppose, and employ the interval in imagining all kinds of awful things. But I'm sorry to say that I killed two of the natives during the struggle."

Jim looked the captain steadily in the face, and then flushed guiltily, for it appeared to him a terrible admission to have to make.

"I know what you feel, my lad," was the hasty answer, given with an encouraging smack upon the back. "But that's the fortune of war, you know, and everyone has the same regrets at first. Why, I remember how terribly upset I was when I sent a bullet into the body of a rascally slave-dealer. It thoroughly unnerved me when I looked at the fellow afterwards. But my chief took me aside, and just put the matter to me as I have to you. You may take it from me, that if you engage in adventures of this sort, you will kill more men before you have done, though always in self-defence. It's just that that helps one to get over the feeling."

"And now about the dhow," interposed Tom. "She's full up to her hatches with cheap guns and ammunition, and I now hand her over to you. In return, I ask you, if you possibly can, to take us to Berbera, for we are bound for Africa."

"So the Governor told me, and you may rely on it that I shall do as you ask, for I know how important it is for you both to make an early start into the interior. You say that the dhow is full of cheap arms. If that is the case, they are unlikely to prove of any use to the Government, and we should not be thanked for bringing them back. I'll just pop below, and look for myself, and then we'll put a charge of gun-cotton into her and blow her to pieces. It will be the cheapest and best plan in the end. But you may rely upon it, Dixon, that I shall make a full report to the Governor, and if there is no promotion in your particular branch, then I prophesy that your salary will be increased, for there is no doubt that this is a most important capture. Indeed, had all these guns reached the Mullah, so many more lives would be lost in the coming expedition. So you can see for yourself what good service you have done."