r with two large sailing boats. The
_Fasher_ soon came up with the wrecked Syrian boat, which now made a
sign of truce, was boarded and taken possession of. The Dervishes,
having obtained all information, left one of their boats in charge of
their capture, and then pursued the Greek boat, with which they soon
came up, and, having secured her, the _Fasher_ continued her pursuit of
the _Abbas_. She proceeded almost as far as Abu Hamed, but here the
captain refused to take her any further, as he feared running her on to
a rock. So she returned to Berber with her captured boats, in which
there were in all twelve Greeks and fifteen Syrians. Of the latter,
eight were males, five females, and two children.

The steamer _Abbas_, after passing Abu Hamed, entered the Wadi Gamr
cataracts, which are very rocky and dangerous, and here she struck on a
rock near the village of Hebbeh, the inhabitants of which belong to the
Monasir tribe. Colonel Stewart had the baggage disembarked on an island,
on which the travellers now took up their abode until the expected Greek
and Syrian boats should arrive; but, after waiting two days, Stewart
sent his interpreter, Hassan Husni, with Mohammed Hilmi Gorab and the
captain, ashore, with instructions to see the sheikhs, and, by the offer
of presents and the promise of a good reward from the Government, to
induce them to supply camels to enable the shipwrecked party to continue
their journey to Dongola.

These messengers were well received by Sheikh Suleiman Wad Naaman, and
neither he nor his people were wearing jibbehs; they asserted that they
were thoroughly loyal to the Government, and added that it was only the
arrival of Sheikh Heddai that had made them pretend to be against the
Government. Suleiman said that he would assist the shipwrecked
passengers with the greatest pleasure, and so well did he conceal his
wicked treachery that the messengers returned to Stewart greatly elated
with their success. But in the meantime Suleiman had prepared a
treacherous trap, into which the over-confident passengers blindly fell.
He sent secret orders to all the people round about to prepare for a
fight, and then drove some camels along the river bank, to show that he
was preparing for the journey. Colonel Stewart ordered all the spare
ammunition to be thrown into the river, and then landed with the other
passengers.

Suleiman invited him and the consuls, Power and Herbin, to go into his
house, so as to mak