So far as they knew, the enemy had as yet received no news of their approach. Three hours' rest was given the troops, and then they marched out in order of battle. A fail idea of the position had been obtained from the friendly natives. Abu Hamed lay on the river. The desert sloped gradually down to it on all sides, with a sharp, deep descent within two hundred yards of the town. The houses were all loopholed for defence. When within a mile of the town they must have been sighted by the Dervish sentries on a lofty watch-tower. No movement, however, was visible, and there was a general feeling of disappointment as the impression gained ground that the enemy had retreated. The 9th and 10th Soudanese made a sweep round to attack from the desert side; the 11th, and half of the Egyptian battalion—the other half having been left to guard the baggage—followed the course of the river.
Major Kincaid rode forward to the edge of the steep slope that looked down to the town. He could see no one moving about. The Dervish trenches, about eighty yards away, appeared empty, and he was about to write a message to the General saying that the place was deserted, when a sharp fire suddenly opened upon him. He turned to ride back to warn the General, but he was too late, for at the same moment Hunter with his staff galloped up to the edge of the slope and was immediately saluted by a heavy volley, which, however, was fired so wildly that none of the party were hit. The artillery were now ordered to bombard the place. At first they could only fire at the tops of the houses, but, changing their position, they found a spot where they could command the town. For half an hour this continued. The infantry were drawn up just beyond the brow, where they could not be seen by the defenders. The Dervishes gave no signs of life, and as the artillery could not depress their guns sufficiently to enable them to rake the trenches, the infantry were ordered to charge.
As soon as they reached the edge of the dip a storm of musketry broke out from the Dervish trenches, but fortunately the greater portion of the bullets flew overhead. Macdonald had intended to carry the place at the point of the bayonet without firing, but the troops, suddenly exposed to such a storm of musketry, halted and opened fire without orders, the result being that they suffered a great deal more than they would have done had they crossed the eighty yards which divided them from the trench by a rush. Standing as they did against the sky-line, the Dervishes were able to pick them off, they themselves showing only their heads above the trenches. Two of the mounted officers of the 10th were killed, and two had their horses shot under them. Macdonald and his officers rushed along in front of the line, knocking up the men's muskets, and abusing them in the strongest terms for their disobedience to orders.
The moment the fire ceased the troops rushed forward, and the Dervishes at once abandoned their trenches and ran back to the line of houses. These were crowded together, divided by narrow winding lanes, and here a desperate struggle took place. The Dervishes defended themselves with the greatest
tenacity, sometimes rushing out and hurling themselves upon their assailants, and defending the houses to the last, making a stand when the doors were burst open, until the last of the inmates were either shot or bayoneted. So determined was the defence of some of the larger houses, that it was necessary to bring up the guns and batter an entrance. Many of the houses were found, when the troops burst in, to be tenanted only by dead, for the Soudanese always heralded their attack by firing several volleys, and the bullets made their way through and through the mud walls as if they had been paper. About seventy or eighty horsemen and a hundred Dervish infantry escaped, but the rest were either killed or made prisoners, together with Mahomed Zein, the governor. A quantity of arms, camels, and horses were also captured. The loss on our side was two British officers killed and twenty-one of the black troops, and three Egyptian officers and sixty-one men wounded.
When the convoy halted previous to the troops marching to the attack, Gregory, whose duties with the baggage had now ended, joined the General's staff and rode forward with them. Hunter had glanced round as he rode up, and answered with a nod when he saluted and asked if he could come. He felt rather scared on the Dervishes opening fire so suddenly, when the General's impatience had led him to ride forward without waiting for Major Kincaid's report. After the troops rushed into the town the General maintained his position at the edge of the clip, for the narrow streets were so crowded with men that a group of horsemen could hardly have forced their way in, and it would be impossible to see what was going on and to issue orders.
