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And in the desert there is always fighting, but that is impossible also, said she. 'I must go to Suakin. He knew, thanks to Alf's readings, that Torpenhow was at work with the column that was protecting the construction of the Suakin-Berber line. P. and O. steamers do not touch at that port, and, besides, Madame Binat knew everybody whose help or advice was worth anything.
The subject of the personal safety of the distinguished envoy was first raised in the House of Commons on the 16th of March by Lord Randolph Churchill. Availing himself of the opportunities provided by Supply, he criticised the vacillating policy of the Government, their purposeless slaughter in the Eastern Soudan, and their failure to establish the Suakin-Berber route.
A delay of more than a fortnight followed, during which the gunboats exercised the utmost vigilance. The Suakin-Berber road was again closed for caravans, and the Sirdar himself proceeded to Berber.
Sir H. Kitchener's reply to the Khalifa's open intent was to order a general concentration of the available Egyptian army towards Berber, to telegraph to Lord Cromer asking for a British brigade, and to close the Suakin-Berber route. The gunboat depot at the confluence, with only a half-battalion escort, was now in an extremely exposed position.
'Will there be any force at Suakin? aid a voice. Then the outcries redoubled, and grew mixed, thus: 'How many Egyptian troops will they use? God help the Fellaheen! There's a railway in Plumstead marshes doing duty as a fives-court. We shall have the Suakin-Berber line built at last. Canadian voyageurs are too careful. Give me a half-drunk Krooman in a whale-boat. Who commands the Desert column?
The traveller who lands on Quarantine Island is first confronted with the debris of the projected Suakin-Berber Railway. Two or three locomotives that have neither felt the pressure of steam nor tasted oil for a decade lie rusting in the ruined workshops. Huge piles of railway material rot, unguarded and neglected, on the shore.
The towns could not be taken without a strong force; so strong a force could not advance until the railway was made; and the railway could not be made till the towns were taken. Both the Korti-Metemma and the Suakin-Berber routes were therefore rejected.
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