position, towards which the Khalifa was now moving. Broadwood's horse and the camel corps had been driven off the hill they occupied, and so fierce was the attack that three of the guns of the horse-battery had to be left behind. The camel corps were ordered to retire rapidly and make for shelter to the right rear of the camp. The force made two or three stands, and the Egyptian cavalry more than once charged the pursuing horsemen. The gunboats opened fire and covered the final retirement of the camel corps, which had lost eighty men. The cavalry did not retire to the zareba, but continued to fall back, occasionally turning and facing the enemy, until they were five miles away, when the Dervishes gave up the pursuit, and sat down to rest after their tremendous exertions.
Although forced to retire, the cavalry had done good service, for they had drawn off a great body of the enemy at a critical moment, and these were unable to return and take part in the battle still raging. At length the Khalifa moved off with all his force behind the western hills, and for a short time there was a lull in the battle. Many of the wounded tribesmen crawled up to within seven or eight hundred yards of the zareba and there opened fire. Their aim was good, and men began to drop fast in spite of the volleys fired to clear off the troublesome foe. But their fire was soon disregarded, foi from the ravines in the range of low hills behind which the Khalifa's force had disappeared, a mass of men burst out at a hard run. From their shelter behind Surgham Hill a portion of the force who were there also swept down to join the Khalifa, while Yacoub advanced from the south-west, and another body from the west.
Instantly the infantry and artillery fire broke out again. On the previous day the distance had been measured and marked on several conspicuous objects, and the storm of shells tore the ranks of the enemy and the rifles swept them with a rain of bullets. But in face of all this the Dervishes continued to advance at a run, their numbers thinning every minute. Two or three hundred horsemen, with their emirs, dashed at the zareba at full gallop; shrapnel, Maxim, and rifle bullets swept their ranks, but nearer and nearer they came, with lessening numbers every yard, until the last of them fell within about two hundred yards of Maxwell's line. Animated by the example, the infantry rushed forward. The black flag was planted within nine hundred yards of Maxwell's left, but in addition to the Egyptian fire the cross-fire of the British divisions poured upon those around it. The main body began to waver, but the Khalifa and his emirs did their best to encourage and rally them. The flag was riddled with balls, and the men who held it were shot down; but others seized the post of honour until a pile of bodies accumulated round it.
At last but one man remained standing there. For a minute he stood quietly immovable, then fell forward dead. Then the Dervishes lost heart and began to fall back in ones and twos, then in dozens, until the last had disappeared behind the hills. The troops then turned their attention to the men who, lying in shelter, were still maintaining their fire. There were fully a thousand of these, and the greater portion of our casualties took place from their fire while the troops were occupied in repelling the main attack. It was not long, however, before bullets and shell proved too much for them, and those who survived crawled away to join their kinsmen behind the hills It was eight o'clock now, and the victory had apparently been won. Some ten thousand of the Khalifa's best troops had been killed or wounded. In the British division one officer and one man had been killed, and three officers and sixty-five men wounded. The latter were at once placed on board the hospital barges ; fresh ammunition Avas served out, and half an hour after the last shot was fired the army prepared to march on Omdurman.
It was most important that they should arrive at the town before Ed Din's Dervishes should reach it, for unless they could do so, the loss that would be incurred in capturing it would be vastly greater than that which had been suffered in the battle. At nine o'clock the start was made. The troops advanced in brigades, Lyttleton led on the left, Wauchope was on his right, Maxwell somewhat in the rear, while still more to the right came Lewis, and farther out on the plain Mac-donald. They formed roughly half a semicircle. Lyttleton, followed by Wauchope, was to march between the river and Surgham Hill, Maxwell was to cross over the hill, while Lewis and Macdonald were to keep farther out to the right. Collin-son's Egyptian brigade was to guard the stores and materials left behind.
