And meanwhile sickness fell upon his force. The malarial fever,
which is everywhere prevalent on the Blue Nile in the autumn, was now
at its height. More than 30 per cent of every garrison and every post
were affected. The company holding Rosaires were stricken to a man,
and only the two British officers remained fit for duty. The cavalry force
which had marched through the Ghezira suffered the most severely.
One after another every British officer was stricken down and lay burning
but helpless beneath the palm-leaf shelters or tottered on to the friendly
steamers that bore the worst cases north. Of the 460 men who composed the
force, ten had died and 420 were reported unfit for duty within a month
of their arrival at Karkoj.
During the end of November the Sheikh Bakr, who had deserted the Dervishes
after their retreat from Gedaref, arrived at Karkoj with 350 irregulars.
He claimed to have defeated his former chief many times, and produced a
sack of heads as evidence of his success. His loyalty being thus placed
beyond doubt, he was sent to keep contact with the Dervishes and encouraged
to the greatest efforts by the permission to appropriate whatever
spoils of war he could capture.
Meanwhile Ahmed Fedil was working his way slowly southward along a deep
khor which runs almost parallel to the Blue Nile and is perhaps twenty
miles from it.
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