Chapter 10: Kidnapped!

Fifteen minutes later one of the Provincial Guards appeared and motioned us to follow him.
As we approached the encampment I caught the unmistakable scent of blood and death. All the tents were standing, and there was no sign of destruction other than the dead bodies strewn about the area.
A group in front of my tent included Amal and Omar, plus the two other Provincial Guards who had been left at the encampment. The other bodies, of which there were seven, did not appear to be labourers or servants of the expedition, and I supposed them the attackers.
My main concern of course was for Rollo Guest and Chastity Crudwright; both were missing and were not among the dead.

MacKay reported six deaths among the Expedition; the four Provincial Guards and two labourers who had taken part in the defence. The other labourers and servants had made off as soon as the attack took place, and would straggle back once they realised the danger was over. Some quick thinking person had released the livestock to prevent them falling into the attackers hands, and they too would return when thirst and hunger drew them back. MacKay had counted ten dead attackers, and judging by the trails of blood leading away from the camp several had been wounded. Of Rollo and Chastity there was no sign.

“They must have been taken by the attackers. As there was no looting or plundering the object of the attack must have been to kidnap the Europeans.” MacKay said. “My nephew Hassan is also missing, but I expect him to be tracking the gang and not be a prisoner.” He pointed to the Egyptian standing beside him. “This is Gamal, he is an eye witness, the only one I have yet found.”
I recognised Gamal as one of the gang masters, a reliable and resourceful sort of man.
“As-Salaam-Alaikum, Gamal, “ I said. “Please tell us what you saw.”
With Thomas MacKay acting as interpreter Gamal told his story.

It was about an hour after sunset. Gamal and a few labourers from his gang were sitting around a fire talking. Included in the group were the four Provincial guards. They heard a woman scream. Not the scream of a woman in ecstasy or in pain but a scream of fear. The scream was followed by a pistol shot. Gamal had served in the Egyptian army and could tell the difference between a musket and a pistol being fired.
The moment the woman screamed the four guards had sprung to their feet, scooped up their muskets and scimitars, and dashed towards the European encampment a hundred yards away to the north, from where both scream and shot had come. Two of Gamal’s labourers followed after them, armed with nothing other than a mattock each. Gamal, a man with a strong sense of survival, retrieved his scimitar from his bedroll before following them.
As he approached the European tents there came a fusillade of musket fire. The Provincial guards returned fire and then closed with the enemy, wielding their scimitars with deadly effect. Gamal tripped over the bullet riddled body of one of his labourers. The sight of his mutilated friend lying in a pool of blood so inflamed him he charged into the melee, swinging his scimitar.
Alas, the attackers were too many. In a short space of time the four guardsmen were hacked down, and Gamal only manged to save his own skin by feigning death. The attackers made only a swift and ineffectual inspection of the battle area, and deemed all the opposition were dead.
The Provincial guardsmen had died hard, leaving seven of the attackers lying dead on the field, and two wounded men being helped away. Shortly afterwards Gamal saw a group of men riding camels heading south.

I asked him if he had seen Captain Guest or Mrs Crudwright being carried off.
He shook his head, but said he thought the attackers had taken up a position in front of the main tent to stop any rescue of the kidnapped Europeans, who may have been carried off before the arrival of the Provincial Guards.

I had been aware of Crudwright hovering about on the perimeter while Gamal told his story, and when Gamal left to round up the rest of his team Crudwright approached me.
“I understand all our papers and goods are intact. Where are Captain Guest’s maps? We will be able to continue the dig if they still exist.”
“Dammit man! You cannot think to continue this expedition after what has happened?” My anger was wasted on him.
“I do not see why not.”
“Your wife missing is one good reason. Our topography map-maker missing is another, and six members of the expedition are dead.”
Crudwright waved a hand airily. “Guest and Chastity will be returned when a ransom is paid, and we can always hire more workers.”
I managed to stop myself from knocking him to the ground only with great difficulty. Instead I gave him a withering look, and then spoke to Thomas MacKay.
“Can we not go after these kidnappers?”
“We do not have the manpower. I have sent Hussain to Damietta to inform Sayeed of the attack. The expedition is under his protection and he will send men to follow up on the gang. The other guard, Faisal, has gone to Timsah to inform the Imam of the deaths. Muslims must be buried as soon as possible after death. The funerals will be held tomorrow.”

While we were talking some of the labourers and servants had returned to the encampment. I heard the undulating wailing of women as they came across the dead. The bodies of the guards and the two labourers were reverently placed in makeshift coffins, whereas the corpses of the attackers were taken away from the encampment and thrown in a pit for vultures and other scavengers to feast on.

“How soon do you expect a ransom to be demanded from the gang?” I asked Thomas.
He shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea. Usually when Europeans are kidnapped they are snatched from the streets of Cairo or Alexandria. Ransom demands are delivered within hours, and the money is paid and the kidnappees returned unharmed within days. This is the first time I have known of such a large and violent attack on a group of Europeans.”
“They must have thought to capture all of us, but of course four Europeans were absent.”

“All our bedding has been taken,” Mimi said as I entered our pavilion. “And there is a rent in the rear of the tent as if someone has taken a knife to it.”
Sure enough, the divan had been stripped of the sheets and coverings, yet nothing else in the tent had been disturbed. Neither my campaign trunk nor Mimi’s trunk had been forced open. I wear the money belt containing three hundred sovereigns around my waist when travelling, although when in camp the belt is left in the concealed compartment of the trunk’s lid.
“I expect the washer woman took the bedsheets when we left for the hills and has not yet returned them. We can use the bedding from Rollo’s tent --– the poor fellow will not be sleeping there tonight. I assume the rip in the tent was the point of entry of the attackers. I dare say both Rollo and the Crudwright’s tents have been similarly served.”