The 21st Lancers scouted ahead of the British brigades to discover if any foe were lurking behind Surgham Hill. When about half a mile south of the hill they saw a small party of Dervish cavalry and some infantry, who were hiding in what looked like a shallow water-course. The four squadrons rode forward at a gallop. A sharp musketry fire opened upon them, but without hesitation they dashed headlong at the Dervishes, when they found that, instead of a hundred and fifty foemen as they had supposed, some fifteen hundred Dervishes were lying concealed in the water-course. It was too late to draw rein, and with a cheer the cavalry rode down into the midst of the foe. There was a wild, fierce fight, lance against spear, sabre against sword, the butt-end of a rifle or the deadly knife. Some cut their way through unscathed; others were surrounded and cut off. Splendid feats of heroism were performed. Many of those who got over returned to rescue officers or comrades, until at last all the survivors climbed the bank.
The brunt of the fighting fell upon the two central squadrons. Not only were the enemy thickest where they charged, but the opposite bank of the deep nullah was composed of rough boulders almost impassable by horses; these squadrons lost sixteen killed and nineteen Avounded. Altogether twenty-two officers and men were killed and fifty wounded, and there were one hundred and nineteen casualties among the horses. Once across, the survivors gathered at a point where their fire commanded the water-course, and, dismounting, speedily drove the Dervishes from it. On examining it afterwards it was found that sixty dead Dervishes lay where the central squadrons had cut their way through.
The charge in its daring and heroism resembled that of the 23rd Light Dragoons at Talavera. The fall into the ravine on that occasion was much deeper than that into which the Lancers dashed, but it was not occupied by a desperate force; and although many were injured by the fall, it was in their subsequent charge against a whole French division that they were almost annihilated.
Both incidents were, like the Balaclava charge, magnificent, but they were not war. A desperate charge to cover the retreat of a defeated army is legitimate and worthy of all praise even if the gallant men who make it are annihilated, but this was not the case at Talavera nor at Omdurman. It was a brilliant but a costly mistake. The bravery shown was superb, and the manner in which officers and men rode back into the struggling mass to rescue comrades beyond all praise; but the charge should never have been made, and the lives were uselessly sacrificed.
As yet all was quiet at other points. Bodies of the enemy could be seen making their way towards Omdurman. The battery opposite the town had from early morning been keeping up a fire from its heavy guns upon it, but, save for the occasional shot of a lurking Dervish, all was quiet elsewhere.
While the cavalry charge was in progress Gregory had moved along the line of the Egyptian brigades with General Hunter. Suddenly, from behind the hills where the Khalifa had fallen back with his defeated army, a column of fully twelve thousand men, led by the banner-bearers and emirs, poured out again. A strong body sprang forward from another valley and made for the south-eastern corner of Mac-donald's brigade, which had moved almost due west from the position it had occupied in the zareba, while the large force that had chased away the Egyptian cavalry were seen returning to attack him in the rear. General Hunter, who was riding between Macdonald's and Lewis's brigades, which were now a good mile apart, exclaimed to Gregory, who happened to be the nearest officer to him, ' Ride to Macdonald and tell him to fall back if possible!' Then he turned and galloped off to fetch up reinforcements. But the need was already seen, the sudden uproar had attracted the attention of the whole army, and the Sirdar instantly grasped the situation. The moment was indeed critical. If Macdonald's brigade were overwhelmed it might have meant a general disaster, and the Sirdar at once sent orders to Wauchope's brigade to go at the double to Macdonald's aid.
Fortunately Colonel Long, who commanded the artillery, had sent three batteries with Macdonald's brigade. Collinson's brigade were far away near the river, Lewis's were themselves threatened. It was evident at once that no assistance could reach Macdonald in time. When Gregory reached him the Dervishes were already approaching.
' It cannot be done,' Macdonald said sternly, when Gregory delivered the message; 'we must fight!' Indeed, to retreat would have meant destruction. The fire would have been ineffective, and the thirty thousand fierce foes would have been among them. There was nothing to do but to fight.
Macdonald had marched out with the 11th Soudanese on his left, the 2nd Egyptians in the centre, and the 10th Soudanese on the right—all in line; behind, in column, were the 9th Soudanese. The last were at once brought up into line to face the advancing enemy. Fortunately, the Sheik Ed Din's force was still some little distance away. The batteries took their place in the openings between the battalions, and the Maxim-Nordenfeldts were soon carrying death into the advancing foe, while the Martini-Henry with which the black and Egyptian troops were armed mowed them down as by a scythe. The Soudanese battalions fired, as was their custom, individually, as fast as they
