Hielan' caterans; they may fight and quarrel with one another, but
unless there is a blood feud it is unlikely they will help either the
English or the Egyptians to bag old Osman Digna. If the Turk gets him
for a subject, well, the Sublime Porte is likely to be deeply sorry
for it later on. "Fresh troubles in Yemen," or elsewhere in the
Arabian Peninsula, will be amongst the headlines of news from that
quarter once Osman the plotter finds his feet again after his last
flight. After the Atbara he just missed being taken by the skin of his
teeth, so to speak. His camp letters and private correspondence were
all secured. It was in this way: When the news of the Atbara victory
reached Kassala, Captain Benson and a party of about 200 Abyssinian
irregulars set out to see whether Osman Digna and his more immediate
followers were not trying to make their way back to Omdurman, via
Aderamat and Abu Delek. It may be recollected that the fugitive Shiekh
had established a camp at the last-named place after he had been
driven out of the Eastern Soudan. Sure enough, Captain Benson and the
irregulars came up with Osman Digna and 400 of his people encamped
near the Atbara. They called on them to surrender, but that they would
not do. A running fight began, in the course of which Osman, his
nephew Mousa and many more escaped. The Abyssinians, however, killed
and captured over 200 of the dervish leader's followers, and returned
in triumph with the captives and spoils. I am told that Mousa Digna,
though he watched the fight in question, never fired a shot. The tale
goes, that he has never drawn sword or trigger against us since we
gave him his life at the battle of Gemaizeh, near Suakin. That
morning I found Mousa, shot through the stomach, reclining upon the
ground. He was still truculent, and brandishing his spear. The
Soudanese were anxious to despatch him forthwith, and fired several
shots at him, the aim of which I spoiled by direct interference. I had
even then difficulty in getting Mousa to lie down quietly, having to
show him my revolver. Finally, he partly realised the situation. He
was taken up, carried into Suakin, carefully attended to, fed upon a
milk diet, and, in the end, recovered and returned to his Uncle Osman
and the dervishes. It has always been upon my mind that I was therein
instrumental in furnishing a dervish recruit to the cause of furious
anarchy, and I am relieved to think Mousa is not without compunction,
if not