Mahomed Zein had not followed the example of some of his followers and died fighting to the last. He was found hiding under a bed, and was brought before General Hunter, who asked him why he fought when he must have known that it was useless, to which he replied: ' I knew that you had only three times as many as I had, and every one of my men is worth four of yours. You could not fire till you were quite close up, and at that range our rifles are as good as yours.' The General asked what he thought Mahmud would do, to which he replied: 'He will be down here in five days and wipe you out! '
It was necessary to halt at Abu Hamed until stores came up. Captain Keppel, R.N., and the officers commanding the gunboats were toiling at the cataracts to bring them up; nevertheless one of these was capsized, and only three got through safely. Major Pink with a large number of troops from Merawi succeeded in hauling the sailing boats through. A large column of laden camels was at the same time being pushed forward by the caravan route from Korosko. It was a time of much anxiety till stores began to arrive, for had Mahmud advanced at once the passage up the river would have been arrested and the land column cut off, in which case the little force would have been reduced to sore straits, as they must have stood on the defensive until reinforcements reached them. There was, too, some anxiety as to the safety of the forces at Ambukol and Korti, for Mahmud, on learning that the garrisons had been weakened by the dispatch of troops to Abu Hamed, might have crossed the desert with all his force and fallen upon them. Mahmud had indeed, as it turned out, believed that the expedition to Abu Hamed was only undertaken to cover the flank of the Egyptian army from attack from that quarter, and still believed that it was from Merawi that the main British force would advance against him.
Before the supplies had all arrived the position changed, as news came that Berber was being evacuated by the Dervishes. The information was telegraphed to the Sirdar, who at once ordered that a force of the friendly Arabs, escorted by a gunboat, should go up to Berber to find if the news was true. One gun-boat had already arrived, and General Hunter decided on going up in her himself. Two hundred of the Arabs, under Ahmed Bey, were to ride along the bank. They were to be mounted on the fastest camels that could be picked out, so that if they encountered the Dervishes they would have a fair chance of escaping and getting under cover of the gunboat's fire.
'Mr. Hilliard,' the General said, 'I shall be obliged if you will accompany Ahmed Bey; the Arabs are always more steady if they have an English officer with them. They will be ready to start in an hour. A signaller from the 11th Soudanese shall go with you, and you can notify to us the approach of any strong party of the enemy and their direction, so that the gun-boat can send a shell or two among them as a hint that they had better keep out of range.'
As his baggage-camel was by no means a fast one, Gregory at first decided to leave it behind in charge of Zaki, but on going across to the Arab camp Ahmed Bey at once offered to place a fast one at his disposal. He accordingly sent his own animal into the transport yard, committed the heavy wooden case with the greater portion of his remaining stores to the charge of the sergeant of the mess, retaining only three or four tins of preserved milk, some tea, four or five tins of meat, a bottle of brandy, and a few other necessaries; to these were added half a sheep and a few pounds of rice. These, with his tent and other belongings, were packed on the Arab camel, and Zaki rode beside it with great satisfaction, for he had been greatly cast down when his master first told him that he would have to remain behind. All the preparations were made in great haste, but they were completed just as Ahmed Bey moved out of his camp with his two hundred picked men and camels.
Five minutes later a whistle from the steamer told them that General Hunter and the party with him were also on the point of starting. The distance to be traversed to Berber was a hundred and thirty miles, and the expedition was undoubtedly a hazardous one. Even if the news was true that the five thousand Dervishes who had been holding Berber had evacuated the town, it was quite possible that a part of the force had been sent down the river to oppose any advance that might be made, or, if unable to do this, to carry the news of the advance to Mahmud. The Arabs were to keep abreast of the gun-boat, and would, where the shores were flat, be covered by its guns. But at spots where the ground was high and precipitous this assistance could scarcely avail them in case of an attack, unless the hundred soldiers on board the steamer could be landed.
As they rode along, Ahmed Bey explained to Gregory the plan that he should adopt if they were attacked in such a position and found their retreat cut off. 'The camels will all be made to lie down, and we shall fight behind them, as in an entrenchment. My men are all armed with rifles the government has given them, and we could beat off an attack by a great number, while if we were on our camels and pursued we should soon lose all order, and our shooting would be bad.'
' I think that would be by far the best plan, sheik. Your two hundred men and the hundred the gun-boat could
