It behoved me now to look after my own bruises. In the various fights I had been wounded three times. A bullet had shattered the ring-finger of my right hand, which had to be amputated almost to the root; the fingers on either side were also damaged. Another bullet had struck me in the upper part of my leg, and, flattening against the bone, made it protrude. A thrown lance had also struck me in the right knee. In spite of these wounds, I had been able to go through the campaign without much suffering; but I felt weak and overdone, and was very glad of a few days' rest.
I found poor Gottfried Rott very seriously ill. He wanted to move to Fasher for change of air; and having again heard from Said Bey Guma that it was impossible to get camels to send the remainder of the ammunition for which I had asked, I now hired all the camels I could in Dara,—the property of officers, officials, and merchants, about fifty in all,—and sent them under escort of one hundred regulars to El Fasher, ordering Said Bey to load them up with ammunition, send them back without delay, and with them as many other beasts of burden as he could procure. I wrote also to Adam Amer, the commandant, ordering him to send me a reinforcement of two hundred men (one hundred regulars and one hundred Bazingers) from Kebkebia direct to Dara. With this caravan I sent Gottfried Rott in charge of an officer, who was ordered to take him to my house in El Fasher, and at the same time I wrote to a Greek merchant named Dimitri Zigada, and asked him to do all he could for the patient.
The news from Kordofan being very contradictory,—though at the same time the general tenor was unsatisfactory,—I set to work to try and procure some reliable information. I therefore sent Khaled Wad Imam and Mohammed Wad Asi—the latter a most faithful man—to that province, with instructions either to send me news with the least possible delay, or return with it themselves. Khaled Wad Imam had been brought up with Zogal, and although they were not related to each other, they were generally looked upon as brothers. My reason for sending him with Asi was that he should protect him in El Obeid, and the plan succeeded admirably; for Khaled was naturally anxious to do nothing which would jeopardise Zogal, who, of course, remained with me at Dara. At the same time I cautioned Asi to remain on as friendly terms as possible with Khaled, and to try and find out if Zogal was in communication with the Mahdi, and, under any circumstances, to return to me as quickly as possible.
The day after my return to Dara, I sent orders to Omar Wad Darho to go back at once with all his men to El Fasher, leaving one of his officers, El Ata Wad Melek Usul, of the Shaigia royal blood, as commander of the newly recruited horsemen at Om Shanga. I also learnt that Abo Bey el Bartawi, the official in charge of the Toweisha district, was in communication with the Mima, and was inclined to revolt,—a rumour which was subsequently confirmed, as he refused to obey my summons to him to come to Dara, and he did not explain his reasons for not doing so.
In twelve days the caravan returned from El Fasher with the fifty camels, a hundred boxes of Remington ammunition, and ten kantars of lead. Said Bey made the usual excuses that he could hire no camels from the employés, and Adam Amer wrote that, owing to the disturbed aspect of affairs in the Fasher district, it was impossible to send me the reinforcements I had ordered.
I now thoroughly understood the situation. The officers were undoubtedly hostile to me. They had talked amongst themselves, and had spread rumours all through the country that Ahmed Pasha Arabi had turned his master, the Khedive, out of Egypt, because he was friendly to Christians, and admitted them into his service; that Arabi was now master of the country, and had turned out all who were not Egyptians, such as Turks and Circassians, and had confiscated their property, which had been turned over to the Government. They had further declared that I had been discharged from my position, but that, owing to the roads being cut, the authority for my dismissal had not come to hand. Of course the more sensible people placed no credence in these idle tales; but there was no doubt my authority was distinctly impaired, and this state of things was taken full advantage of by those who bore me a grudge. Hitherto there had been no overt act of disobedience to my orders; but excuses were being continually made, as there was evident inclination not to comply with them. However, such was the situation, and I had to put up with it and be as cheerful as I could under the circumstances. I was reminded of the Arab proverb, "El kalb yenbah wa el gamal mashi" (The dog barks, whilst the camel unheeding passes by); in other words, I thought it better to take no notice of all this cackling.
Beshari Bey Wad Bekir, head-Sheikh of the Beni Helba Arabs, whom I had summoned to Dara, pleaded sickness; but anxious not to break off entirely with me, he sent me two horses and thirty oxen, which he begged me to accept as a token of submission, adding that as soon as the state of his health permitted he would certainly come. I gave the horses to the officers who had lost theirs in battle, and the thirty oxen I gave to the men.
By the same post which brought me news of Omar Wad Darho's arrival at El Fasher I heard of poor Gottfried Rott's death. In spite of most careful nursing and attention, he gradually sank, and was buried at El Fasher, beside Dr. Pfund and Friedrich Rosset, who had died there some years before.
The Mima were now in a state of open revolt. They had killed one of the Government mounted postmen, and had turned out their own Sultan Daud, who was peaceably inclined to Government, and replaced him by another. I therefore sent instructions to Omar Wad Darho to proceed with two hundred regulars and two hundred horsemen into their country, to chastise them; and at the same time I decided to operate against the Khawabir, who were acting in conjunction with the Mima. Darho started off, and had a successful little campaign, defeating the Mima at Fafa and Woda, whilst I proceeded, with a hundred and fifty regulars and fifty horsemen, via Shieria, to Bir Om Lawai, where the Khawabir, apprised of my approach, were waiting to attack me. After a short fight they were defeated and dispersed, and we captured a considerable number of sheep and oxen.
When these operations were over, I instructed Darho to leave a sufficiently strong force at Fasher, and to join me at Bir Om Lawai with the remainder of his men. In a few days he arrived, and gave me a full account of all his doings, and further details of the Mahdi's successes in Kordofan, which to me were excessively disquieting. Abo Bey having now openly joined in the Mima revolt, I decided to send Omar Agha with a sufficiently strong force to Toweisha, with instructions to destroy his residence, distant two days, whilst I despatched Omar Wad Darho and his men to again worry the Khawabir, who had retired to their sand-hills. He, however, met with no very signal success. The Khawabir country, except at Bir Om Lawai, is a sandy tract, destitute of trees and vegetation; but the rain, which lies for some months in the depressions of the ground, enables the Arabs to live here; and when it dries up they drink the contents of the water-melons, which grow in abundance near the pools, and which, when pressed, yield a somewhat sour but pleasant-tasting juice.