Here For The Next Three Weeks
He Remained, Savage And Sulky; And The Kassala Column Were Content To Keep
To Their Defences.
A few convoys from Mugatta made their way into the forts
under the cover of darkness, but for all practical purposes the blockade of
the garrison was complete.
Their losses in action had reduced their
strength. They were not abundantly supplied with ammunition. The smell of
the putrefying corpses which lay around the walls and in the doura crop,
together with the unhealthy climate and the filth of the town, was a
fertile source of disease. A painful and racking fever afflicted all ranks,
and at one time as many as 270 of the 400 regular soldiers were prostrated.
The recurring night alarms added to the fatigues of the troops and the
anxieties of the seven officers. The situation was indeed so unsatisfactory
that Colonel Parsons was compelled to ask for assistance.
Major-General Rundle, who in the Sirdar's absence held the chief command,
immediately organised a relief expedition. The IXth, XIIth, and half of the
XIIIth Soudanese, with three companies of the Camel Corps, under Colonel
Collinson, were at once sent from Omdurman to the mouth of the Rahad river.
The infantry were conveyed in steamers; the Camel Corps marched along
the bank, completing the whole distance of 130 miles in fifty-six hours.
The Blue Nile garrisons, with the exception of the post at Rosaires,
were also concentrated. By the 8th of October the whole force was collected
at Abu Haraz. Five hundred camels, which had marched from Omdurman,
and every available local beast of burden joined the transport of the
column. On the 9th the XIIth Soudanese started up the Rahad river for
Ain el Owega. From this point the road leaves the river and strikes across
the desert to Gedaref, a distance of 100 miles; and in the whole distance
water is only found at the wells of El Kau. Owing to this scarcity of water
it was necessary to carry a supply with the troops. The transport being
insufficient to provide for the whole force, the march had to be made in
two columns. The Camel Corps and the XIIth Soudanese, about 1,200 strong,
set forth under Colonel Collinson from Ain el Owega on the 17th,
and reached Gedaref safely on the 22nd. Warned of their arrival,
Ahmed Fedil, having made a feeble night attack which was repulsed by the
garrison with a loss to themselves of two Soudanese wounded, realised that
he had now no chance of recapturing the town. Preparations were indeed made
to attack him; but on the 23rd of October, when a reconnaissance was made
in the direction of his camp, the Dervish force was seen moving off in a
southerly direction, their retreat covered by a strong rearguard, which was
intended to perform the double duty of protecting the retirement
and preventing desertion.
The operations conducted by Colonel Parsons thus ended in complete success.
Great difficulties were overcome, great perils were encountered,
great results were obtained. But while we applaud the skill of the
commander and the devotion of his subordinates, it is impossible not to
criticise the rash and over-confident policy which sent such a weak and
ill-equipped force on so hazardous an enterprise. The action of Gedaref,
as has been shown, was, through no fault of the officers or men of the
expedition, within an ace of being a disaster. But there were other
critical occasions when only the extraordinary good fortune which attended
the force saved it from destruction. First, the column was not discovered
until it reached Mugatta; secondly, it was not attacked in the thick bush;
thirdly, the Dervishes gave battle in the open instead of remaining within
their walls, whence the troops could not have driven them without artillery;
and, fourthly, the reserve ammunition arrived before the attack
of Ahmed Fedil.
After his defeat before Gedaref, Ahmed Fedil reverted to his intention
of joining the Khalifa in Kordofan, and he withdrew southwards towards the
Dinder river with a following that still numbered more than 5,000.
To pass the Nile in the face of the gunboats appeared impossible. He did
not, however, believe that steamers could navigate the higher reaches of
the rivers, and in the hopes of finding a safe crossing-place he directed
his march so as to strike the Blue Nile south of Karkoj. Moving leisurely,
and with frequent delays to pillage the inhabitants, he arrived on the
Dinder, twenty-five miles to the east of Karkoj, on the 7th of November.
Here he halted to reconnoitre. He had trusted in the Karkoj-Rosaires reach
being too shallow for the gunboats; but he found two powerful vessels
already patrolling it. Again frustrated, he turned southwards, meaning to
cross above the Rosaires Cataract, which was without doubt impassable
to steamers.
On the 22nd of October Colonel Lewis, with two companies of the Camel Corps
and three squadrons of cavalry, started from Omdurman with the object of
marching through the centre of the Ghezira and of re-establishing the
Egyptian authority. His progress was in every way successful.
The inhabitants were submissive, and resigned themselves with scarcely
a regret to orderly government. Very little lawlessness had followed the
defeat of the Khalifa, and whatever plundering there had been was chiefly
the work of the disbanded irregulars who had fought at Omdurman under Major
Wortley's command on the east bank of the Nile. In every village Sheikhs
were appointed in the name of the Khedive, and the officers of the cavalry
column concerned themselves with many difficult disputes about land, crops,
and women - all of which they settled to their satisfaction.
Marching through Awamra, Haloosen, and Mesalamia, Colonel Lewis reached
Karkoj on the 7th of November, almost at the same time that Ahmed Fedil
arrived on the Dinder.
For the next six weeks the movements of the two forces resembled a game
of hide-and-seek. Ahmed Fedil, concealed in the dense forest and jungle
of the east bank, raided the surrounding villages and worked his way
gradually towards the Rosaires Cataract.
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